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Legislation, bills, regulations format

Legislation

Legislation (or Acts) are laws that have passed Parliament.

 

Reference elements

annotated reference example for a legislation

 

In-text citation

  Format Example
Paraphrase

(Title Year Jurisdiction).

OR

Title Year (Jurisdiction)

... with dignity (Aged Care Act 1997 Cth).

OR

... by virtue of s. 25 of the Aged Care Act 1997 (Cth) ...
Quote

'...' (Title Year Jurisdiction s. xx).

OR

Title Year (Jurisdiction) s. xx '...'

'... the right of the patient ...' (Medical Treatment Act 1988 Vic s. 43).

OR

The Medical Treatment Act 1988 (Vic) s. 43 states '...'.
Note: 
  • The title of the legislation and the year should be italicised.
  • If you are quoting from the source, you must add the pinpoint (i.e. specific point in the source, e.g. section, article etc.) to the end of the citation. See pinpoint abbreviations for more information.  
  • In the examples above, s. is the abbreviation for section. 

 

Reference

Format Example
Title Year (Jurisdiction)  Aged Care Act 1997 (Cth).

Bills

Bills are laws that are in the process of going through Parliament but have not been made law yet.

 

Reference elements

annotated reference example for a bill

In-text citation

Use sections to refer to particular parts of a Bill. Section is abbreviated to s. for a single section, or ss. for multiple sections.

  Format Example
Paraphrase

(Title Year Jurisdiction)

OR

Title Year (Jurisdiction)

... passed in Parliament (Healthy Futures Commission Queensland Bill 2017).

OR

As found in the Healthy Futures Commission Queensland Bill 2017 ...
Quote

'...' (Title Year Jurisdiction s. xx).

OR

Title Year (Jurisdiction) s. xx"..."

'... protection from pollution....' (Environment Legislation Amendment Bill 2013 Cth s. 14).

OR

According to the Environment Legislation Amendment Bill 2013 (Cth) s. 14 '... industry will ...'
Notes: 
  • Bills in Australia are regarded as unpublished works, so the title is not italicised.
  • Each word in the title of the Bill should be capitalised.
  • If you are quoting from the source, you must add the pinpoint (i.e. specific point in the source, e.g. section, article etc.) to the end of the citation. See pinpoint abbreviations for more information.  
  • In the examples above, s. is the abbreviation for section. 

 

Reference

Format Example
Title Year (Jurisdiction) Transport Accident Further Amendment Bill 2013 (Vic).

Regulations

Regulation refers to laws or other ‘rules’ approved by government with instructions on how they are to be applied in practice.

 

Reference elements

annotated reference example for a regulation

 

In-text citation

  Format Example
Paraphrase

(Regulation Year)

OR

Regulation (Year)

... fairness and equity (Police Regulations 2003).

OR

Police Regulations (2003) describe the steps ...
Quote

'...' (Regulation Year, r. xx).

OR

Regulation (Year, r. xx) '...' 

'... follow procedure ...' (Police Regulations 2003, r. 3.4).

OR

Police Regulations (2003, r. 2.1) state '... a police member ...'.
Note: 
  • Each word in the title of a regulation should be capitalised and italicised in the citation.
  • If you are quoting from the source, you must add the pinpoint (i.e. specific point in the source, e.g. section, article etc.) to the end of the citation. See pinpoint abbreviations for more information.  
  • In the examples above, r. is the abbreviation for rule. 

 

Reference

Format Example
Title Year (Jurisdiction) Police Regulations 2003 (Vic).

Australian jurisdiction abbreviations

Jurisdiction Abbreviation
Commonwealth (Federal government) Cth
Australian Capital Territory ACT
New South Wales NSW
Northern Territory NT
Queensland Qld
South Australia SA
Tasmania Tas
Victoria Vic
Western Australia WA

Pinpoint abbreviations

A pinpoint is used to refer to a specific point in the source. It is similar to using page numbers to refer to sections of a book. Use the following pinpoint abbreviations (depending on the designations given in the source) when creating your citation:

Designation Abbreviation
Appendix app.
Article art.
Chapter ch.
Clause cl.
Division div.
Paragraph para.
Part pt.
Regulation reg.
Rule r.
Schedule sch.
Section s.
Sub-clause sub-cl.
Subdivision sub-div.
Sub-paragraph sub-para.
Subsection sub-s.