APA 6th Referencing: AGLC

Unreported decisions (those not published in an authorised law report series) with a medium neutral citation (a citation system that does not depend on publisher or medium) should be cited a shown above (rule 2.3.1). However, a medium neutral citation should only be used where the medium neutral citation was allocated by the court itself. See AGLC Abbreviations (box below) for Court identifiers or AGLC (Appendix B).

Otherwise, cite as Unreported decisions without a medium neutral citation, as below (rule 2.3.2).

A Transcript of Proceedings reference takes the following format (rule 2.7.1):

• Footnote:  Transcript of Proceedings, Party name v Party name (Court, Proceeding Number, Judicial Officer(s), Full date) pinpoint
• Bibliography: Transcript of Proceedings, Party name v Party name (Court, Proceeding Number, Judicial Officer(s), Full date)

As most jurisdictions only display their sentencing decisions for a limited period of time, you may wish to use the Australian Current Law - Reporter on Lexis Advance. Use the Sentencing search field to restrict results to sentencing-specific information.

When referring to legislation such as ‘the Act,’ Act should be capitalized and in italics. 

A Legislation reference takes the following format (rule 3.1):

• Footnote: Short Title (Year) (Jurisdiction abbreviation) pinpoint
• Bibliography: Short Title (Year) (Jurisdiction abbreviation)

Title (Short)

• Each Act has a short title given in section 1, which includes the year the Act was passed.

Jurisdiction

• The short title does not include the jurisdiction. When citing legislation in an essay or other document, and the jurisdiction is not obvious, you must add the jurisdictional notation in the footnote/in-text citation:
  • In the case of this example: Crimes Act 2008 (WA)
• AGLC rule 3.1.3 requires that an abbreviated form of the jurisdiction in which the Act was passed should be included in parenthesis after the year. The acceptable form of abbreviation for the jurisdiction can be found at this rule. 

Pinpoint Reference (footnote only)

• Pinpoint references in an Act usually comprise of an abbreviation and a number, separated by a space.
• Where a subsection is added, it should appear in parenthesis after the section number with no space. In the example here:
  • Crimes Act 2008 (WA) s 7(sub-s4)
• The abbreviation should correspond to the highest ‘level’ cited in the pinpoint reference.  In the example above, the highest level of the pinpoint is to a section, therefore the abbreviation being used is ‘s’.

In-text examples (Criminology / Business Law only)

• Section 6 of the Mental Health Act 2014 (WA) sets out....

______________

• A departmental officer is authorised to possess prohibited drugs (Misuse of Drugs Regulations 1982 (WA), reg 4A).

______________

• A person may apply for a medicinal cannabis incense that authorises them to produce cannabis or cannabis resin for medicinal purposes (Narcotic Drugs Act 1967 (Cth), s 8E(1)(b)).

______________

• Immigration (Education) Regulations 1992 (Cth) commenced on 1 January 1993 (reg 2).

Bills are cited in the same way as Acts, except the title and year are not italicised.

A Bill reference takes the following format:

• Footnote: Short Title (Year) (Jurisdiction Abbreviation) pinpoint
• Bibliography: Short Title (Year) (Jurisdiction Abbreviation)

Pinpoint references are made to a clause or clauses, abbreviated to ‘cl’ and ‘cls’ respectively (AGLC rule 3.2).

In-text examples (Criminology / Business Law only)

• The Police Amendment Bill 2006 (WA) was introduced into parliament by...

______________

• Changes to social security law were introduced into parliament in 2016 and passed by both houses in 2017 (Social Services Legislation Amendment (Simplifying Student Payments) Bill 2017 (Cth)).

The Explanatory Memorandum for a Bill is cited the same as the Bill, prefixed with the term "Explanatory Memorandum" as in the example (AGLC rule 3.7)

A reference to Explanatory Memoranda for a Bill takes the following format:

• Footnote: Explanatory Memorandum, Short Title (Year) (Jurisdiction Abbreviation) pinpoint

• Bibliography: Explanatory Memorandum, Short Title (Year) (Jurisdiction Abbreviation)

Pinpoint

• A pinpoint to a Explanatory Memorandum should be to a page or pages and paragraphs (rule 3.7).
  (Note: For Criminology/Business Law students, follow APA page numbering style)

In-text examples

• Clause 10 of the Bill was enacted with the purpose of ensuring that the powers conferred to a 'police officer' are also conferred to an Aboriginal police liaison officer (Explanatory Memoranda, Police Amendment Bill 2006 (WA) 2).
• The Explanatory Memoranda, Police Amendment Bill 2006 (WA) shows that the amendments were made following advise from the State Solicitor's Office.

The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia may be cited as the Australian Constitution, the Commonwealth Constitution, or simply the Constitution if there is no ambiguity as to which constitution is being cited (rule 3.6). 

Where necessary, the Australian Constitution may also be referred to within its enacting legislation as:

• Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (Imp) 63 & 64 Vict, c 12, s9.

Constitutions of the Australian states should be cited as normal statutes.

A reference to Hansard takes the following format (rule 7.5.1):

• Footnote: Jurisdiction, Parliamentary Debates, Chamber, Full Date of Debate, Pinpoint (Name of Speaker)
• Bibliography: Jurisdiction, Parliamentary Debates, Chamber, Full Date of Debate, Pinpoint (Name of Speaker)

Page numbers

• Should be included where available. The PDF version available from the parliament websites contains accurate page numbers.

Jurisdiction

• Fully written out

Names

• "MP," "MLC," "MLA," "Senator" and other designations indicating membership of Parliament should not be included in the speaker's name.

Ministry

• If the speaker holds a position within a ministry or shadow minister that is particularly relevant, this can be included in the citation using the following format:
  • Jurisdiction, Parliamentary Debates, Chamber, Full Date of Debate, Pinpoint (Name of Speaker, Position)