New - NSW legislation

What's new

Launch of a new website

We expect to launch our new website on Monday, 31 August.

We’re working hard in the time left to make sure it’s ready but there’s a bit of time left for you to preview it as the beta site or to revisit to see the changes since you last looked—we still welcome your feedback. Be sure to make use of the Help (FAQ) page where you’ll find answers to the feedback questions we’ve been asked during the development period.

Legislation websites are by their nature and content very complex and our new site features more advanced functionality than we’ve previously offered. While we’ve checked our content and all functionality extensively, there will inevitably be some glitches. Please let us know if you spot anything that’s not quite right so we can fix it.

Note—
Please note that until the new website is launched, this website remains the official website for NSW legislation.

NSW Government Gazette—a new way to lodge notices

From the week beginning Monday, 31 August we’re introducing a new way to lodge and publish gazette notices and a new format for the gazette.

We’re rolling out our gazette notice lodgement portal, an online system we’ve developed in-house and had tested by some of our regular gazette clients. To lodge a notice, you’ll log in from the Gazette page on the legislation website where you’ll find links to how-to videos, FAQs and an email ready to send to a dedicated Gazette Help box. Our gazette team will also be happy to help on the phone.

The new gazette format will involve compiling individual subject category volumes to make it easier for gazette users to find relevant notices. Notices will appear in the volume for the category selected when a notice is lodged and the volumes will continue to be published on the Gazette page of the legislation website.

More detail will be available in the emails you receive from now on when you contact our gazette team. Please note that until the new website is launched, this website remains the official website for NSW legislation.

URL change for legislation website—saved links may break

For security reasons, we need to change the URL for the NSW legislation website. The new URL is here

If you have saved links or bookmarks for the old URL, these may break after the changeover—you will need to re-set them.

We apologise for any inconvenience.

In force collection—amendment Acts not included

From 1 July 2020 we are changing our approach to how we publish amendment Acts.

Amendment Acts will no longer be available in the In force collection and updated versions of those Acts with commenced provisions removed will not be produced.

The original versions of all amendment Acts will still be available in the As made collection and consolidated versions of legislation will continue to be available in the In force collection as soon as possible after the amendments commence.

Archive of What's new

2019

Print-on-demand now available for NSW legislation

You can now use links on the website to shop online to purchase professionally printed and bound copies of NSW legislation in a choice of formats from LitSupport (TIMG), the preferred supplier for hard copy NSW legislation. See our factsheet for more information.

New Parliamentary Counsel’s Office corporate website

We’ve also recently launched our revamped corporate website, which has a whole new look and feel as well as revised and updated content about the office and its work, including a page specifically for policy officers who work with PCO on draft legislation.

Welcome to our new Home page

This is our new-look Home page for the NSW legislation website—we hope you like it!

The updated look and feel for the Home page is just the first of the enhanced features and advanced functionality we’ll be developing and rolling out over the next few years, all aimed at delivering better access for users of NSW legislation. We’ll also have factsheets and FAQs available on the website to help you make the most of all the new features. Keep an eye on this ‘What’s new’ column for announcements.

We’d love to hear what you think about the changes as they happen—send us an email via the Feedback link on the right-hand side of the banner at the top of the page.

‘This week’
The Home page now features automatically generated quick-link access in collapsible lists to most legislation published on the website each week.

2018

XML data for In Force legislation

(May 2018)

The In Force collection is now available for download in XML format. XML format is useful for republishing or other processing of legislation.

The free XML data download uses PCO’s ExchangeXML.dtd under a Creative Commons licence. The DTD and URL, linking and licensing information are available from XML files for the In Force collection.

The XML download replaces a previous weekly paid subscription service.

2017

NSW Bills standing in type

This is a collection of bills covering the period of 1896-1958 and are available in PDF format.

The collection consists mostly of bills that were printed but not introduced into Parliament at the close of a particular session. Some of the bills were introduced but then lapsed and some were introduced and subsequently passed in a later session.

The bills are often stamped as being a "rough draft for consideration only" and some contain explanatory notes.

New links between In Force and As Made titles

References in the text of In Force legislation to titles that are only available in the As Made PDF collection now link to that collection. Previously, links to NSW legislation in the In Force text were limited to other titles in the In Force collection. These links can most readily be seen and used from the Historical notes of In Force titles, such as in the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2000.

If an In Force version (whether still current or repealed) is available, the link will continue to be to that version.

Links to As Made titles provide direct connections to amending statutory instruments (including EPIs) and to Acts that were repealed before the legislation website was created and so do not form part of the In Force collection.

While most references to titles will now have a link, there are some limitations:

the collection in As Made of statutory instruments only goes back to 1990 for regulations, SEPPs and similar instruments, and 2001 for LEPs, so no links are available before then
links to older Acts and principal instruments that are not in the In Force collection will be to the As Made version (not the legislation as amended). Various records for researching changes to legislation can be found on the LegInfo menu, under Legislation Tables < Archive of superseded and miscellaneous tables
a link is only available if the legislation has and is referred to by a unique name, but some legislation only has a description or generic label (such as 'Commencement Proclamation'), so these items will not link even though they may be available in the As Made collection
the former methods used to create and update components of legislation may mean some links are not available, for example in the Historical notes where amendments may have been referred to by a description or a dete instead of a title
as previously, references to legislation of other jurisdictions will not link (except Commonwealth legislation, which will continue to link to the Federal Register of Legislation). See also Related links.

References to NSW Bills will continue to link to the Bills collection.

New PDF option for In Force legislation

A new way to make PDFs of In Force legislation has been added to the website—see the "Generate a PDF for this page" icon on the main dark blue menu bar. You can now:

generate a PDF for any component of in force legislation, from whole titles to Parts, Schedules and individual sections
generate a PDF for any component of historical versions of legislation (for example, the Crimes Act 1900 as it was in 1977)
generate a PDF as and when you need it, whenever a change is made to legislation

See also the detailed "How to" information in Help.

IMPORTANT—to make a PDF of a whole title, select the "Whole title" button first. The "Whole title" button can be found on the light blue document menu. Then click on the PDF icon on the dark blue menu.

This new PDF option replaces the previous static PDF file that was available only for some legislation titles and often not available at all for historical legislation. These previous PDFs were manually prepared and difficult to maintain in an up-to-date form for current legislation. They were also limited to whole titles only, instead of having a choice of which part of legislation was available as a PDF. This previous PDF service has been discontinued.

LegInfo menu and Tables

The new Legislation Information (LegInfo) menu includes overviews of how legislation is made in NSW and constitutional legislation in NSW. There is also some information on how to read NSW legislation, including a Guide to interpreting NSW legislation.

The Legislation Tables formerly available from a separate menu are now part of the LegInfo menu.

2016

A word about browsers

To make the most of the updated features for mobile and desktop access, you may need to update or change your web browser. Older browsers may not support these functions as well as newer ones do, and may be slower. This site works best in Chrome and Firefox, but is also effective in Safari. Internet Explorer is not recommended. If you encounter a technical problem, please check your browser. You can also send us feedback by contacting the Webmaster

Mobile devices

The website now senses and responds to mobile phones and tablets. In this mode, there are a number of display differences, including menus that stack to fit on all screens, scrolling alphabets for browse lists, the option to switch between the text and the table of contents for In Force legislation, and improved date picker options for the legislation tables. Other changes that make mobile use easier include accordions to shorten and improve the readability of the general text pages, and the use of icons for quick visual reference.

The main menu includes a link so you can toggle between the desktop and mobile layouts whenever you want to.

Accessibility

The frames previously used to create the different areas on the website, such as the table of contents for In Force legislation, have been removed. This makes the legislation easier to navigate for users of assistive technology. "Skip to content" links have been added on all pages to provide for more flexible keyboard navigation of legislation.

The entire website now meets level AA criteria under the WCAG guidelines.

For more options and information about the accessibility functions, including access keys, see Accessibility.

Explanatory notes to Bills

Other redesign features

URLs have been updated to make them more meaningful and easier to see, and to make linking more intuitive. All existing links will continue to work on the updated site.

Most features and functionality of the website are unchanged, but the overall presentation of the site has been modernised and streamlined.

Fonts, colours, information pages and menu links have also been updated and refreshed.

2015

Expand and collapse options on table of contents

Each item of legislation in the In Force database has a table of contents, some of which can be quite long. To improve navigation options, the detail in this table can now be fully expanded or collapsed at Chapter or Part level by clicking on the Expand or Collapse buttons at the top of the contents. In addition, individual provisions such as Chapters, Parts, Divisions and Subdivisions can be collapsed or expanded as needed by clicking on the show/hide arrow to the left of the provision.

2014

Relocation of NSW Government Gazette to NSW legislation Website

On 1 January 2014 the NSW Government Gazette moved from a print-based subscription service to official online publication on the NSW legislation Website. Printed copies of the Gazette, and quarterly bound volumes, are no longer being produced and distributed.

The Interpretation Act 1987 has recently been amended to authorise the Gazette to be published on the legislation Website and to give official status to the online version of the Gazette.

Lodgment information

The Gazette is now compiled by the Parliamentary Counsel's Office and the contact information for lodgment of notices in the Gazette from 1 January 2014 is:

email: nswgazette@pco.nsw.gov.au
telephone (02) 9321 3356

Copy for inclusion in the Gazette should be emailed in Microsoft Word format by close of business on Wednesday for publication in Friday's Gazette. Only electronic lodgment of notices for publication will be accepted.

Access to the current week's Gazette on NSW legislation Website

Access to the latest authorised edition of the Gazette in PDF format is through the Notification-Gazette page (previously the Notification page). The first link on that page displays any Gazettes published in the current week as well as any recently published statutory instruments and Bill information.

Gazettes are provided in the form of a single numbered Gazette PDF. Special supplement Gazettes are published as required and the regular Gazette continues to be published on Friday. Special Gazettes are no longer re-compiled into a weekly Gazette digest.

New Gazette Search facility

The new Gazette search facility enables a single electronic search across multiple Gazettes (for Gazettes since 2001). A link on the Notification-Gazette page takes users to the search interface. Users can also access the search facility directly at: www.gazette.legislation.nsw.gov.au.

Through the search interface users are able to search across the Gazettes using words or phrases and are able to limit their search to a single publication date or a date range within the scope of this collection. The search database also includes all statutory instruments and environmental planning instruments published since 2001.

Browsing Gazettes, Gazette Indexes and FOI Gazettes

Gazettes, Gazette Indexes and FOI Gazettes can also be browsed through links on the Notification-Gazette page.

2012

Legislation Tables

A selection of user-generated interactive tables is offered by the NSW Parliamentary Counsel's Office to provide information about the status of Acts, statutory instruments, environmental planning instruments, and associated matters.

The current tables are generated from the constantly updated NSW legislation database and are printable and downloadable in various formats from this website. The following tables are currently available:

Current and Point-in-time Tables

Cumulative Annual Tables

Catalogue of Acts since 1824

NSW Acts since 1824

Historical archive

NSW Bills 2003 onward

The NSW Bills collection (including Explanatory notes and Consultation drafts) has been extended and now includes Bills from 2003 onwards. This is a collection of Bills at all stages of the Parliamentary process (eg First Print, Second Print, Passed by both Houses), of Explanatory notes for Bills as introduced into Parliament and of Consultation drafts of Bills publicly released before introduction. The collection includes all Bills introduced from 2003 onwards, and a separate collection of Explanatory notes from 1990-2002. These are static PDF documents and form a permanent archive.

This material will be constantly updated and the addition of new Bills, and updates to Bill information and PDF versions, will usually be completed within 3 days of the relevant Parliamentary event.

2011

NSW Bills

NSW Bills (including Explanatory notes and Consultation drafts) are now available on the NSW legislation website. This is a collection of Bills at all stages of the Parliamentary process (eg First Print, Second Print, Passed by both Houses), of Explanatory notes for Bills as introduced into Parliament and of Consultation drafts of Bills publicly released before introduction. The collection includes all Bills introduced from 2007 onwards. These are static PDF documents and form a permanent archive.

This material will be constantly updated and the addition of new Bills, and updates to Bill information and PDF versions, will usually be completed within 3 days of the relevant Parliamentary event.

2010

September

Display of Schedules or Appendices with attached or 'embedded' documents.

If a Schedule/Appendix etc contains an embedded document, the Schedule/Appendix now displays with a + (plus) next to it in the table of contents:

click on + to expand the Schedule/Appendix to show the individual provisions of the embedded document, ie its clauses, schedules etc.
click on - (minus) to collapse provisions
the headings for the embedded document can be selected to display the provision in the fragment view
to view the whole embedded document in the fragment view, click on the main Schedule/Appendix etc heading in the Contents frame.

July

Addition of a "mini" search feature to all Browse lists.

June

Addition of Acts as enacted from 1824—1989 to the As Made archival collection, to extend access to historical legislation.

2009

New Website

The NSW legislation website has been operational for 8 years. The website was rebuilt in 2008 and redesigned to take advantage of new technology, provide additional features for users, and improve its overall performance.

Most significantly, the new system architecture provides the assurance necessary for the official authorisation of much of the online legislative content, including the use of the legislation website for the official publication of new regulations and other statutory instruments.

However, the overall segmentation of the website into the HTML In Force and PDF As Made collections has been retained. Also, the core way in which the website works for users, including the search and browse functionality, is essentially the same.

New Features

Official authorisation of online legislative content (certified under section 45C (5) of the Interpretation Act 1987) including the main In Force collection in HTML format and the PDF content in the As Made collection from 2000.
Expanded and improved date labelling for the period for which a version of legislation applies or applied, including the addition of this information to the current version at both the whole title and fragment levels. This is to provide more direct information to the user and also to help facilitate the authorisation of legislation available on the website.
A "Notification" feature has been added by way of a button on the main menu. This implements official online publication of statutory instruments (regulations, rules and planning instruments etc) on the legislation website rather than in the Gazette as provided by the Interpretation Amendment Act 2006. This feature applied from 26 January 2009 to all environmental planning instruments and from 2 March 2009 for all statutory instruments drafted by the Parliamentary Counsel's Office and made by the Governor (mainly regulations and commencement proclamations) and court rules. It enables instruments to be published online on a cumulative basis each week (although most publications will continue to be made on Fridays), with an archive facility for each week's publications. This feature also includes a weekly email service that replaces the longstanding Weekly Bulletin service (existing subscribers do not need to resubscribe).
PDF versions of In Force consolidated instruments are provided for the whole title. This has been requested by users who prefer paginated prints of legislation. This download option is provided for selected titles and will be extended over time. These versions will not be authorised for the time being.
Maps in zoomable PDF are provided for new standard-based environmental planning instruments in the In Force collection. This feature was introduced in late 2007. These new instruments are being drafted on the basis that significant planning content (such as land application, land use zoning, building heights, floor space ratios and heritage areas) will be displayed on maps rather than described in the text of the instrument. A "Maps" button will appear if maps have been provided for a particular instrument.
Simplification of the status and related information for legislation with important information previously kept separately now available as one summary page at the front of each instrument (see Status information page). In conjunction with this, regulations have a new "Parent Act" option so that this information can be accessed from anywhere in the instrument.
Information indicating the portfolio Minister is provided on the Status information page for Acts in the In Force collection.

Redesign Features

Overall presentation of the site has been updated and streamlined. This includes changes to how selection options are displayed and updates to fonts, colours, how alphabet listings are displayed, etc and a simplification of the wording of some options and screens.
Reduction of emphasis on the As Made collection, in order to provide more focus on and encourage more use of the consolidated In Force collection (less than 9% of site visits are to the As Made collection).
Combining and rationalising some selection options to provide a cleaner more useful interface while still providing access to all features (for example, combining Glossary and FAQs into a more comprehensive Help option; and providing access to publicly available proposed legislation via a Bills link to Parliament and a link to drafts released for public consultation).
An expanded set of related links (including legislation, Bills, Gazettes, Parliaments and drafting organisations of other states, territories and countries).
NSW government website guidelines have been applied where appropriate for a legislation website.
Updated entry point, including quick links to some frequently accessed items of legislation, such as the Crimes Act 1900, and to recent legislation, via the notification facility.
Improved access to historical versions of in-force legislation, with more versions displaying on each screen and the option to show all versions.
The paper reprint history now appears in the historical notes at the end of the title.
Simplification and consolidation of the search results information and navigation within the fragment view.
Addition of features to assist with the accessibility and printing of content. These include font sizing options for the ancillary pages (sizing of the legislative content pages is still under development), and a print button at the document fragment and whole title levels etc.
Addition of HTML document viewing options, with the option to view the whole title (without the table of contents) in the main document window.
The button for downloading a "whole instrument" from the In force collection has been renamed "Whole title" and now appears at the far left of the pale blue menu bar of the main document window.