Latest Updates to the Website

The following updates have been made on the Legislation Register website to improve the user experience. The changes have been made based on feedback in our most recent user survey

HTML File Format

A HTML file format has been added on both the item page for laws and the search results listing. The HTML file opens in a custom viewer in the browser for quick loading. It also has a linked table of contents (TOC) on a left-hand side pane for easy navigation around the document. There are a number of controls in the TOC to expand and collapse heading levels as well as hiding and showing the TOC. The search function in the viewer has been enhanced in line with the improvements made to the gloabl search form.

Note The HTML file formats with a TOC will be generated in batches and may take some time to be populated across the entire site.

HTML viewer

Search Form

The search form has been overhauled to provide users with an easier interface to perform more complex search queries.

Simple search

The simple search looks for the exact text entered into the keyword parameter. Double quotes are not necessary to achieve an exact match. By default the search is limited to current Acts only. Use the advanced search to broaden the parameters.

Advanced search

The advanced search provides parameters to broaden the legislation categories to include, for example, subordinate laws, explanatory statements, bills as well as options to broaden the range of legislation versions to include repealed, as notified and all. Filters can be applied to narrow the results to legislation administered by a particular Minister or Directorate. There are 3 input types of Basic query, Boolean query and Expert query.

  • Basic query - this is an exact match text or phrase search.
  • Boolean query - this search can be used to combine multiple queries using the Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT. Keywords or phrases can be searched by MATCH EXACT PHRASE, CONTAINS ALL THE WORDS or CONTAINS ANY OF THE WORDS. Combine as many queries as required by using the rows provided to enter the search terms. If more rows are required, these can be added using the add new row button. Clicking on the clear button will reset the form to the default values and default single row. Word stemming can be applied by checking that option. It will apply stemming to all the keywords.
  • Expert query - this search enables use of the Perceptive Search query syntax to construct more complicated queries than can be achieved with the Boolean query option. For example, proximity searching to find a word or phrase within a certain number of words of another word or phrase (applicant w/10 register). See the Perceptive Enterprise Search website for more information on command based queries.

    • For more infromation read the Search Tips and Using Search.

    Search form

    Last Pages Viewed

    The list of last pages viewed has been increased to the last 10 pages.

    Last pages viewed