Explanatory Statements for Legislative Instruments
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Explanatory statements explain what a legislative instrument does using plain or non-legal language. They can be used as additional information to help understand and interpret an instrument.
Explanatory statements were first prepared for Commonwealth regulations in about 1932 but those prepared before 1982 are generally not publicly accessible. In some cases, copies of pre-1982 explanatory statements may be available by request through departmental archives or the records of the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation – Parliament of Australia.
Federal Register of Legislation
Most explanatory statements that were prepared from 1991 onwards are available on the Federal Register of Legislation alongside their Commonwealth legislative instrument.
How to find an explanatory statement on the Register
View the explanatory statement
Search for the relevant legislative instrument on the Register homepage by name or ID number.
Select the ‘View as made version’. A link to the as made version is also located at the foot of the ‘All versions’ tab.
Click on the drop-down menu next to ‘View document’ to see all available documents and select ‘Explanatory statement’ to view the explanatory statement.
Download the explanatory statement
Search for the relevant legislative instrument on the Register homepage by name or ID number.
Select the ‘View as made version’. A link to the as made version is also located at the foot of the ‘All versions’ tab.
Select the Downloads tab to download a copy of the explanatory statement in a PDF or Word format.
Online Resources
Copies of explanatory statements from 1991 onwards are also available from AustLII at Commonwealth of Australia Numbered Regulations Explanatory Statements. It is possible to search the explanatory statements by year or title.
The National Library of Australia (NLA) offers access to a microfilmed set of explanatory statements, covering the years 1982 to 1990, which were sourced from the Attorney-General's Department Library. The collection catalogue details are available at Explanatory statements to statutory rules [microform].
Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation – Parliament of Australia
The Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation assesses legislative instruments against a set of scrutiny principles that focus on compliance with statutory requirements, the protection of individual rights and liberties, and principles of parliamentary oversight. One of these principles is to make an assessment as to whether an explanatory statement that accompanies an instrument provides sufficient information to provide a clear understanding of the instrument. For information about the committee’s work or information on legislation that has been assessed against the scrutiny principles see Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation – Parliament of Australia.