Reference in APA 7

Title of Act Year (Jurisdiction Abbreviation)

Title of Regulation Year (Jurisdiction Abbreviation)

Title of Bill Year (Jurisdiction Abbreviation)

The year and jurisdiction are important because some Australian states have acts with similar names.

The long title of the Act should only be used if it does not have a short title.

Where multiple Acts have the same title, but contain different numbers in their short titles (eg ‘No 1’ or ‘No 2’), the number should be included as part of the Act’s title, and should appear in brackets.

Bills should be cited in the same manner as Acts, except the title and year should not be italicised.

Australian Jurisdiction Abbreviations

Commonwealth	Cth
Australian Capital Territory	ACT
New South Wales	NSW
Northern Territory	NT
Queensland	Qld
South Australia	SA
Tasmania	Tas
Victoria	Vic
Western Australia	WA

Acts

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Act  2005 (Cth)

Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW)

National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 (NSW)

Mental Health Act 2014 (Vic) 

Health Compliants Act 2016 (Vic)

Regulations

Health Complaints Regulations 2015 (Tas)

Work Health and Safety Regulations 2012 (SA)

Medicines, Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Regulations 2014 (NT)

Bills

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Bill 1998 (Cth)

COVID-19 Emergency Response Bill 2020 (Qld)

Gender Reassignment Amendment Bill 2018 (WA)

(Title of Act, Year, s. Section#)

(Title of Regulation, Year, r. Rule#)

("Title of Bill", Year, cl. Clause#)

In-text citations follow the same format as other types of materials without an author. Include the title and year.

If an act has a long title, you can shorten it but be sure to include enough information so that the reader can identify that source in the reference list.

Use the section numbers, clauses, sub-clauses or rule numbers as a pinpoints if required.

See Section 11.3 of the APA Publication Manual for more information. 

Full Title

(Mental Health Act, 2007)

Deep sleep therapy is prohibited under section 83 of the Mental Health Act (2007). 

Initial Citation (Long Title)

The National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 (NSW) (National Parks Act) recognises the cultural significance of land.

Subsequent Citations (Short Title)

(National Parks Act, 1974)

(National Parks Act, 1974, s 28)

Section 71D of the National Parks Act (1974) recognises the significance of aboriginal land. 

(Health Compliants Act 2016, sch 2)