Harvard Referencing Guide
Make it obvious in the text, e.g. Victoria's Equal Opportunity Act 1995 prohibits' or place the abbreviated information in brackets after the date, (use Cth for Commonwealth Acts),e.g. the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) .
Units of division (Pinpoint reference)
The basic units of division for Acts are sections. The abbreviations s., ss. can be used but should never appear at the beginning a sentence. The AGPS manual recommends the following style for citing divisions of Acts:
Section 4 of the Commonwealth's Copyright Act 1968 .
In ss. 4-7 of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) .
The Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), s. 4, .
Cite legal material consistently and accurately
It’s important to cite legal sources in a consistent and accurate way across government.
The Style Manual gives common guidance for different types of legal material, including:
- bills and explanatory material
- Acts of parliament
- schedules
- delegated legislation
- cases and legal authorities
- treaties
In-text citations
Add detail to citations with notes
- Writing about the law and legal matters requires careful citation.
- You can use in-text citations and footnotes or endnotes (notes) to provide accurate and complete details.
In-text citations
- For general content, in-text citations often give people all the information they need.
The Major Bank Levy Act 2017 imposes a levy on authorised deposit‑taking institutions.
In South Australia v Commonwealth (First Uniform Tax Case), Chief Justice Latham of the Federal Court .
Notes
- Always list the legislation or case name first in a basic note.
- Explanatory notes might vary. They can be a useful way to add extra information that would otherwise clutter the content.
- Each note has the corresponding superscript reference marker before it. Users find the note by matching the number.
- In digital content, the reference markers can be hyperlinked to help users access the note. Use hyperlinked endnotes in digital content.
Example
The levy threshold is indexed quarterly. 1 [A superscript reference marker for the first note]
The legislative basis for parliamentary remuneration and entitlements is complex. 2 [A superscript reference marker for the second note]
1 Major Bank Levy Act 2017, subsection 4(3). [A basic note corresponding to the first reference marker]
2 Section 48 of the Australian Constitution provides for the payment of members of parliament. Commonwealth Acts include Remuneration and Allowances Act 1990, Remuneration Tribunal Act 1973, Ministers of State Act 1952, . other Acts and associated delegated legislation. [An explanatory note corresponding to the second reference marker]
Pinpoint citations use 'at' for page/ paragraph numbers
- Pinpoint page numbers for citations using 'at [page number'].
- You can follow the page number with the number of the relevant paragraph as it appears in the judgment. Write the paragraph number in square brackets.
- Use a comma to list separate pinpoint citations.
