Self Paced Lesson - Legislation - Subject Guide: 3: History of an Act - WA

The Operational Status of an Act

Western Australia:

You will find information about the operational status of an Act located in the Table of Acts located in the Notes at the end of the Act.
Take a look at the example below, which details the notes from Disability Services Act 1993 (WA).
You find this Act by going through the steps outlined in the topic Source an Act.
Find the Table of Contents of the Act then look for the page number where the Notes commence, which will be towards the end of the Act. 

What does this mean?

Take a look at this screen shot from the Notes section of the Disability Services Act 1993 (WA).
Look at the information on the first line of the Compilation table.
It contains the following elements:

• The short title of this Act is Disability Services Act 1993.
  The short title is generally given in section 1 of each Act.
  You need the short title to cite the Act correctly.
• The sessional details for the Disability Services Act 1993 is 36 of 1993 which means this Act the 36^th Act enacted in 1993.
  The number is given to the Act on Royal Assent.
• Royal Assent was granted on 16 December 1993.
  After an Act has passed through the legislative process in Parliament it is signed by the Governor of Western Australia.
  At this point the Act is said  to have received 'Assent' or 'Royal Assent'.
  An Act does not necessarily come into force on assent.
• Commencement date: The date the Act came into force, in the example given here is 23 December 1993.
  It is common for different sections of an Act will come into force at different times.
  • By convention, section 2 of an Act often gives the commencement details, as is the case with the Disability Services Act 1993 (WA), saying that provisions of the Act will come into force on a specific date, or ‘on proclamation’.
    A proclamation is a public announcement published in the Government Gazette and made by the Governor.  
  • If section 2 (or any other section) does not give any information about when the Act is to come into force then check the rules given in the Interpretation Act 1984 s 20(2) (WA).
    The rule for current legislation is that where no commencement date is provided in the Act, it will come into force 28 days after Royal Assent.

You can also find information about the operational status of Acts in the Index to Western Australian Statutes which is printed annually and kept up to date online under Legislative Information on the Western Australian Legislation website.

Step 1: Access Western Australian Legislation.

Step 2: Under the Legislation Information heading, select Acts.

Step 3: Under Acts in force select the appropriate letter for the Act in which you are interested.
In this case, select 'D' for Disability Services Act 1993.
Note that you can select a PDF or Word .doc version of this information.

Step 4: Here we have selected the PDF version. Scroll through the PDF document, or use a Ctrl + F search to locate the Disability Services Act 1993.

This is part of what you will find:

As you can see, the information found in the Notes section at the end of the Act itself is replicated in the first line here, namely the short title, sessional details, Royal Assent date and commencement details.
The other information contained here are details of Acts which have amended the Disability Services Act 1993 (WA) which will become relevant later in this topic, checking for amendments to Acts.

Now you know how to check the operational status of a Western Australian Act.

Amendments to an Act 

Western Australia:

You will find information about amendments to an Act at the end of the printed version an Act, or under the Notes section at the end of the Act.

Step 1: Locate the Disability Services Act 1993 (WA). Turn to the Notes section.

Step 2: Looking at the Notes section of the Disability Services Act 1993 you will see a lot of useful information, such as:

• The first act mentioned in this table is the Disability Services Act 1993 (WA) itself. 
• The first amending act is found on the next line: it  is section 19 of the Acts Amendment (Public Sector Management) Act 1994 (WA), which received Royal Assent on 29 June 1994 and came into force, as specified in the Acts Amendment (Public Sector Management) Act 1994 (WA) s 2, on proclamation.
  The proclamation that this Act was to come into force was made in the Government Gazette on 30 September 1994.
  The proclamation appeared on page 4948, and it specified that the Act was to come into force on 1 October 1994.  
• The Disability Services Act 1993 (WA) has been amended by many other acts, only a few are shown in the image here.
• Look down the list of amending acts from the Compilation table to see how many times this act has been amended.

If an amending Act is not operational, it is still listed in the Notes section at the end of the Act as an amending act but it clearly states that the amendment is ‘to be proclaimed’ in the commencement column as in the example below.

As stated previously in part 1 of this Topic, information about WA Acts is also available in the Index to Western Australian Statutes which is compiledannually.   

History of the section: amendments made by Parliament

Any change to a section of an Act is known as an amendment. Some amendments are significant (such as the repeal of a section or the insertion of a new section), while others are minor.

Hint: You may come across these abbreviations:

• (ad) = added
• (sub) = substituted.

Being aware of the history of a particular section of an Act is an important component of effective legal research.

Key factors that impact the history of a section of an Act include any amendments made by Parliament and any judicial consideration of the section that may impact upon its application to a particular set of facts or circumstances.

History of a Section of a Western Australian Act

In Western Australia, the legislative history of each section is noted in italics at the end of the section. 

The example below shows details of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 (WA) s 17.  Look at the information provided regarding amendments to this section.

This means the section was not in the original Act.  It was inserted in 1980, by section 6 of an Act with the sessional details 8 of 1980 and amended once in 1995, by section 18 of an Act with the sessional details 24 of 1995. To find the short title of these Acts, you would search via the sessional details as in the previous Topic.

If you are concerned about the meaning of a section you would trace the changes to words used in that section.

To trace the changes to section 17 of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 (WA) you would follow these steps:

Step 1: Locate the original version of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 (WA).

You can find the original version of this Act by using its sessional details - 53 of 1972.

Go to the Western Australian Legislation website. Select Acts as passed from the left-hand menu. Select 1972. Find number 53 - the original Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 (WA). This is the version of the Act as it was enacted.

Step 2: Next you need to locate the Act that inserted the 'new' section 17.

As we can see above, this 'new' section 17 was inserted by section 6 of an Act with the sessional details 8 of 1980.

Browsing through the Western Australian Legislation website as above reveals that this Act is the Aboriginal Heritage Amendment Act (No 2) 1980 (WA).

Turn to section 6 of this Act and we will see the 'new' section 17 as inserted.

Step 3: Next you need to locate the Act that amended the 'new' section 17.

As we can see above, this 'new' section 17 was amended by section 18 of an Act with the sessional details 24 or 1995.

Browsing through the Western Australian Legislation website as above reveals that this Act is the Aboriginal Heritage Amendment Act 1995 (WA).

Turn to section 18 of this Act and we will see the amendments made to section 17 of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 (WA).

Step 4: Taking into consideration all of these amendments gives us the current version of section 17 of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 (WA) at the time of writing (August 2016).

To manually update the Act:

You need the original Act, and copies of the two amending Acts, scissors, glue and a red pen.

If you were ‘cutting and pasting’, (with scissors and glue) you would cut out the new amending section 6 of Aboriginal Heritage Act Amendment Act (No 2) 1980 (WA) and stick it in the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 next to section 17 – making a note that the section has changed.
This would create a hinged flap, with the Amendment overlaying the original text, so you could still read the original wording.

Alternatively, if only a word or so were changed, you would use a red pen to cross out any deletions and write in new words above or in the margins.
This allowed readers to see the original words, and the new words as well as clearly see the changes.

Finally, find Act No 24 of 1995 which is called the Aboriginal Heritage Amendment Act 1995 (WA) and turn to section 18.
Repeat the ‘cutting and pasting’ process above to record the changes.

Reprints & Version Details

Western Australia

Amendments to Acts may only change a word or two in the current version of an Act or they may be very significant.

Note that on the Western Australian Legislation each Act has headings for Current Version, Versions and Reprints.
Old versions and reprints allow researchers and practitioners to jump back in time to see what the legislation was at a particular point in time.

Reprints

A reprint of an Act is an official consolidation of the original Act and all subsequent amendments up to a specified point in time.
The date of the reprint is given in the compilation table found at the end of the Act as in the example below.  

The reprint is an official or authorised document created under statutory rules - Reprints Act 1984 (WA) and Amendments Incorporation Act 1905 (Cth).
The reprint is a physical print document.

In Western Australia, an electronic consolidation of an Act (or version - see below) is not currently considered authoritative, and if required for court purposes, the most recent reprints along with subsequent amendments, should be used.

Step 1: Access the Western Australian Legislation website
Select Acts - in force.

Step 2: Select the Act you require using the alphabetic list provided. In this example, find the Disability Services Act 1993 (WA).

Step 3: Open the Act.

Step 4: Scroll through the Act until you get to the Notes section which includes the Compilation Table.

Step 5: Go to the end of the Compilation Table and you will see information regarding amendments reprints, and subsequent amendments to this Act.

Take a look at the example above.
You can see that at the time of writing (August 2016) the Disabilities Services Act 1993 (WA) has been reprinted four times, most recently on the 2 August 2013.
If you find a more recent reprint than this, then this demonstrates the dynamic nature of the law and the importance of always checking that the legislation you are consulting is up to date.

Another way to find this information is:

• Go to the Western Australian Legislation website.
  Select Legislation information.
• Select the Act you require using the alphabetic list provided.
  You should then see the Act, its amendments and reprint details.

Point in Time: Act Reprints

Imagine that you have a set of circumstances which occurred on 31 January 2011.
As a consequence you need to get the Disability Services Act 1993 (WA) as it was on 31 January 2011, ready for court purposes.
As stated above, an electronic version is not currently considered authoritative so you would need to take the relevant reprint and any amendments up to the date 31 January 2011.  Look at the compilation table at the end of the Disability Services Act 1993 (WA).
The reprint which was produced closest in time before the 31 January 2011 is Reprint 3 which consolidated all the amendments to the Disability Services Act 1993 (WA) up to 21 September 2007.
You would also need to have printed copies of the relevant amendments.
Look at the compilation table at the end of the Act and you will see the relevant amendments are the acts with the sessional details 19 of 2010, 33 of 2010 and 39 of 2010.

Versions

Point in Time: Act Versions

A version  of an Act is the electronic compilation of the Act which is added to the Western Australian Legislation website when an amendment has been made.  It is not reproduced by the State Law Publisher as a printed document.
This is why you will find far more versions than reprints.
Every time an amendment is made to an Act, a new version of the Act appears on the Western Australian Legislation website, whereas a reprint appears periodically incorporating a number of amendments (see above).
Think  about the example used above again,  this time  in the  context of which electronic version would you need, if you were presented with a set of circumstances which occurred on 31 January 2011 and as a consequence, needed to know what this Act said on that date.

Step 1: Locate the Western Australian Legislation page for the Disability Services Act 1993 (WA).

Step 2: Select Versions of this Act

Step 3:  From the resulting list, you would check the date ranges for each of the versions and select the version of the Disability Services Act 1993 (WA) which was current on 31 January, 2011.

In this example, the version of the Act which was current on 31 January 2011 is the version that had a Currency start date of 01 December 2010 and a Currency end date of 21 November 2012.
This version of the Act is identified by the Suffix 03-i0-01.

The suffix is used the distinguish each version so that it is easy to determine which one you are looking at and therefore determine the correct date range for when the version was current.

Amendments Since the Most Recent Reprint

Western Australia:

You will find amendments made to an Act since the last reprint listed below the details of the last reprint in the compilation table found at the end of the Act. 

Take another look at the example given above from the compilation table of the Disability Services Act 1993 (WA).  

You can see underneath Reprint 4 (the most recent reprint) there have been two Acts that have amended the Disability Services Act 1993 (WA) since Reprint 4.
At the time of writing (September 2020) the amending Acts are:

• Disability Services Amendment Act 2014 (WA)
• Declared Places (Mentally Impaired Accused) Act 2015 (WA)
• Procurement Act 2020 (WA)

Imagine you were looking at this Act on 1 August 2013, the day before the latest reprint (Reprint 4).
You would then see that details of 4 Acts which have amended the Disabilities Services Act 1993 (WA) since the penultimate reprint in September 2007.
If you are using Index to Western Australian Statutes which is printed annually and kept up to date online under Legislative Information, new entries are made in red and include amendments, new reprints or changes which have been made since 1 January of the current year.  

The example below, shows the amendments since the last reprint of the Disability Services Act 1993 (WA).
Any amendments which have come into force since 1 January this year, appear in red. Take a look at the first 3 amendments.
These both came into force on proclamation.
You can tell this is the case as details are given regarding the date in which the proclamations appeared in the Government Gazette.
Take a look at the fourth amendment shown below.
Sections 1 & 2 came into force on the same day the Act received Royal Assent.
The remainder of the Act came into force on 12 June 2013, on proclamation. For the first amendment listed since Reprint 4, sections 1 & 2 came into force on the same day as the Act received Royal Assent.
The remainder came into force on 1 July 2014.
The image below demonstrates how the new amendments are displayed in red.

The law is very dynamic and Acts are frequently amended. It is important to ensure that you are looking at the correct version of the Act for the point in time in which you need it, be that the current version or for a particular date. 

You can also find amendments made to an Act since the last reprint listed in the History of this Act, which is listed on the landing page of each Act.

The Operational Status of Amendments Made Since the Most Recent Reprint

Western Australia

To ascertain the operational status of amendments made since the most recent reprint, follow the same steps you went through to ascertain the operational status of the Act itself.  

Look at the example taken from the History of this Act document.
There have been three amendments since the last reprint of the Disability Services Act 2003 (WA), and according to the index, they are currently in force.

Take note of the section in the Notes titled Provisions that have not come into operation.

You will see one Act listed under this heading in the Disability Services Act 2003 (WA);  the State Superannuation (Transitional and Consequential Provisions) Act 2000 (WA) which has the sessional details of 43 of 2000 and which has not yet come into force.
As a consequence of it not being in operation, the reprint doesn't include the amendments contained in 43 of 2000.

More information regarding sessional details can be found within this Lesson.

Citing Acts

It is vital that an Act is cited correctly, with every Act/section properly specified.
Check the Australian Guide to Legal Citation to read about variations in acceptable citation format, and how to add a note to indicate which jurisdiction passed the Act.
Information for citing Acts can also be found from the AGLC Referencing Guide page.

Keeping up to date

State Law Publisher offers subscriptions to an email notification service which can help you keep up to date with Western Australian legislative changes.

Subscribe to alerts for

• amendments made to specific Acts
• legislative updates on a topic