skills/cite-check/references/authority-sources/australia.md

# Australia authority sources

Use this page to acquire readable Australian authorities for `/cite-check`. Search public services with citation metadata only. Never send a confidential brief, excerpt, record, or matter facts to a public service merely to find an authority.

Australia has federal, state, and territory systems, and no single public portal covers all of them.

## Case law

- For Federal Court and High Court decisions, start with the official [Federal Court judgment collection](https://www.fedcourt.gov.au/digital-law-library/judgments) and [High Court judgments index](https://www.hcourt.gov.au/cases-and-judgments/judgments). The Federal Court documents its own date and format coverage; the High Court identifies gaps in its historical unreported collection. For another federal court, use the issuing court's official judgment service; coverage and historical availability vary. Preserve the complete judgment document rather than only index metadata, catchwords, or a summary.
- [AustLII](https://www.austlii.edu.au/) can be a supplementary discovery route across Australian jurisdictions. Do not describe it as an official or complete source. Its `robots.txt` was reviewed, but current terms and model-mediated reuse permission were not verified. Confirm current access and reuse terms, then verify the result against the issuing court or a lawyer-supplied readable judgment.
- For a state or territory matter, use the issuing court's official judgment service where available; do not generalize the federal collections' coverage to another jurisdiction.

## Legislation and regulations

Use the official [Federal Register of Legislation](https://www.legislation.gov.au/) for Commonwealth Acts, regulations, and legislative instruments. Its [About page](https://www.legislation.gov.au/help-and-resources/using-the-legislation-register/about-the-federal-register-of-legislation) describes current and point-in-time versions and authorized forms. Its [other-jurisdictions page](https://www.legislation.gov.au/help-and-resources/understanding-legislation/other-jurisdictions) expressly says the Register does not cover all sources of Australian law and links to state and territory legislation services. Preserve the title ID, version date, status, commencement information, source URL, and authorized PDF when material.

## Case-specific materials

Use [Federal Law Search](https://www.fedcourt.gov.au/services/check-progress-of-a-case), the Federal Court's selected [online files](https://www.fedcourt.gov.au/services/access-to-files-and-transcripts/online-files), or the High Court's official [current-case pages](https://www.hcourt.gov.au/cases-and-judgments/cases/current) when they cover the matter. Public online files may be selected, redacted, restricted, or incomplete. Obtain the full required pleadings, submissions, exhibits, transcripts, orders, and record from the matter workspace or the court's authorized access process.

## Preserve the evidence boundary

Do not assume complete coverage. A public index, repository result, or online file does not establish currentness, later treatment, binding effect, or a complete case record. Preserve the citation metadata, court, date, source URL, retrieval date, complete readable file, version, and pinpoint. Add the file to the supplied authority set before checking what it says.