• Use the Act's short title in italics
• Include the year following the title, whether or not it is included in the short title
• Include the jurisdiction in which the Act was passed
• Include pinpoint references of an abbreviation and a number, separated by a space
• The abbreviation should correspond to the highest ‘level’ cited in the pinpoint reference
• Use short titles for portions of legislation, rather than to the legislation as a whole
• Cite Commonwealth Acts first, then state and territory Acts in alphabetical order by jurisdiction if citing equivalent Acts across multiple Australian jurisdictions
• Statutes are considered 'media neutral', so do not include database, nor access date, in the citation
• Include an abbreviated form of the jurisdiction in which the Act was passed following the year.
• Include jurisdiction abbreviation in parentheses (round brackets).
• Jurisdiction should not be italicised (rule 3.1.3).
• Use the following abbreviations for Australian jurisdictions:
| Jurisdiction | Abbreviation |
| Commonwealth | Cth |
| Australian Capital Territory | ACT |
| New South Wales | NSW |
| Northern Territory | NT |
| Queensland | Qld |
| South Australia | SA |
| Tasmania | Tas |
| Victoria | Vic |
| Western Australia | WA |
• Use an abbreviation of a designation and a number, separated by a space
• Place numbered or lettered subsections in parentheses immediately following the section number
• Do not separate the section number and subsection number by a space eg s 3(a), not s 3 (a)
• Use the abbreviation that corresponds to the highest 'level' of a section (or paragraph etc) for references to a section and a subsection (or paragraph and a subparagraph etc) eg s 31(1), not sub-s 31(1)
• Do not place a comma between each abbreviation-number combination where multiple combinations of an abbreviation and a number are needed to form one pinpoint reference eg pt III div 2, not pt III, div 2
• Use the whole of the decimal number preceded by the abbreviation of the lowest 'level' of section, part, chapter, etc, cited (eg s 2.3.5 not ch 2.3.5) where an Act uses a decimal numbering system (often in the form Chapter . Part . Section )
| s 2 | s 108AB | sub-s (3) |
| pt V | s 5(1) | s 2(3) |
| ch III | s 14(1)(a) | s 28(1)(a)(i) |
| pt 7 div 3 sub-div 8 | s 13 [Not: pt 2 s 13] | cl 14(3)(a) |
• Consecutive pinpoints should appear separated by an en-dash (–)
eg sub-ss (2)–(3)
• Non-consecutive pinpoints should be separated by commas
eg ss 5, 7, 9, 28
• Quotations of 3 lines or less should be incorporated into the text using single quotation marks.
• Quotations of 4 lines or more should appear indented from the left margin, in a smaller font size, and without quotation marks.
• Legislative and treaty extracts, however long, may also appear this way.
• Quotations should appear exactly as they do in the original source.
• Check the AGLC for exceptions.
• Unnumbered definitions should be cited as follows:
s Section Number (definition of ' Defined Term ')
• If there are multiple paragraphs within the definition and a particular one is used, reference to the paragraph should be preceded by 'para'.
• If definitions are numbered, each definition should be cited as a normal section of an Act
Standard format for footnote
Act:
|
Act Title Year (Jurisdiction) Pinpoint <URL>.
|
Australian Constitution:
|
Australian Constitution Pinpoint <URL>.
|
Definition:
|
Act Title Year ( Jurisdiction ) s Section Number (definition of ' Defined Term ') <URL>.
|
Standard format for bibliography
Act:
|
Act Title Year ( Jurisdiction )
|
Australian Constitution:
|
Australian Constitution
|
Definition:
|
Act Title Year ( Jurisdiction )
|
1 Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Act 2005 (Cth) pt 3A div 2.
2 Australian Constitution s 51(ii).
3 Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld) ch 2 pt 1 div 4.
4 Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) sch 2 ('Australian Consumer Law').
5 Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) s 9 (definition of 'administrator' para (a)(i)).
6 Criminal Code Act 1913 (WA).
7 Evidence Act 1995 (NSW).
8 Financial Framework Legislation Amendment Act (No 2) 2012 (Cth).
9 Financial Framework Legislation Amendment Act (No 3) 2012 (Cth).
10 Gambling Regulation Act 2003 (Vic) s 3.2.1.
11 Habeas Corpus Act 2001 (NZ).
12 Human Rights Act 1998 (UK) s 6(1).
13 Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Cth) s 20-110(1)(a).
14 Migration Act 1958 (Cth).
15 Migration Regulation 1994 (Cth) sch 2 cl 679.224.
16 A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Consequential Related Measures) Act (No 1) 1999 (Cth).
17 Property Law Act 1958 (Vic) s 3 (definition of 'legal practitioner').
18 Social Welfare Ordinance 1964 (NT).
19 Unlawful Assemblies and Processions Act 1958 (Vic) ss 5-6, 10-12, 26-9.
20 Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) ss 28F—28G.
Example: Migration Act 1958 (Cth)
To refer to a section within the Act:
To refer to multiple sections of an Act together:
In footnotes: Migration Act 1958 (Cth) s 278
Rule 3.1.4 Pinpoint References, Rule 3.1.5 Multiple Pinpoint References, Rule 3.4 Delegated Legislation
Clause cl
Paragraph par
Regulation reg
Regulations regs
Schedule sch
Section s
Sections ss
Subclass sub-c
Sub-clause sub-cl
Sub-regulation sub-reg
Subsection sub–s
Subsections sub-ss
To refer to a visa class
To refer to a visa subclass
To refer to a specific clause or sub-clause within a schedule