Australian Law Sites

General Information

Parliament Sites

Sites from Australian Parliaments generally provide access to Parliamentary Debates (Hansards) as well as bills and explanatory notes or memoranda and their progress through parliament. Other information available may include sitting days, reports of committees and research papers.

Government Legislation Sites

Each Australian jurisdiction makes current and previous versions of legislation available online through an official government site. Bills and explanatory notes or memoranda may also be available. The amount of historical content available and the extent to which the online legislation constitutes the authorised version of a piece of legislation varies between jurisdictions. Check the information provided on the specific site for guidance on locating authorised versions.

Case Law

Many courts and tribunals make decisions publicly available via their websites shortly after a decision is handed down. These decisions can be located and identified via a medium neutral citation identifying the parties, the year of the decision, the relevant court and the number of the decision. Decisions may later be reported in published series of law reports.

Court and Tribunal Sites provide access to decisions of the court or tribunal as well as additional useful information such as relevant Rules, Procedures and Practice Directions.

Austlii

This website is administered by the Australian Legal Information Institute. The site provides access to legislation and caselaw from Australian jurisdictions and also the Australian Treaty Series.

Jade

Jade allows you to search for Australian caselaw. Subsequent judicial consideration is available through the panel on the right of the text of a decision. You can also set up RSS feeds and email alerts from Jade.

Law Reform

Law Reform agencies investigate areas of law, often seek submissions from interested parties and publish reports of their findings. The peak law reform agencies for the Australian Commonwealth, State and Territory governments are listed here along with a number of relevant government bodies also involved in this area.

Referencing Legal Sources

The Australian Guide to Legal Citation (4th edition) offers useful guidance on referencing legal sources as well as a list of Authorised Reports Series for Australian courts and a list of Law Report abbreviations.