Researching the Resources for the Australian Federal Legal System with Some Reference to the State Level

By Mrs. Laurie Atkinson

Mrs. Laurie Atkinson is the Director of Law Library Victoria and Supreme Court Librarian in the Australian State of Victoria. Laurie is a member of the Council of Law Reporting in Victoria and an Editorial Board member of the Scholarship for the Legal Community resource produced by the Judicial College of Victoria. Laurie is President of the Australian Law Librarians Association for 2023-24. Laurie is also Chair of the Australian National Library’s Trove Strategic Advisory Committee, in which capacity Laurie advises the National Library on industry trends for metadata standards and resource sharing systems. With formal studies completed in a range of fields including history, psychology, linguistics, communication and management, Laurie is welcomed as alumni of the University of Melbourne and Monash University, amongst other academic institutions.

Published January/February 2024
(Previously updated by Petal Kinder in November/December 2010, November/December 2014, and in July/August 2018)
See the Archive Version!

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

The Australian Constitution established a federal system of government. Under this system, powers are distributed between the Commonwealth and the six States: New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Tasmania, and Western Australia. Two internal Territories—the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory—have self-governing arrangements. The Australian Government administers the Indian Ocean Territories of Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Norfolk Island, the Jervis Bay Territory, the Ashmore and Cartier Islands and the Coral Sea Islands.

Three arms of government are established by the Constitution—the Legislative (Commonwealth Parliament), the Executive (the Ministry), and the Judicature (Judiciary, Courts). The Executive Government is drawn from the Legislature.

1.1. Constitutional Change

Constitutional change can only be made by referendum. For a proposal to succeed, it must be favoured by a majority of voters in most of the states, and by a majority of voters overall. Only eight times since 1901 has the Constitution been changed by referendum, the most recent of which provided for retiring ages for judges of Federal courts (for the history see Referendum dates and results). The most recent referendum, which was held in October 2023 and not carried, would have provided constitutional recognition of the First Peoples of Australia, and established an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.

2. Parliament of Australia

Australia is not yet a Republic; instead, the Commonwealth Parliament has as its head a King (being the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (sic – as written in the Constitution, now the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) who is represented by the Governor-General. The Governor-General and the two Houses, the upper House (or Senate) and the lower House (the House of Representatives), comprise the Commonwealth Parliament – known as a bicameral Parliament. Each State has their own bicameral Parliament, with the exception of Queensland, which, in 1922, abolished the Upper House. The two internal Territories also have unicameral parliaments. Australian Parliament House is located in the national capital, Canberra. P

arliament business is recorded in Hansard.

3. The Executive Government

The Executive comprises the Prime Minister as head of Government and the Cabinet (Senior Ministers selected by the Prime Minister). Senior Ministers administer the major Departments and may come from both Houses; however, it is usual for the majority to be members of the House of Representatives. All major policy and legislative proposals are decided by the Cabinet. The composition of the current and previous Cabinets is available online, in a helpful resource called Parliamentary Handbook, produced by the Parliamentary Library.

4. The Judiciary

Chapter III of the Constitution begins with section 71, which provides that the judicial power of the Commonwealth shall be vested in a Federal supreme court, to be called the High Court of Australia, in such other Federal courts as the Parliament creates, and in such other courts as it invests that Federal jurisdiction – see Gleeson CJ, The Federal Judiciary in Australia.

Judges are appointed by the Governor-General acting on the advice of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Judges can only be removed from office by the Governor-General following a request for the removal from both Houses of Parliament on the ground of proved misbehavior or incapacity.

5. Courts and Judgments

The High Court of Australia is the highest court in Australia, hearing matters related to interpreting the Constitution and resolving appeals from all courts in Australia. The High Court was established in 1901 by section 71 of the Constitution and the Judiciary Act 1903 (Cth).[1] The original jurisdiction of the High Court is derived from sections 75 and 76 of the Constitution; section 73 established its appellate jurisdiction. The Privy Council (Limitation of Appeals) Act 1968 (Cth) and the Privy Council (Appeals from the High Court) Act 1975 (Cth) abolished appeals to the Privy Council from the High Court. Appeals from State Supreme Courts to the Privy Council were later abolished by s 11 of the Australia Act 1986 (Cth) making the High Court the final court of appeal in Australia.

There are two major Federal Courts: the Federal Court of Australia, established by the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth), and the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia which was established by the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia Act 2021 and commenced operation on 1 September 2021

All Australian States and Territories have a Supreme Court, and all have a Local or Magistrate Court. The larger States (NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia) have an intermediate court (the Division or County Court). For links to each of the official Supreme Courts’ websites see: Courts-Attorney General’s Department.

The judgments of most of the Courts may be found on Court official websites, and in Victoria via Law Library Victoria. Decisions may also be located on AustLII and JADE, which also contain the Transcripts of High Court Cases and the High Court Bulletin (HCAB). The High Court Bulletin (HCAB) is compiled approximately once a month from February to December after each Court sitting. The HCAB includes Cases Handed down, Cases Reserved, Original Jurisdiction, Cases Granted Special Leave, and Cases Refused Special Leave, as at the date of each issue. Both websites provide a download and/or print option.

6. Australian Law Report Series

While judgments may be freely available via most Court websites and also on AustLII and JADE, it is still practice for cases from the authorized law reports series to be handed up in court. It is also still standard practice to cite an authorized report in preference to an unauthorized report in written publications. The main authorized Australian Law Report Series are:

  • Commonwealth Law Reports (CLR) 1903–.
  • Federal Court Reports (FCR) 1984–.

The main unauthorized Australian Law Report Series are:

  • Australian Law Reports (ALR) 1973–.
  • Australian Law Journal Reports (ALJR) 1927–.
  • Federal Law Reports (FLR) 1956–.

The main authorized Law Report Series for each State/Territory are:

  • New South Wales Law Reports (NSWLR), 1971–.
  • State Reports New South Wales (SR(NSW)), 1901–1970.
  • Queensland Reports (Qd R), 1958–. Formerly Queensland State Reports (St R Qd) 1902–1957.
  • South Australian State Reports (SASR), 1921–. Followed the South Australian Law Reports (also known as Pelham’s Reports), 1865–1892 and 1899–1920.
  • Tasmanian Reports (Tas R), 1979–. formerly Tasmanian State Reports (Tas SR) 1941–1978 and Tasmanian Law Reports (TLR), 1905–1940. Preceded by Nicholls and Stops Reports 1897–1904.
  • Victorian Reports (VR), 1957–. Formerly Victorian Law Reports (VLR) 1875.
  • State Reports (Western Australia) (SR(WA)), 1979–. Comprises reports of the Family Court of Western Australia, the Western Australian District Court, and others.
  • Western Australian Reports (WAR), 1960–. Contains reports of the Supreme Court of Western Australia.

The following two Territory Reports series are published at the end of the Australian Law Reports (ALR):

  • Australian Capital Territory Reports (ACTR) 1973–2008.
  • Northern Territory Reports (NTR) 1979–1991.

7. Locating Case Law

AustLII is a publicly available source for access to full text Australian case law. It contains decisions from all superior courts (the High Court and all State/Territory Supreme Courts, as well as decisions from some tribunals and inferior courts). High Court of Australia Transcripts are also available from 1994–.

JADE is another publicly available source. JADE (Judgment and Decisions Enhanced) contains decisions of Australian Federal, State Courts, and Tribunals, including High Court judgments since 1903 and Transcripts from 1994–. One of JADE’s features is CaseTrace, which provides citations with paragraph pinpoint links on the right-hand menu. Additional functionality is available for subscribers to JADE professional.

There are two major fee-based sites for full text Australian case law – Thomson Reuters Legal Australia and LexisNexisAU.

Thomson Reuters Legal Australia produces Westlaw, which includes all authorized law report series (refer point 6. above) plus unreported judgments for the High Court, Federal Court, Federal Circuit and Family Court, State Courts, and Tribunals.

Lexis Advance is produced by LexisNexisAU and includes in its online databases the Australian Law Reports (ALR); Family Law Reports (FLR); and State Report series for New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria.

8. History of a Case

There are two fee based electronic sources, Lexis Advance (formerly and incorporating Casebase) via LexisNexis and Westlaw (formerly and incorporating FirstPoint) via Thomson Reuters.

Lexis Advance is useful for locating journal articles; however, its primary function is that of a Case Citator, supported by secondary sources. It provides prior and subsequent history, or the judicial consideration to more than 60 Australian and overseas report series, the unreported judgments of the High Court, Federal Court, the Supreme Courts of all Australian States and Territories, Family Court, NSW Land and Environment Court, Commonwealth Administrative Appeals Tribunal, Federal Magistrates Court, and other selected overseas jurisdictions. Case entries include parallel citations, a list of cases that have subsequently considered the case, signals indicating the precedential value of subsequent judicial consideration, a list of cases considered in the case, judicially considered words and phrases, catchwords, digests, and articles which have commented on the case. If you are an online subscriber, you can access the full text of the decisions or articles cited where available.

Westlaw provides access to case references, history, catchwords, and some digest information for Australian cases since 1825 sourced via the Australian Digest, Australian Legal Monthly Digest (ALMD), and the Australian Case Citator. Cases which have subsequently cited a case are listed, mention is made regarding refusal of Special Leave to Appeal in the High Court, and cases cited in a judgment are listed together with legislation judicially considered and words and phrases judicially considered. Supported by a wealth of secondary sources, Westlaw provides discovery and linkage between cases and commentary.

A major free source for the history of a case is JADE as mentioned above. One of JADE’s innovations is CaseTrace, a system that operates at the paragraph level, pinpointing links from later decisions, which refer to particular paragraphs of the earlier decision. This may be viewed throughout individual judgments. JADE also has a separate Citator that allows you to search at paragraph or section level. You type in the name of a case or piece of legislation and JADE Citator Search will reveal how a particular passage has been used in judicial reasoning.

When viewing a case in AustLII, the NoteUp References (in the right-side menu) will display other cases which refer to the case.

9. Australian Legislation

The legislative powers of the Commonwealth, States, and Territories are set out in the Constitution. In s 51 of the Constitution, the Commonwealth Parliament is invested with power to make laws regarding tax; immigration; international and inter State trade; foreign affairs; defense; insurance; marriage and divorce; currency and weights and measures; post and telecommunications; and invalid and old age pensions. Exclusive powers to legislate reside with the Commonwealth as set out in ss 52 and 90 of the Constitution. The Australian States and Territories retain legislative powers in areas not listed under the above sections, such as local government, roads, hospitals, and schools. A third tier of government is widely present in Australia, usually referred to as Local Government, though this is not enshrined in the Constitution and is governed by State legislation.

The legislative powers of the Houses in the Commonwealth Parliament, the Senate, and the House of Representatives are set out in s 53 of the Constitution, which states, “Proposed laws appropriating revenue or moneys, or imposing taxation, shall not originate in the Senate.” S 53 also states that the Senate may not amend certain money bills or bills imposing taxation. The Senate cannot amend bills “so as to increase any proposed charge or burden on the people.” It may only send back bills to the House requesting for an amendment to be made.

Should there be conflict between a Commonwealth Act and State or Territory Act s 109 provides that the Commonwealth Act will prevail.

10. Making of an Act of Parliament

Generally, a bill may be initiated in either House of the Parliament, although in practice most bills originate in the lower House, especially financial bills. The bill drafted by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel is introduced in the originating House by the initiating Member. Examination of the bill then proceeds through Parliament in three stages:

  • First Reading: permission is sought to introduce and proceed with the bill. Copies of the bill are circulated to members after the first reading together with copies of the Explanatory Memorandum, which set out clause by clause the content, and purpose of the bill.
  • Second Reading: this is the most important stage of the bill. The initiating Minister explains the purpose of the bill and the general principles. A date is set down for future debate on the bill allowing for reflection by Members and the public on the contents of the bill. At the conclusion of debate on the bill regarding its principles, a vote is taken and consideration of the bill, clause by clause, follows. Detailed debate on each clause and amendments to a clause/s may not be necessary in which case the bill then proceeds directly to a Third Reading stage.
  • A motion is moved to pass the bill which then proceeds to the next House (except for Queensland which is not bicameral) where the three stages are repeated.

When both Houses have passed the bill, it is presented to the Governor–General for assent at which point it becomes known as an Act of Parliament, and the previous clauses of the bill are known as sections of the Act.

Commencement Date: It is important to note that an Act may not become operative on assent, or enactment, as a particular date for commencement may be specified in the Act. If no commencement date is specified in an Act, it comes into effect on the 28th day after it receives assent.

Delegated Legislation: Another form of legislation (the generic term for Acts also known as statutes) is delegated legislation (also known as subordinate legislation).

Delegated legislation is made by bodies to which Parliament has delegated some of its legislative powers. The power to make such legislation is prescribed in the principal or enabling Act. Delegated legislation is known by several names including, rules, regulations, ordinances, and by-laws of local government.

11. Locating Legislation

The full text of Australian Commonwealth legislation – Act and Legislative Instruments is available free on the Federal Register of Legislation (formerly ComLaw). The Register of Legislation is managed by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel.

While Commonwealth legislation is available on the Register of Legislation, LawLex is a service with free access and an enhanced fee-for-service option that can be used to search for legislation. Apart from handling risk and compliance management services, LawLex also provides access to Commonwealth and State legislation. The legislation to which it links comes from authoritative sites.

LawLex is a quick, simple and clean interface for locating legislation. It also has the two added benefits: first, it links to full text extrinsic material such as Second Reading speeches in Hansard and Explanatory Memoranda. Secondly, LawLex allows you to sign up to receive email alerts advising of amendments to, and commencement dates of, legislation.

Timebase (LawOne) offers free access to a limited set of legislative information and a paid subscription provides useful features including access to supporting documentation. Another fee-based contender is LawNow available via LexisNexisAU. Currently, Commonwealth, ACT, New South Wales, Queensland, and Victorian full text legislation are available, with links to South Australian, Western Australian, Northern Territory, and Tasmania legislation soon to be replaced with full text. This service provides weekly consolidations (minimum) and daily Bill reports including links to the Text of Bills, Explanatory Memoranda, and Second Reading Speeches. It has commenced providing PDF versions of Commonwealth Reprinted Acts, currently available are the Reprints of the Corporations Act, Income Tax Act 1936, Income Tax Act 1997, Trade Practices Act 1974, and the Copyright Act. Historical versions are also provided for all Acts and Subordinate Legislation (dating back a minimum of 5 years).

12. Legislative History

In Australia, s 15AB(2) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 sets out the various extrinsic aids which may assist with the legislative history of an Act some of which are:

  • Parliamentary Debates on the bill – i.e., the Second Reading; Speeches in both the Senate and House of Representatives;
  • The bill and all subsequent amendments to the bill;
  • Explanatory Memorandum which accompanies the bill; and
  • Committee Reports resulting from the debates in Parliament.

Where do you obtain these materials? Depending on the date, some may be available online for free.

A source of valuable historical material for Queensland may be found on OzCase, which contains digitized copies of 12 historical New South Wales Lands Acts with application to Queensland, going back to 1833. These can be found in the Queensland Historical Legal Collection under the heading of “Applicable land legislation 1833 – 1910.”

Also available on this site are:

  • Applicable commencement legislation 1793–1867 (for Queensland);
  • Chief Law Officers (Queensland);
  • Criminal Code 1899 Queensland: preparatory and extrinsic materials;
  • Letters Patent establishing the boundaries of Queensland;
    • (includes Proclamations, Legislative Assembly resolutions, maps, etc.);
  • Public Acts of Queensland 1828-1936; and
  • Local Personal & Private Acts of Queensland 1828-1936.

13. Locating

13.1. Locating Second Reading Speeches/Hansard

Debate on the bill is located in Hansard, which is available free online from 1981 onwards, in full text, from the Australian Parliament website for both Houses. The PDF version of Hansard only goes back to 1996; however, if you click on the link to the HTML versions, it will take you back to 1981. The HTML version is available on the Parlinfo Search site, which can be accessed directly from the front page of the Parliamentary site – it is a small button at the bottom of that page—which, if you click on, takes you to the front page of that site.

To find the Second Reading Speech of a Bill in the print version of Parliamentary Debates, if not available online, you need to know the year in which the Bill was introduced to Parliament. Then simply go to the Index and look under ‘Bills’ for your title.

13.2. Bills and Explanatory Memoranda

To locate bills and Explanatory Memoranda (EM), you can do so from either the front page of the Parliamentary website or from ParlInfo Search. There is also material online which may assist in tracking old and current bills. A listing of bills for 1997 onwards is available from the ‘Browse’ section of ParlInfo Search.

The final full text version of bills no longer before Parliament from 1997 of old Bills are available for free from the ‘Browse’ section of ParlInfo Search. Previous versions (if there were any) of the bill are not available from this site. If you click on the title of the Bill, it may also link to the Explanatory Memorandum and the Second Reading Speeches of the Bill.

An excellent paper titled ”Was there an EM?’: Explanatory Memoranda and Explanatory Statements in the Commonwealth Parliament,” details the history of EMs and also lists EMs from 1901 -1982. The Parliamentary Library publishes a listing of Bills Digests and Research Papers.

13.3. Committee Reports

The transcripts of Parliamentary Committee Reports which have considered bills, may be found online from 1996 onwards from the Browse’ section of ParlInfo Search.

A listing of Reports of Royal Commissions from 1902 onwards, some in full text, may be found on the Parliamentary website. The full text of reports and other publications are to be found on the Australian Law Reform Committee website together with links to State Law Reform Commissions. If the bill is very old, then any Committee Reports attached to the bill will only be cited in Hansard in the Second Reading Speech and/or listed next to the bill in the Index of Hansard. You will then need to find a library, which holds a copy of the Report. The ‘older’ material is available mainly in print only. Some larger universities keep this material; however, Parliamentary libraries, Federal and State should hold complete sets of bills, EM and Second Reading Speeches for the specific jurisdiction–they should also have copies of relevant Committee Reports.

To locate holdings in Australian libraries, see the National Library of Australia – Trove – an online search service, which enables you to search across the combined catalogues of Australian libraries – national, state, public, university, TAFE and government – with one search.

14. Australian Treaties

The Australian Treaties Library is prepared by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and hosted on AustLII. Here you will find detailed information about the Australian treaty-making process, national interest analyses that give reasons why Australia should become a party to a treaty, the text of multilateral and bilateral treaties, ratification, etc.

A detailed article is available online with the title “Trick or Treaty? Commonwealth Power to Make and Implement Treaties.” It should be noted that if you search for the full text of the article on AustLII, you will need to know that it has been indexed under the second part of its title “Commonwealth Power to Make etc.” and not the first words of its title ‘Trick of Treaty’.

15. How to Cite Materials

The Australian Guide to Legal Citation (AGLC) 4th ed 2018 is a uniform system of legal citation and “outlines established citation practices and indicates preferred approaches where no particular approach has been widely adopted.” The Guide is currently under review in preparation for a fifth edition.

17. Government Information

A ‘one stop’ shop for some major Australian government material may be found at Parliament of Australia. It links to free sites for legislation, such as Federal Register of Legislation, and Parliamentary sources, such as Bills, Hansard, Parliamentary Papers, and Gazettes. Importantly, it has links to Government department homepages and also to statistics available online from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Australian Institute of Criminology, and many other Australian Government departments and agencies which publish statistical reports in their areas of expertise.

18. Secondary Sources

18.1. Textbooks

The following is a list of highly regarded textbooks on Australian law originally compiled in 2007 by lawyers attending a conference to commemorate the 80th publication year of the Australian Law Journal, with the list reviewed and updated in 2023 by a leading Australian law librarian Ms. Alissa Duke (author note: errors and omissions are my own).

  • Nygh P: Conflict of Laws in Australia
  • Zines and Stellios: The High Court and The Constitution
  • Aronson: Judicial Review of Administrative Action and Government Liability
  • Douglas and Jones’s Administrative Law
  • Miller’s Australian Competition and Consumer Law Annotated
  • Sappideen: Macken’s Law of Employment
  • Irving: The Contract of Employment
  • Ross on Crime
  • Meagher Gummow & Lehane: Equity Doctrines and Remedies
  • Carter: Contract Law in Australia
  • Balkin & Davis: The Law of Torts
  • Luntz and Harder: Assessment of Damages for Personal Injury and Death
  • Collins on Defamation
  • Butt: Land Law
  • Sackville & Neave: Australian Property Law
  • Shanahan’s Australian Law of Trade Marks and Passing Off
  • Finn: Fiduciary obligations
  • Jacobs K S: Law of Trusts in Australia
  • Dal Pont: Law of Succession
  • Ford, Austin and Ramsay’s Principles of Corporations Law
  • Keay’s insolvency: Personal and Corporate Law and Practice
  • Odgers: Uniform Evidence Law
  • Mann’s Annotated Insurance Law
  • Dal Pont: Law of Costs
  • Mason & Carter: Law of Restitution
  • Covell and Lupton: Principles of Remedies
  • Pearce: Statutory Interpretation in Australia
  • Cairns: Australia Civil Procedure

18.3. Journals

In 2020, Ian Murray and Natalie Skead of University of Western Australia Law School published research that included a summary of the challenge of ranking top law journals and discussed the absence of an empirical list. Who Publishes Where? includes a list of journals considered by the authors to constitute Australia’s top law journals, with their rationale articulated.

The Judicial College of Victoria produces Scholarship for the legal community: a curated selection of research summaries of academic writing. The Editorial Guidelines include a list of journals that may serve as a guide to leading law journals in Australia (with some international titles included):

  • Alternative Law Journal
  • Australian Bar Review
  • Australian Business Law Review
  • Australian Law Journal
  • Cambridge Law Journal
  • Criminal Law Journal (Australian)
  • Journal of Law and Medicine
  • Law Institute Journal
  • Law Quarterly Review
  • Melbourne University Law Review
  • Modern Law Review
  • Monash University Law Review
  • Oxford Journal of Legal Studies
  • Victorian Parliamentary Library Service – Research Papers

A free listing of journals and, where available, the full text of their articles may be found on the AustLII Australasian Legal Scholarship Library together with Law Journals and Legal Scholarship associated with the Colonial Period.

The Australian Periodical Publications 1840-1845 component of the Australian Cooperative Digitization Project (ACDP) provides web access to digital copies of Australian serials first published between 1840 and 1845. The contents now form part of the National Library’s Trove database, with the original database accessible through Trove via the web archive.

The fee based Australian service INFORMIT has several databases such as AGIS (Attorney General’s Information Service), APAIS (Australian Public Affairs Information Service), Criminology, Family Law, Multicultural and Immigration studies, etc. relevant to law. Informit offers both a full text service and a separate abstract service.

Other fee-based sources are:

  • Westlaw AU includes the full text of some of its Australian Journals and also contains the Australian Legal Journals Index (ALJI). Content is provided by the Commonwealth Attorney General’s Lionel Murphy Library, which provides the content for the Informit database, AGIS. ALJI links to Thomson Reuters full text journal collection, authorized and specialist law reports, as well as digest summaries in FirstPoint and the Laws of Australia.
  • Lexis Advance from LexisNexis AU, although primarily a case citator, is very useful for finding citations to articles associated with a case.

18.4. Newspapers

Some major Australian newspapers:

The National Library’s Trove provides access to many millions of pages from over 1000 Australian newspapers. Newly digitized articles are added daily. Digitized newspapers and more on Trove includes newspapers from each state and territory and from the earliest published newspaper in 1803, to the mid-20th century, including some community language newspapers. Many of these historical newspapers are a vital source of information for legal historians.

19. E-Lists for Discussion

The Australian Law Librarians’ Association (ALLA) website has contact details for Committee members and conference details of the Association’s conference. It also has an email list – ALLA-ANZ Mailing List which has instructions for subscribing and unsubscribing.

20. Blogs, Podcasts and News Websites

  • Parliamentary Library Lectures bring notable speakers to the Parliament on a range of topics.
  • ABC Radio National’s Law Report posts weekly episodes on various aspects of law.
  • Castan Centre’s Human Rights Blog on human rights, with explanatory material.
  • FlagPost: is a blog by the Parliamentary Library on current issues of interest to members of the Australian Parliament.
  • Human Rights Law Centre: The Human Rights Law Centre is dedicated to promoting and protecting human rights in Australia and beyond. We do this through a strategic combination of evidence-based advocacy, research, litigation, and education.
  • Australian Policy Online: Policy Online is a research database and alert service providing free access to full text research reports and papers, statistics, and other resources essential for public policy development and implementation in Australia and New Zealand.
  • Lives in the Law podcast is a Victorian initiative which interviews guests who work in all areas of law.
  • The Conversation is an independent source of news and views, sourced from the academic and research community and delivered direct to the public.
  • Australian Law Reform Commission posts updates on the range of law reform under consideration in Australia.
  • ipwars.com: Mainly intellectual property (IP) issues Down Under. Written by Warwick Rothnie, a barrister practicing mainly in intellectual property, trade practices, telecommunications, and general commercial law in Australia. Follow on Twitter @wrothnie.
  • JADE World: Aggregates blogs and tweets which cover legal commentary – search availability by topic, cases, legislation, author.

21. Australian University Law Schools

The Council of Australian Law Deans (CALD) website has guide which introduces you to Australia’s law schools and gives you basic information about Australia’s legal system, living costs, and study choices.

22. Locating Holdings in Australian Libraries

The National Library Australia – Trove is an online search service which enables you to search across the combined catalogues of Australian libraries — national, state, public, university, TAFE and government — with one search.

[1] Cth is an abbreviation commonly used as part of citation of Australian laws. It stands for Commonwealth, indicating that law is valid and applicable in the entire Commonwealth of Australia.