Gazette notices are published on the Federal Register of Legislation for use by the public, government agencies, and legal professionals. As this material is relied on for guidance and information that has legal effect, it is essential the Gazette notices be legible and of high quality.
Before lodging a Gazette notice for publication you should check the Gazette Notice Publication Requirements (PDF 0.2MB) and note that publication fees may apply. Information regarding fees is available on the Federal Register of Legislation Lodgement site.
The name of the Gazette notice must be unique and convenient (not too long), so that the Gazette can be identified with complete certainty from its name alone. For guidance on the naming of Gazette notices, the principles in Drafting Direction No. 1.1A Names of instruments and provision units of instruments can be applied. First Parliamentary Counsel may add a name to an unnamed document, including a Gazette notice, or amend the name of a document lodged for registration if the name of the document as lodged is not unique (see section 10 of the Legislation Rule 2016). A fee is charged for this service.
The Office of Parliamentary Counsel is required to comply with the mandated whole-of-government accessibility requirements of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 and, under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, must ensure that people with disabilities have the same fundamental rights to access information and services as others in the community.
For these reasons it is important that the Gazette notices provided to the Office of Parliamentary Counsel meet a minimum standard for publication. To meet these minimum standards please ensure that:
- the supplied Gazette template (DOC 0.1MB) (UPDATED 03 Mar 20) is used for the first page of each notice without any adjustments to the margins, including the header and footer of the template, or the Gazette masthead; and
- the notice is supplied only in any of the following word processing or data formats:
- Microsoft Word 97 or later version;
- rich text format;
- another format agreed, in writing, by the First Parliamentary Counsel; and
- the notice includes a clearly identifiable name that is unique and convenient (not too long); and
- every map, table or diagram in the notice is legible and any image (including crests, logos and signature blocks) contains an accurate and descriptive alternative text (an accessibility feature used to supply contextual information for images) that can be read by screen readers; and
- if an instrument is being published as a Gazette notice, the electronic form of the instrument in the notice is identical to the instrument as made, and includes:
- the name (as signed) of each maker of the instrument and each other person who signed the instrument; and
- any date given in the instrument as made as the date the instrument was made; and
- any other handwritten changes included in the instrument as made by a maker of the instrument; and
- all tracked changes and editing comments are removed and the document is free of 'COPY' or 'DRAFT' stamps or other markings.
Your notice may not be published if it does not meet these requirements.
If you require any advice on preparing your notice for lodgement please contact the Federal Register of Legislation Help Desk.
Lodgement by a Member of the Public
Members of the public are able to email Gazette notices on the required Gazette template (DOC 0.1MB) (UPDATED 03 Mar 20) to the Help Desk for publication. For assistance with lodging notices or information on publication fees please contact the Help Desk.
Lodgement by a Government Agency
Government agencies lodge Gazette notices for publication using the Federal Register of Legislation Lodgement site. Information on how to lodge is available on the Lodgement site. If you are from a government agency and you do not have access please contact the Help Desk for assistance.
Please contact the Help Desk as soon as possible for publication of urgent Gazette notices outside of normal business hours or on National or ACT public holidays. Information on publication fees for urgent notices is available on the Lodgement site by contacting the Help Desk.