How do Australians find out about new laws?
Parts of a bill
Parliamentary Education Office (peo.gov.au)
Parts of a bill
Parliamentary Education Office (peo.gov.au)
Description
The different sections of a bill – The top third shows the bill title and year, the middle third shows an excerpt from bill clauses and sub-clauses, the bottom third shows excerpts from bill definitions.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
You are free to share – copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
Non-commercial – You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
No derivatives – If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
No additional restrictions – You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Waiver – any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.
When the Parliament passes a new law or amends – changes – an existing one, the minister responsible for the new law works with their department to make people aware of it. This includes communicating with other government agencies and departments.
The media also reports on the bills – proposed laws – the Parliament is considering. If a new law creates a change that will affect Australians, the minister will hold a media conference to publicise and explain the law.
All Australian laws are listed on the Federal Register of Legislation. The Parliament House website lists all the bills – proposals for new laws or changes to existing ones – that have been introduced into the Australian Parliament since 1996. By searching this webpage, you can find out when a bill was introduced, information about the bill and when it received Royal Assent to become law.