A guide to accessing and using NSW Government publications both in print and online
As a general rule, use the Government of New South Wales Legislation page maintained by the Parliamentary Counsel’s Office.
Current acts & regulations
In force and repealed legislation
Current acts and regulations in force incorporating all amendments. Select from A-Z lists according to name of act or regulation; then select from alphabetical list.
According to this legislation website:
the In Force database is a dynamic collection. This material is constantly updated and any amendments are usually consolidated and annotated with currency details, tables of amendments and clause-by-clause histories, within a 3 day period of their commencement. ... In addition to the currently in force material, the In Force database also contains a growing collection of historical versions of current legislation, effectively providing point-in-time access.
All titles in the In Force database have complete sets of historical versions from a base date of 1 January 2002.
This website also has repealed legislation from a base date of 1 January 2002 and historical versions of that repealed legislation.
Australasian Legal Information Institute
Online free-access resource for Australian legal information. AustLII is a joint facility of the UTS and UNSW Faculties of Law. AustLII publishes public legal information -- that is, primary legal materials (legislation, treaties and decisions of courts and tribunals); and secondary legal materials created by public bodies for purposes of public access (law reform and royal commission reports for example) and a substantial collection of law journals.
For New South Wales legislation, Austlii has point-in-time Acts, Acts as made 1824-, Consolidated acts, Repealed acts, Consolidated regulations, EPIs (environmental planning instruments) as made 1990-, Regulations as made 1990-, Repealed regulations, Bills 1979- and Explanatory notes 1978- .
Acts and regulations as made
Acts (as originally passed by Parliament since 1824), regulations (as originally made since 1990, listed under titles of parent acts) and EPIs (environmental planning instruments as originally made: State environment planning policies and regional environmental plans since 1990. Local environment plans since 2001).
This is a static collection of legislation in the form in which it was originally enacted or made. It does not contain consolidated versions of legislation (ie, versions with subsequent amendments included).
For consolidated and constantly updated versions of legislation that are still in force use link to current acts and regulations in force.
Lists of acts, statutory instruments, environmental planning instruments, and associated matters as originally passed or made are available from the Tables section of the NSW Legislation website.
Bills
1997 to date
Full text of all bills introduced into Parliament from 1997. From 1999 onwards, bills are in pdf version. Includes track of progress of legislation showing when bill was introduced, passed Assembly, passed Council, assented to, etc. Usually there are also links to the explanatory notes and the minister’s second reading speech.
There's also assented bills from 1997 at the bills page of the Parliament of NSW. (For an explanation of assented bills see Bills glossary, Parliament of NSW.)
Explanatory notes
1978-
See the Explanatory notes page on AustLii
Historical acts and regulations
2001 (approx.) to date
Acts and regulations in force
This website can be used to find wording of act or regulation at a particular date, i.e. incorporating all amendments up to that date but not any made subsequently.
All titles in the In Force database have complete sets of historical versions from a base date of 1 January 2002. Selected titles in the In Force database have more extensive collections of historical versions, for example the Crimes Act 1900, and the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, and additional historical versions of key titles are in the process of being captured. Choose act or regulation required then select historical version at the top of the frame.
Government Gazettes
Some regulations are published in the NSW Government Gazette. Gazettes from 1900 to 2001 have been digitised and are available online through Trove. To find relevant details, in the search box enter the name of an Act in quotation marks, i.e. “Companion Animals Act 1998”, and the keyword 'regulation'.
Repealed acts and regulations
Mid-2002 (approx.) to date
Repealed acts and regulations can be searched from the In Force and repealed (NSW Legislation) website. This covers July 2002 to date for acts and October 2002 to date for regulations but some acts and regulations repealed earlier are also covered.
Can be used to find wording of act or regulation at a particular date or at repeal, i.e. incorporating all amendments up to that date but not any made subsequently.
Choose act or regulation required as described above, then select historical version button at top of frame. Then select version covering date required.
Reprinted acts (as available until 2008; first reprint held dated 1978)
Act ... reprinted as at ...
Reprints of New South Wales acts in force incorporating amendments up to date of reprint. Library has volumes 1-33, subsciption cancelled in 2008.
Note: Superseded reprints are discarded; not all acts were printed regularly. Filed alphabetically.
Use the online Acts as made 1824- and In Force legislation database with historical versions from 2002- in preference to retrieving hardcopy.
Cumulated acts 1957
The public acts of New South Wales 1824-1957
Cumulation of all New South Wales acts in force as at 1957 incorporating all amendments.
Stored at offsite store. Request through an Information Desk.
Cumulated acts 1937
The Public acts of New South Wales 1824-1937
Cumulation of all New South Wales acts in force as at 1937 incorporating all amendments.Index in vols. 12-13.
Acts
2000 to 2012
The statutes of New South Wales (public and private) passed during the session of …
Annual volumes including all acts passed during that year. SLV has not received volumes for 2001 or 2002 but does have 2003. Missing volumes are available at University of Melbourne Law Library.
SLV is no longer receiving loose copies of individual acts as passed. For recent acts, use online version.
Acts
1862 to 1999
The statutes of New South Wales (public and private) passed during the session of …
Located at offsite store but use the online version as first preference.
Acts
1824 to 1862
The public general statutes of New South Wales
Located at offsite store but use the As Made database from the office of the NSW Parliamentary Counsel as first preference.
Private acts
1832 to 1862
The private acts of New South Wales: from 3 Gulielmi IV to 26 Victoriae, inclusive (1832-1862)
According to the website of the NSW Parliamentary Counsel, these "are mainly 19th century Acts that passed through Parliament as Private Bills. They generally affect only a single individual or corporation and have a very limited application. A small number of titles with a wider and continuing application, are included on the In Force database. A list of all Private Acts appears in the Tables section."
Use the online version.
Bills
2011 to date
SLV is no longer receiving printed copies of bills. For bills since 1999, use online version.
Bills
1999-2011
[Bills presented to the Parliament of New South Wales].
Use the online version for the period 1987-.
Bills
1929 to 2011
[Bills presented to the Parliament of New South Wales].
Stored offsite, order at Information Desk.
Use the online version for bills 1987-
Explanatory notes
1987 to date
Explanatory notes for bills passed in ...
Explanatory notes 1987 onwards are available online.
Explanatory notes
1929 to 1986
Explanatory notes are bound with relevant bill. Not all bills have accompanying explanatory note. See above for details of bills.
Regulations, etc. – Current
New South Wales. Authorised reprinted statutory instruments
Reprinted rules, regulations, by-laws, ordinances, etc incorporating all amendments up to date of reprint.
In loose-leaf volumes 1-4; superseded reprints are discarded. SLV subscription cancelled. Use the online as made database for dates from 1990 instead.
Regulations, etc.
1999-2003, 2005, 2007-2008, 2009
Rules, regulations, by-laws, ordinances, etc. issued during the year ... : with appendix containing table of existing rules and regulations and index.
Use the online as made database for dates from 1990 instead.
Regulations, etc.
2000 to date, 1991 to 1995, 1983 to 1987, 1976 to 1981
New South Wales. Rules, regulations, by-laws, ordinances, etc. issued during the year …
SLV does not hold annual volumes for regulations in these years. They are available at University of Melbourne Law Library.
For regulations as made since 1990 onwards use online version instead.
Regulations, etc.
1919 to 1975, 1982, 1988 to 1990, 1996 to 1998
Rules, regulations, by-laws, ordinances, etc. issued during the year ... : with appendix containing table of existing rules and regulations and index.
At off-site store. Order at Information desk.
For regulations as made since 1990 onwards use online version instead.
Regulations, etc.
vol. 1 (1899/1902)-vol. 7 (1918)
N.S.W. rules, regulations and by-laws of practical utility to the legal profession.
At off-site store. Order at Information desk.
Acts
2001 to 2004
Acts tables
In loose-leaf binder on blue paper. SLV no longer receiving issues.
Although not an index, use the online full-text Acts and regulations in force to cover the period from 2002.
Acts
1856 to 2000
New South Wales. Legislative Council. Alphabetical list of acts
This is produced annually but latest issue at SLV is 2003 edition.
Use the online As Made database for acts from 1824.
Acts and regulations generally
Indexes for each year are bound with annual volumes of acts and regulations
Current acts & regulations and repealed acts & regulations
2002 to date approx. (for repealed acts and regulations)
The In Force and repealed legislation website can be used to search text or titles of acts and/or regulations in force and/or acts and/or regulations repealed. Use check boxes to select what you want to search.
Advanced search option requires use of common command language so is not generally recommended but can be used to do boolean searches if required.
Acts, regulations & explanatory notes as made
1990 to date
The As Made legislation website can be used to search titles or text of acts, regulations or explanatory notes as originally passed.
Use check boxes to select what you want to search. Advanced search option requires use of Common Command Language so is not generally recommended but can be used to do Boolean searches if required.
As Made legislation is also called annual or sessional legislation. On this site these instruments are maintained in pdf as a static archival collection, and added to progressively as new instruments are made.
The As Made legislation provided on the site consists of the following:
These are static documents and form a permanent archive of Acts and statutory instruments as they were originally passed or made.
