Comlaw Home

Skip to Content Australian Goverment Comlaw Banner

Help | Feedback | My Comlaw

Advanced Search

GET STARTED

How to use ComLaw PDF 1.1MB

How to read legislation

Explore the law: an A-Z of key jargon

What lawmakers need to know

More help

ANNOUNCEMENTS

If you recently took the time to complete our survey on ComLaw and how we can make it better, thank you! Your feedback is helping us set our IT priorities for 2012-13.

ComLaw may be slow or unavailable during periods of scheduled maintenance. Please let us know if you experience any significant performance issues outside these hours.

Next scheduled maintenance: Saturday 26 May, 7:00am - 10:00am. | More Announcements | Report an issue

Looking for information on recent changes in the law? New and amended laws on ComLaw that are attracting significant community interest right now include:

Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (formerly known as the Trade Practices Act 1974)

Corporations Act 2001

Fair Work Act 2009

Fair Work Regulations 2009

Healthcare Identifiers Act 2010

Healthcare Identifiers Regulations 2010

Healthcare Identifiers (Consequential Amendments) Act 2010

National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (incorporating the Consumer Credit Code)

National Consumer Credit Protection Regulations 2010

National Consumer Credit Protection (Transitional and Consequential Provisions) Act 2009

Paid Parental Leave Act 2010

Paid Parental Leave Rules 2010

Paid Parental Leave (Consequential Amendments) Act 2010

Personal Property Securities Act 2009

Personal Property Securities (Consequential Amendments) Act 2009

Territories Self-Government Legislation Amendment (Disallowance and Amendment of Laws) Act 2011

Work Health and Safety Act 2011

For more information on what’s new, go to the Find It Fast bar now at the top of every page. You can also use Advanced Search to locate all the laws that come into force on particular day.

Want to nominate a title for this page? Please contact us with the details.

Some laws are more significant than others, in that they set out enduring legal principles and frameworks that affect a large part of the Australian community. Among the most significant laws on ComLaw are:

The Constitution	Family Law Act 1975
Administrative Arrangements Order	Family Law Regulations 1984
Acts Interpretation Act 1901	Federal Court Rules 2011
Acts Publication Act 1905	Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997
Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977	Freedom of Information Act 1982
Aged Care Act 1997	Income Tax Assessment Act 1936
Bankruptcy Act 1966	Income Tax Assessment Act 1997
Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989	High Court Rules 2004
Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988	Legislative Instruments Act 2003
Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997	Legislative Instruments Regulations 2004
Competition and Consumer Act 2010	Migration Act 1958
Corporations Act 2001	Migration Regulations 1994
Crimes Act 1914	Migration Agents Regulations 1998
Criminal Code Act 1995	Personal Property Securities Act 2009
Customs Act 1901	Privacy Act 1988
Customs Regulations 1926	Public Service Act 1999
Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956	Racial Discrimination Act 1975
Customs (Prohibited Exports) Regulations 1958	Sex Discrimination Act 1984
Disability Discrimination Act 1992	Social Security Act 1991
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999	Trade Practices Act 1974 (now the Competition and Consumer Act 2010)
Evidence Act 1995	Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986
Fair Work Act 2009	Work Health and Safety Act 2011

To find one of the many other titles available on ComLaw, use the Find It Fast bar now at the top of every page.

Choose a category for tips on what something is and where to find it on ComLaw and beyond.

Acts	Court and tribunal documents	Orders
Administrative Arrangements Orders	Declarations	Ordinances
Agreements	Deeds including trust deeds	Permissions and permits
Airworthiness Directives	Delegations	Plans
Annual reports	Designations	Prerogative instruments
Applied Law Compilations	Directions	Principles
Approvals	Disallowable instruments	Proclamations
Arrangements	Exemptions	Recognition
Australian Design Rules	Explanatory Memorandums (EMs)	Regulatory Impact Statements
Authorisations and Authority	Explanatory Statements (ESs)	Regulations
Bills	Gazettes	Rules
By-laws	Guides and Guidelines	Rulings
Certificates	Instructions	Schemes
Charters	Legislative instruments (LIs)	Select Legislative instruments (SLIs)
Chief Executive Instructions (CEIs)	Legislation tables	Specifications
Codes including Codes of Practices	Licences	Standards
Commencement instruments	Letters patent	Statutes
Commonwealth Reserved Laws	Measures	Statutory Rules
Consents	Notices and notifications	Tariff concession orders
Constitution, The		Treaties

To browse the categories for which tips are available, go to Explore the law: an A-Z of key jargon.

Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry	Health and Ageing
Attorney-General's	Human Services
Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy	Immigration and Citizenship
Climate Change and Energy Efficiency	Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education
Defence	Infrastructure and Transport
Education, Employment and Workplace Relations	Prime Minister and Cabinet
Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs	Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport
Finance and Deregulation	Resources, Energy and Tourism
Foreign Affairs and Trade	Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities
	Treasury
	Veterans' Affairs

Australia's ten Territories are home to over half a million Australians. Each territory has different legal origins, and a different relationship with the Australian Government. Choose the territory you are interested in for details of its laws and governance:

Ashmore and Cartier Islands	Coral Sea Islands
Australian Antarctic Territory	Heard and McDonald Islands
Australian Capital Territory (ACT)	Jervis Bay Territory
Christmas Island*	Norfolk Island
Cocos (Keeling) Islands*	Northern Territory (NT)

In the past, the Australian Government has also administered territory in Nauru, New Guinea and Papua. These territories have since become the independent nations of Nauru and of Papua New Guinea.

For more information about how Australia acquired its external territories - that is, all territories except the ACT, the NT and Jervis Bay Territory - please see Alan Kerr's book A Federation In These Seas This link will take you away from ComLaw .

*these two territories are jointly administered and are also known as the Indian Ocean Territories (IOTs)

ComLaw contains a huge amount of current and historical information - but it does not cover ALL sources of Australian law. To browse other sources of Australian law, choose the jurisdiction and type of information that interests you:

Commonwealth of Australia	Parliament	Legislation	Caselaw	Gazettes	More
New South Wales	Parliament	Legislation	Caselaw	Gazettes	More
Victoria	Parliament	Legislation	Caselaw	Gazettes	More
Queensland	Parliament	Legislation	Caselaw	Gazettes	More
Western Australia	Parliament	Legislation	Caselaw	Gazettes	More
South Australia	Parliament	Legislation	Caselaw	Gazettes	More
Tasmania	Parliament	Legislation	Caselaw	Gazettes	More
Australian Capital Territory	Parliament	Legislation	Caselaw	Gazettes	More
Northern Territory	Parliament	Legislation	Caselaw	Gazettes	More
Norfolk Island	Parliament	Legislation	Caselaw	Gazettes	More

Many jurisdictions are working together to harmonise their legislation, and harmonised or 'model' laws have been developed and enacted on more than 60 issues. Work is continuing on other issues through bodies including the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) This link will take you away from ComLaw and the Standing Council on Law and Justice (SCLJ, formerly known as the Standing Committee on Attorneys-General or SCAG) .