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Extrinsic materials are documents, defined within a jurisdiction's Interpretation Act, which can used in court to interpret the meaning and intent of legislation.
Section 15AB of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth) identifies extrinsic materials as including:
- reports of Royal Commissions, Law Reform Commissions, and committees of inquiry
- treaties and international agreements
- explanatory memoranda
- parliamentary debates (Hansard), including second reading speeches
Second Reading Speeches are sections of parliamentary debate.
Parliamentary debates, also known as Hansard, are the substantially verbatim reports of debates and speeches made by members of the houses of parliament.
They should be cited using the following format:
Jurisdiction, Parliamentary Debates, Chamber, Full Date of Debate, Pinpoint (Name of Speaker).
If the speaker holds a position within a ministry or shadow minister that is particularly relevant, this can be included in the citation using the following format:
Jurisdiction, Parliamentary Debates, Chamber, Full Date of Debate, Pinpoint (Name of Speaker, Position).
AGLC rule 7.5.1 has more detail
Parliamentary papers should be cited using the following format (AGLC rule 7.1.2):
Committee, Legislature, Title, (Document Type/Series No Number, Full Date) Pinpoint.
Parliamentary committee reports should be cited using the following format (AGLC rule 7.1.2):
Committee, Legislature, Title (Document Type/Series No Document Number, Full Date), Pinpoint.
Where a committee is from one chamber of Parliament and this is not clear, this should be added to the start of the committee's name.
Where the report includes both page and paragraph numbers, the paragraph numbers may form part of the pinpoint reference in addition to the page numbers.
Law reform commission reports should be cited using the following format (AGLC rule 7.1.4):
Author/Name of Law Reform Commission, Title (Document Type/Series No Number, Full Date) Pinpoint.
The type of document should always be included, i.e. Report, Discussion Paper, Issues Paper.
Examples:
Australian Law Reform Commission, Elder Abuse (Discussion Paper No 83, December 2016) 4.
Australian Law Reform Commission, Family Law for the Future: An Inquiry into the Family Law System (Report No 135, March 2019) 103.
Royal commission reports should be cited using the following format (AGLC rule 7.1.3 ):
Title (Document Type/Series No Document Number, Full Date) Pinpoint.