Finding Australian Capital Territory Legislation

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23 Finding Australian Capital Territory Legislation

Finding ACT Legislation

The ACT Legislation Register is the official source for legislation in the Australian Capital Territory. You can search or browse for legislation, and the Browse option also allows you to specify the category of document you are seeking e.g. Bills, Subordinate legislation, as well as specifying whether the item is Current, Repealed, etc.

The site also contains links to a variety of documents such as Administrative Arrangements, Court Procedures Rules, and the Territory Plan.

Under the Useful Resources link you can find guides to the ACT Renumbering Practice and Legislative Tables.

Finding current and point-in-time Acts

The browsing and searching options on the ACT Register default to Current Acts. To find point-in-time versions, select either Current and Repealed (All) from the drop-down menu, or if you are certain your item of interest is no longer in force, choose Repealed. Then browse or search as normal.

Finding historical Acts

Self-government began in the ACT in 1989 with the Self-Government Act. From that time the ACT was given the power to govern itself (power given by the Commonwealth). The Legislative Assembly was established by this Act, and it has the power to make laws for the “peace, order and good government of the Territory”. Prior to 1989, legislation impacting the ACT (or as it was known between 1911-1938, the Federal Capital Territory) was Commonwealth legislation, and it can be found on the Federal Register of Legislation.

Finding Bills & Extrinsic Materials

Bills are linked at the bottom of the relevant Act’s page in the Register. The Bill home page may also include material such as the Presentation speech, Committee reports and any amendments. Hansard is also sometimes included.

After clicking through to view the Bill, the Explanatory statement will be listed underneath, in multiple formats.

Finding historical Bills and parliamentary debates

The ACT Legislation Register has a menu item for Bills which allows for browsing or searching by the following categories:

Current
Passed (awaiting notification)
Never passed
All
By year.

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Legal Research Skills: An Australian Law Guide Copyright © 2025 by The University of Queensland, James Cook University, the University of Southern Queensland, Charles Darwin University, Southern Cross University, Queensland University of Technology, Deakin University, University of South Australia, Edith Cowan University, University of Tasmania and The Australian National University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.