The Federal Register of Legislation (the Legislation Register) is the authorised whole-of-government website for Commonwealth legislation and related documents. It contains the full text and details of the lifecycle of individual laws and the relationships between them.
The Legislation Register is managed by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel in accordance with the Legislation Act 2003.
Maintenance is scheduled between 7.00am and 12.00pm AEST, Saturday 5 December 2020 and the site may be unavailable or slow during this time.
New and amended laws on the Federal Register that are of community interest right now include:
For more information on what’s new, go to the Search field at the top of every page. You can also use Advanced Search to locate all the laws that come into force on particular day.
Some laws are more significant than others, in that they set out enduring legal principles and frameworks that affect a large part of the Australian community. Among the most significant laws on the Federal Register are:
To find one of the many other titles available on the Federal Register, use the Search field at the top of every page.
Choose a category for information and where to find it on the Federal Register of Legislation.
To browse the categories for which tips are available, go to the Glossary.
The Australian Government is organised into a number of portfolios. Each portfolio is responsible for specific policy issues and laws.
Choose a portfolio for details of its current legislation:
For more information about the structure, organisations and key people in each portfolio, go to the Government Online Directory
Australia's ten Territories are home to over half a million Australians. Each territory has different legal origins, and a different relationship with the Australian Government. Choose the territory you are interested in for details of its laws and governance:
In the past, the Australian Government has also administered territory in Nauru, New Guinea and Papua. These territories have since become the independent nations of Nauru and of Papua New Guinea.
For more information about how Australia acquired its external territories - that is, all territories except the ACT, the NT and Jervis Bay Territory - please see Alan Kerr's book A Federation In These Seas .
*these two territories are jointly administered and are also known as the Indian Ocean Territories (IOTs)
The Federal Register of Legislation does not cover all sources of Australian law. To browse other sources of Australian law, choose a jurisdiction and type of information:
Many jurisdictions are working together to harmonise their legislation, and harmonised or 'model' laws have been developed and enacted on more than 80 issues. A list of the issues and associated Acts is available from the Australasian Parliamentary Counsel’s Committee website .
Work is continuing on other issues through bodies including the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) and the Law, Crime and Community Safety Council (LCCSC) .