Data as at 12 Dec 2022
This page provides links to download sixteen data sets created by the ALRC. These data sets form the basis of the DataHub.
Legislative data derived from the Federal Register of Legislation
The following data sets were created by webscraping the Federal Register of Legislation. A description of how this data was webscraped is available as pages 1–3 of this Data Methodology.
Core legislative data
To understand the following data sets, you should consult the Explanatory Note. Each row of the following data sets is either an Act or a legislative instrument, and each column provides various data on the Act or instrument, such as the date of its registration or its page length.
- As made Commonwealth legislation: This data set covers all as made Acts and legislative instruments made since 1901. This data set does not include tariff-related legislative instruments, which are no longer made as legislative instruments. Data on these instruments can be separately downloaded if you wish to include them in your analysis.1
- As made Commonwealth Acts: This data set covers a subset of as made Commonwealth legislation, covering all as made Commonwealth Acts of Parliament.
- As made Commonwealth legislative instruments: This data set covers a subset of as made Commonwealth legislation, covering all as made Commonwealth legislative instruments.
- In force Commonwealth legislation: This data set covers all in force Acts and legislative instruments as at the date specified at the top of this webpage. This data set does not include tariff-related legislative instruments, which are no longer made as legislative instruments though some remain in force. Data on these instruments can be separately downloaded if you wish to include them in your analysis.1
- In force Commonwealth Acts: This data set covers a subset of in force Commonwealth legislation, covering all in force Commonwealth Acts of Parliament.
- In force Commonwealth legislative instruments: This data set covers a subset of in force Commonwealth legislation, covering all in force Commonwealth legislative instruments.
Most columns of the data sets were obtained by webscraping the Federal Register of Legislation. However, several columns have been created either partially or entirely by the ALRC to enhance the possibilities for analysis. ALRC columns include those related to subject-matter, whether legislation is an Act, regulation, or other legislative instrument, and the Parliamentary term in which the legislation was made. The ALRC has also included an experimental column on the maker of the legislation. For Acts the maker is the Parliament and for regulations it is the Governor-General. However, other legislative instruments are made by many different lawmakers, and the ALRC has sought to computationally and manually identify the maker. This column is still in development and feedback is welcome.
Legislative relationship data
The following data sets show different relationships between pieces of Commonwealth legislation. The is scraped from various webpages on the Federal Register of Legislation. An Explanatory Note provides more detail about how to interpret these data sets.
- Amending legislative relationships: This data set contains all amending relationships in which one piece of legislation amends another piece of legislation. The data was obtained by scraping the ‘Amends’ webpage for each as made Act or legislative instrument.
- Modifications legislative relationships: This data set contains all relationships in which one piece of legislation modifies another piece of legislation. The data was obtained by scraping the ‘Modifies’ webpage for each as made Act or legislative instrument.
- Repealing legislative relationships: This data set contains all repealing relationships in which one piece of legislation repeals another piece of legislation. The data was obtained by scraping the ‘Repeals’ webpage for each as made Act or legislative instrument
- Enabled by legislative relationships: This data set contains all relationships in which a legislative instruments is enabled by another piece of legislation. All legislative instruments must be enabled by other legislation, either by an Act or another legislative instrument that is itself enabled by other legislation. The data was obtained by scraping the ‘Enabled By’ webpage for each as made legislative instrument.
Data sets derived from textual analysis
The following data sets are derived from computationally analysing the text of legislation as published on the Federal Register of Legislation.
Complexity and linguistic data
The following two data sets provide data on the complexity and language of as made and in force Acts of Parliament. An Explanatory Note provides further detail on how to understand these data sets.
- As made Acts – Complexity and linguistic data: This data set covers all Acts made by the Australian Parliament since 1901. The data set was generated by textually analysing each as made Act published on the Federal Register of Legislation, and by combining this data with data from several other ALRC data sets.
- In force Acts – Complexity and linguistic data: This data set covers all in force principal Acts of the Australian Parliament. The data set was generated by textually analysing each in force Act published on the Federal Register of Legislation, and by combining this data with data from several other ALRC data sets.
Legislation networks
- In force Commonwealth Act cross-references: This data set covers all in force principal Acts of the Australian Parliament. The data set was generated by textually analysing each in force Act published on the Federal Register of Legislation and searching for all references to any other Act of Parliament, whether in force or not (over 13,000 Act names were searched in each in force Act). Each row of the data set is a relationship in which one Act refers to another, and a column indicates the number of times a cross-reference occurs.
- Corporations and Financial Services Network: This data set covers all legislation the subject-matter of which is classified as ‘corporations and financial services’ in the As made Commonwealth legislation data set. Each row of the data set is a relationship in which one piece of legislation is authorising, amending, or modifying another Act or legislative instrument. The data set is the product of combining the Amending legislative relationships data set, the Modifications legislative relationships data set, and the Enabled by legislative relationships data set, but limited to ‘corporations and financial services’ legislation.
Commonwealth Bills-related data
The following data sets were created by webscraping the Australian Parliament’s Bills’ webpage for various data on each Bill introduced into the Australian Parliament between the 39th (10 Nov 1998) and 46th (11 Apr 2022) Parliaments. An Explanatory Note provides further detail on how to understand these data sets.
- Status of Commonwealth Bills: Each row of this data set is a Bill and the columns provide various data on the status of the Bill, including whether it was passed by the Parliament.
- Progress of Commonwealth Bills through Parliament: Each row of this data set is a step in a Bills’ progress through the Parliamentary processes, from introduction through to Royal Assent, if the Bill is passed by the Parliament.
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The ALRC does not include Tariff Concession Orders and Tariff Concession Revocation Orders in its analyses. These tariff-related instruments ceased to be registered as legislative instruments in 2013. As there are over 8,000 Tariff Concession and Revocation Orders, including these in the analysis of legislative instruments would inflate the number of instruments created in the period before 2013. Including these instruments in analyses therefore suggests a sudden decline in the number of legislative instruments created after 2013, which is simply the product of reclassifying tariff instruments.↩︎
However, if you wish to include these instruments in your analysis of as made or in force legislation, the following data sets cover tariff-related instruments: