Law 

Extrinsic legal materials are those documents, mentioned in the  Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth) s 15AB and Interpretation Act 1984 (WA) s 19, which can be used to assist in the interpretation of an Act.   The following materials are classified as extrinsic materials and will provide useful background information and clarification of legislation.

 

 

Explanatory Memoranda are often issued with Commonwealth Bills and recently with WA Bills. They give information on the intention of the proposed act.

 

Scan the Explanatory Memorandum to find mention of any relevant report of a Royal Commission, Law Reform body, etc. which may be useful to determine the intent of the act or to assist in interpretation of the act.

 

The Library arranges Bills alphabetically by title within each session and files any Explanatory Memorandum behind its Bill.

 

 

 

 Debates & 2nd Reading Speeches

 

 

 

Commonwealth:

Bills Digests are produced by the Parliamentary Research Service of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library. Although they do not have any legal status as extrinsic aids, they provide useful information on the purpose and background of Bills. Digests for Bills introduced from 1995 onwards are available on the Internet.

 

 

 

West Australia:

Bills Digests are only available online with the Bill.

 

 

 

Progress of Bills through Parliament (WA) is located at

R 348.94101 W527.  This listing of Bills includes cross references to the House where the bill was presented and the page number of the debate in Hansard.  This is updated regularly on the parliamentary web site.

 

 

 

Locate reports mentioned in an Explanatory Memorandum or Parliamentary debate by searching in the Library's online catalogue.

 

Corporate authors (such as government bodies) are often most easily located searching the catalogue using the Keyword function.  To locate a corporate author select Keyword from the menu and key in some distinct words from the corporate author's name.

 

 

Internet Access:

Most government reports are now published on the internet.

 

Commonwealth of Australia:

Browse through the Departments and Agencies listing and work through the individual site options or search the whole government site.

  

Western Australia:

Go to the Government web site and browse through the government agency, which may have published the report you are looking for.

 

 

 

In addition reports tabled in Parliament are often published as Parliamentary Papers.   The Library holds a complete set of Commonwealth Parliamentary Papers located in the Government Publications Collection, Level 3 South Wing, at 

GR 328.9401 A938 1 and Western Australian Parliamentary papers, published as part of the Minutes and votes and proceedings of the Parliament, at GR 328.94101 W527.

 

Some Parliamentary papers are available online. 

 

 

Law Reform Commission Materials