Australia Act 1986

The Australia Act 1986 is the legislative instrument that severed the final constitutional links between the United Kingdom and Australia, giving effect to the sovereign status the Commonwealth had already achieved in practice. Section 1 is the centrepiece: it provides that no Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed after commencement shall extend, or be deemed to extend, to the Commonwealth, to a State or to a Territory as part of the law of any of them. This is a complete termination of imperial legislative power.

Sections 2 and 3 then enlarge and clarify the legislative competence of state parliaments. Section 2(1) declares that each state parliament has full power to make laws for the peace, order and good government of that State with extra-territorial operation. Section 2(2) adds that state parliaments possess all legislative powers the United Kingdom Parliament might have exercised before commencement, subject to an express carve-out preserving the pre-existing limits on a State's capacity to engage in relations with countries outside Australia. Section 3(1) disapplies the Colonial Laws Validity Act 1865 to post-commencement state laws, while section 3(2) abolishes the doctrine of repugnancy, allowing state parliaments to repeal or amend any UK Act, order, rule or regulation in so far as it forms part of the law of the State.

Section 4 repeals sections 735 and 736 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894 in so far as they form part of state law, removing archaic British controls over state shipping legislation. Section 5 is a critical savings provision: it subordinates the expansions in sections 2 and 3(2) to the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, the Constitution of the Commonwealth, and the Statute of Westminster 1931 as amended. It further provides that nothing in those sections gives force to any state Act that would repeal, amend or be repugnant to the Australia Act itself, the Constitution Act, the Constitution or the Statute of Westminster.

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Australia Act 1986

No. 142, 1985

An Act to bring constitutional arrangements affecting the Commonwealth and the States into conformity with the status of the Commonwealth of Australia as a sovereign, independent and federal nation

Contents

1 Termination of power of Parliament of United Kingdom to legislate for Australia

2 Legislative powers of Parliaments of States

3 Termination of restrictions on legislative powers of Parliaments of States

4 Powers of State Parliaments in relation to merchant shipping

5 Commonwealth Constitution, Constitution Act and Statute of Westminster not affected

6 Manner and form of making certain State laws

7 Powers and functions of Her Majesty and Governors in respect of States

8 State laws not subject to disallowance or suspension of operation

9 State laws not subject to withholding of assent or reservation

10 Termination of responsibility of United Kingdom Government in relation to State matters

11 Termination of appeals to Her Majesty in Council

12 Amendment of Statute of Westminster

13 Amendment of Constitution Act of Queensland

14 Amendment of Constitution Act of Western Australia

15 Method of repeal or amendment of this Act or Statute of Westminster

16 Interpretation

17 Short title and commencement

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Australia Act 1986

No. 142, 1985

An Act to bring constitutional arrangements affecting the Commonwealth and the States into conformity with the status of the Commonwealth of Australia as a sovereign, independent and federal nation

[Assented to 4 December 1985]

The Parliament of Australia enacts:

WHEREAS the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth and the Premiers of the States at conferences held in Canberra on 24 and 25 June 1982 and 21 June 1984 agreed on the taking of certain measures to bring constitutional arrangements affecting the Commonwealth and the States into conformity with the status of the Commonwealth of Australia as a sovereign, independent and federal nation:

AND WHEREAS in pursuance of paragraph 51 (xxxviii) of the Constitution the Parliaments of all the States have requested the Parliament of the Commonwealth to enact an Act in the terms of this Act:

BE IT THEREFORE ENACTED by the Queen, and the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows:

1 Termination of power of Parliament of United Kingdom to legislate for Australia

No Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed after the commencement of this Act shall extend, or be deemed to extend, to the Commonwealth, to a State or to a Territory as part of the law of the Commonwealth, of the State or of the Territory.

2 Legislative powers of Parliaments of States

(1) It is hereby declared and enacted that the legislative powers of the Parliament of each State include full power to make laws for the peace, order and good government of that State that have extra‑territorial operation.

(2) It is hereby further declared and enacted that the legislative powers of the Parliament of each State include all legislative powers that the Parliament of the United Kingdom might have exercised before the commencement of this Act for the peace, order and good government of that State but nothing in this subsection confers on a State any capacity that the State did not have immediately before the commencement of this Act to engage in relations with countries outside Australia.

3 Termination of restrictions on legislative powers of Parliaments of States

(1) The Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom known as the Colonial Laws Validity Act 1865 shall not apply to any law made after the commencement of this Act by the Parliament of a State.

(2) No law and no provision of any law made after the commencement of this Act by the Parliament of a State shall be void or inoperative on the ground that it is repugnant to the law of England, or to the provisions of any existing or future Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, or to any order, rule or regulation made under any such Act, and the powers of the Parliament of a State shall include the power to repeal or amend any such Act, order, rule or regulation in so far as it is part of the law of the State.

4 Powers of State Parliaments in relation to merchant shipping

Sections 735 and 736 of the Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom known as the Merchant Shipping Act 1894, in so far as they are part of the law of a State, are hereby repealed.

5 Commonwealth Constitution, Constitution Act and Statute of Westminster not affected

Sections 2 and 3(2) above:

(a) are subject to the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act and to the Constitution of the Commonwealth; and

(b) do not operate so as to give any force or effect to a provision of an Act of the Parliament of a State that would repeal, amend or be repugnant to this Act, the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, the Constitution of the Commonwealth or the Statute of Westminster 1931 as amended and in force from time to time.

6 Manner and form of making certain State laws

Notwithstanding sections 2 and 3(2) above, a law made after the commencement of this Act by the Parliament of a State respecting the constitution, powers or procedure of the Parliament of the State shall be of no force or effect unless it is made in such manner and form as may from time to time be required by a law made by that Parliament, whether made before or after the commencement of this Act.

7 Powers and functions of Her Majesty and Governors in respect of States

(1) Her Majesty’s representative in each State shall be the Governor.

(2) Subject to subsections (3) and (4) below, all powers and functions of Her Majesty in respect of a State are exercisable only by the Governor of the State.

(3) Subsection (2) above does not apply in relation to the power to appoint, and the power to terminate the appointment of, the Governor of a State.

(4) While Her Majesty is personally present in a State, Her Majesty is not precluded from exercising any of Her powers and functions in respect of the State that are the subject of subsection (2) above.

(5) The advice to Her Majesty in relation to the exercise of the powers and functions of Her Majesty in respect of a State shall be tendered by the Premier of the State.

8 State laws not subject to disallowance or suspension of operation

An Act of the Parliament of a State that has been assented to by the Governor of the State shall not, after the commencement of this Act, be subject to disallowance by Her Majesty, nor shall its operation be suspended pending the signification of Her Majesty’s pleasure thereon.

9 State laws not subject to withholding of assent or reservation

(1) No law or instrument shall be of any force or effect in so far as it purports to require the Governor of a State to withhold assent from any Bill for an Act of the State that has been passed in such manner and form as may from time to time be required by a law made by the Parliament of the State.

(2) No law or instrument shall be of any force or effect in so far as it purports to require the reservation of any Bill for an Act of a State for the signification of Her Majesty’s pleasure thereon.

10 Termination of responsibility of United Kingdom Government in relation to State matters

After the commencement of this Act Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom shall have no responsibility for the government of any State.

11 Termination of appeals to Her Majesty in Council

(1) Subject to subsection (4) below, no appeal to Her Majesty in Council lies or shall be brought, whether by leave or special leave of any court or of Her Majesty in Council or otherwise, and whether by virtue of any Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Royal Prerogative or otherwise, from or in respect of any decision of an Australian court.

(2) Subject to subsection (4) below:

(a) the enactments specified in subsection (3) below and any orders, rules, regulations or other instruments made under, or for the purposes of, those enactments; and

(b) any other provisions of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom in force immediately before the commencement of this Act that make provisions for or in relation to appeals to Her Majesty in Council from or in respect of decisions of courts, and any orders, rules, regulations or other instruments made under, or for the purposes of, any such provisions;

in so far as they are part of the law of the Commonwealth, of a State or of a Territory, are hereby repealed.

(3) The enactments referred to in subsection (2) (a) above are the following Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom or provisions of such Acts:

The Australian Courts Act 1828, section 15

The Judicial Committee Act 1833

The Judicial Committee Act 1844

The Australian Constitutions Act 1850, section 28

The Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act 1890, section 6.

(4) Nothing in the foregoing provisions of this section:

(a) affects an appeal instituted before the commencement of this Act to Her Majesty in Council from or in respect of a decision of an Australian court; or

(b) precludes the institution after that commencement of an appeal to Her Majesty in Council from or in respect of such a decision where the appeal is instituted:

(i) pursuant to leave granted by an Australian court on an application made before that commencement; or

(ii) pursuant to special leave granted by Her Majesty in Council on a petition presented before that commencement;

but this subsection shall not be construed as permitting or enabling an appeal to Her Majesty in Council to be instituted or continued that could not have been instituted or continued if this section had not been enacted.

12 Amendment of Statute of Westminster

Sections 4, 9(2) and (3) and 10(2) of the Statute of Westminster 1931, in so far as they are part of the law of the Commonwealth, of a State or of a Territory, are hereby repealed.

13 Amendment of Constitution Act of Queensland

(1) The Constitution Act 1867‑1978 of the State of Queensland is in this section referred to as the Principal Act.

(2) Section 11A of the Principal Act is amended in subsection (3):

(a) by omitting from paragraph (a):

(i) “and Signet”; and

(ii) “constituted under Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom”; and

(b) by omitting from paragraph (b):

(i) “and Signet”; and

(ii) “whenever and so long as the office of Governor is vacant or the Governor is incapable of discharging the duties of administration or has departed from Queensland”.

(3) Section 11B of the Principal Act is amended:

(a) by omitting “Governor to conform to instructions” and substituting “Definition of Royal Sign Manual”;

(b) by omitting subsection (1); and

(i) “(2)”;

(ii) “this section and in”; and

(iii) “and the expression ‘Signet’ means the seal commonly used for the sign manual of the Sovereign or the seal with which documents are sealed by the Secretary of State in the United Kingdom on behalf of the Sovereign”.

(4) Section 14 of the Principal Act is amended in subsection (2) by omitting “, subject to his performing his duty prescribed by section 11B,”.

14 Amendment of Constitution Act of Western Australia

(1) The Constitution Act 1889 of the State of Western Australia is in this section referred to as the Principal Act.

(2) Section 50 of the Principal Act is amended in subsection (3):

(a) by omitting from paragraph (a):

(i) “and Signet”; and

(ii) “constituted under Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom”;

(b) by omitting from paragraph (b):

(i) “and Signet”; and

(ii) “whenever and so long as the office of Governor is vacant or the Governor is incapable of discharging the duties of administration or has departed from Western Australia”; and

(i) “under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom”; and

(ii) “during a temporary absence of the Governor for a short period from the seat of Government or from the State”.

(3) Section 51 of the Principal Act is amended:

(a) by omitting subsection (1); and

(b) by omitting from subsection (2):

(i) “(2)”;

(ii) “this section and in”; and

15 Method of repeal or amendment of this Act or Statute of Westminster

(1) This Act or the Statute of Westminster 1931, as amended and in force from time to time, in so far as it is part of the law of the Commonwealth, of a State or of a Territory, may be repealed or amended by an Act of the Parliament of the Commonwealth passed at the request or with the concurrence of the Parliaments of all the States and, subject to subsection (3) below, only in that manner.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1) above, an Act of the Parliament of the Commonwealth that is repugnant to this Act or the Statute of Westminster 1931, as amended and in force from time to time, or to any provision of this Act or of that Statute as so amended and in force, shall, to the extent of the repugnancy, be deemed an Act to repeal or amend the Act, Statute or provision to which it is repugnant.

(3) Nothing in subsection (1) above limits or prevents the exercise by the Parliament of the Commonwealth of any powers that may be conferred upon that Parliament by any alteration to the Constitution of the Commonwealth made in accordance with section 128 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth after the commencement of this Act.

16 Interpretation

(1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:

appeal includes a petition of appeal, and a complaint in the nature of an appeal.

appeal to Her Majesty in Council includes any appeal to Her Majesty.

Australian court means a court of a State or any other court of Australia or of a Territory other than the High Court.

court includes a judge, judicial officer or other person acting judicially.

decision includes determination, judgment, decree, order or sentence.

Governor, in relation to a State, includes any person for the time being administering the government of the State.

State means a State of the Commonwealth and includes a new State.

the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act means the Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom known as the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act.

the Constitution of the Commonwealth means the Constitution of the Commonwealth set forth in section 9 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, being that Constitution as altered and in force from time to time.

the Statute of Westminster 1931 means the Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom known as the Statute of Westminster 1931.

(2) The expression a law made by that Parliament in section 6 above and the expression a law made by the Parliament in section 9 above include, in relation to the State of Western Australia, the Constitution Act 1889 of that State.

(3) A reference in this Act to the Parliament of a State includes, in relation to the State of New South Wales, a reference to the legislature of that State as constituted from time to time in accordance with the Constitution Act, 1902, or any other Act of that State, whether or not, in relation to any particular legislative act, the consent of the Legislative Council of that State is necessary.

17 Short title and commencement

(1) This Act may be cited as the Australia Act 1986.

(2) This Act shall come into operation on a day and at a time to be fixed by Proclamation.

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Australia Act 1986

No. 142, 1985

An Act to bring constitutional arrangements affecting the Commonwealth and the States into conformity with the status of the Commonwealth of Australia as a sovereign, independent and federal nation

Contents

1 Termination of power of Parliament of United Kingdom to legislate for Australia

2 Legislative powers of Parliaments of States

3 Termination of restrictions on legislative powers of Parliaments of States

4 Powers of State Parliaments in relation to merchant shipping

5 Commonwealth Constitution, Constitution Act and Statute of Westminster not affected

6 Manner and form of making certain State laws

7 Powers and functions of Her Majesty and Governors in respect of States

8 State laws not subject to disallowance or suspension of operation

9 State laws not subject to withholding of assent or reservation

10 Termination of responsibility of United Kingdom Government in relation to State matters

11 Termination of appeals to Her Majesty in Council

12 Amendment of Statute of Westminster

13 Amendment of Constitution Act of Queensland

14 Amendment of Constitution Act of Western Australia

15 Method of repeal or amendment of this Act or Statute of Westminster

16 Interpretation

17 Short title and commencement

Australia Act 1986

No. 142, 1985

An Act to bring constitutional arrangements affecting the Commonwealth and the States into conformity with the status of the Commonwealth of Australia as a sovereign, independent and federal nation

[Assented to 4 December 1985]

The Parliament of Australia enacts:

The Act directly affects every level of Australian government and the judicial system. The Commonwealth Parliament is empowered to enact the measure pursuant to the requests of all state parliaments under s 51(xxxviii) of the Constitution, and thereafter gains a limited but exclusive role in any future amendment of the Act itself under section 15. Each state parliament receives expanded legislative competence freed from repugnancy and extraterritoriality constraints, yet remains subject to the manner-and-form requirements preserved by section 6 and the overriding supremacy of the Commonwealth Constitution under section 5.

State Governors and Premiers assume a direct constitutional relationship with the Sovereign unmediated by United Kingdom ministers; section 7(5) makes clear that advice is tendered by the Premier alone. The judicature is affected by the termination of Privy Council appeals: every Australian court other than the High Court falls within the definition of "Australian court" in section 16(1), and section 11(1) bars any appeal from or in respect of their decisions. Legal practitioners and litigants lose the option of further appellate recourse to London (subject only to the transitional savings in section 11(4)).

The Queen and her United Kingdom advisers are relieved of responsibility for state matters (section 10) and of the obligation to act on advice from United Kingdom ministers in state affairs. Private citizens are affected indirectly through the finality of Australian court decisions, the validity of state laws that might previously have been challenged for repugnancy, and the constitutional certainty that flows from the removal of imperial fetters. Shipping interests operating under state law are freed from the repealed provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894.

Because the Act applies to the Commonwealth, each State and each Territory, its reach is geographically and jurisdictionally comprehensive. New States admitted under s 121 of the Constitution are expressly included in the definition of "State" in section 16(1).

The Act creates few direct duties but establishes important constitutional rights and immunities. State parliaments acquire an explicit right to legislate with extraterritorial effect (s 2(1)) and to repeal or amend incorporated UK law free of repugnancy constraints (s 3(2)). Citizens and governments gain the right to rely on the validity of state laws that would previously have been vulnerable under the Colonial Laws Validity Act 1865.

Section 7 vests in state Governors the exclusive exercise (subject to the stated exceptions) of all Her Majesty's powers and functions in respect of a State, thereby creating a constitutional convention, now statutorily recognised, that the Governor acts on the advice of the state Premier alone. Section 7(5) crystallises the right of the Premier to tender that advice directly.

Section 11 confers on all parties to Australian litigation the effective right to finality in domestic courts, subject only to the preserved transitional appeals. Sections 8 and 9 confer on state parliaments and their bills immunity from royal disallowance, suspension, withholding of assent or reservation, thereby strengthening the democratic legitimacy of state legislation.

The manner-and-form protection in section 6 operates as both a restriction and a right: it prevents circumvention of entrenched state constitutional provisions while preserving the ability of a state parliament to alter its own entrenching laws provided it follows the required procedure. Section 15 creates a special procedural right (and corresponding limitation) governing amendment of the Australia Act or the Statute of Westminster, requiring unanimous state parliamentary concurrence for Commonwealth amending legislation.

Section 5 expressly withholds any right that might otherwise have arisen to enact state legislation repugnant to the Commonwealth Constitution or the Australia Act itself, thereby protecting the federal structure and the supremacy of the written Constitution.

The Australia Act 1986 contains no criminal offences, monetary penalties or traditional enforcement mechanisms. Its enforcement is constitutional and declaratory. Section 1, for example, operates automatically to prevent any post-commencement UK Act from forming part of Australian law; no court or executive officer is required to "enforce" it beyond recognising its legal effect. Likewise, section 11(1) is self-executing: no appeal lies or shall be brought, rendering any purported appeal a nullity.

The Act relies on judicial notice and the ordinary jurisdiction of Australian courts to declare invalid any law or instrument that offends its provisions. Section 9(1) and (2), for instance, declare that any law or instrument purporting to require the Governor to withhold assent or to reserve a bill "shall be of no force or effect". A court confronted with such an instrument would simply treat it as void.

Section 3(2) enlarges state legislative power by removing the ground of invalidity previously supplied by repugnancy; enforcement therefore consists in courts refusing to strike down state laws on that basis. The transitional savings in section 11(4) are enforced by courts continuing to hear only those appeals that satisfy the precise pre-commencement criteria set out in subparagraphs (i) and (ii).

Because the Act is expressed as both a declaration and an enactment, its provisions are intended to have immediate legal operation upon commencement without the need for subordinate legislation or administrative enforcement machinery.

The Australia Act 1986 is carefully drafted to sit atop, but not to disturb, the foundational constitutional instruments. Section 5 expressly subordinates the expansions of state power in sections 2 and 3(2) to the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, the Constitution of the Commonwealth, the Statute of Westminster 1931 as amended, and the Australia Act itself. Any state law that would repeal, amend or be repugnant to those instruments gains no force or effect.

The Act repeals or amends a long list of imperial statutes in so far as they form part of Australian law: the Colonial Laws Validity Act 1865 (s 3(1)), sections 735 and 736 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894 (s 4), multiple Judicial Committee Acts and colonial court provisions (s 11(2) and (3)), and designated sections of the Statute of Westminster (s 12). These repeals are selective and geographically limited to the extent that the statutes formed part of the law of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory.

Section 15 creates a unique amendment regime that interacts with s 128 of the Constitution: while the ordinary constitutional amendment power under s 128 remains available to the Commonwealth, any alteration that would affect the Australia Act must still satisfy the unanimous state concurrence requirement if it seeks to repeal or amend the Act or the Statute of Westminster. The deeming provision in section 15(2) treats a repugnant Commonwealth Act as, to the extent of the repugnancy, an Act to repeal or amend the offending provision.

The Act also interacts with state constitutional legislation. Sections 13 and 14 make direct textual amendments to the Constitution Act 1867-1978 (Qld) and the Constitution Act 1889 (WA). Section 16(2) and (3) extend the meaning of references to "a law made by that Parliament" and "the Parliament of a State" to accommodate the particular constitutional arrangements of Western Australia and New South Wales.

Because the Act is expressed to bind the Crown (implicit in its recitals and substantive provisions), it interacts with the common law prerogatives and with any remaining royal instructions that might have survived earlier patriation measures. Section 7(2) and (5) replace any such instructions with the statutory rule that the Governor exercises the powers on the advice of the state Premier.

The Australia Act 1986 has not been amended since its enactment. Its text remains identical to the version that commenced on 3 March 1986 by Proclamation. The absence of amendment is deliberate: section 15 erects a high procedural hurdle requiring the concurrence of all state parliaments for any repeal or amendment (other than constitutional alteration under s 128 that does not engage the special procedure). The stability reflects the Act's success in achieving its stated purpose of bringing constitutional arrangements into conformity with Australia's sovereign status. No subsequent government has identified a policy need sufficient to justify convening all state parliaments and the Commonwealth Parliament to revisit the settlement.

The Statute of Westminster 1931, which the Australia Act partially repeals and interacts with, has likewise seen no relevant post-1986 amendment affecting the Australian provisions. The entrenched nature of the arrangement has meant that any constitutional evolution has occurred instead through High Court interpretation of the Constitution itself rather than through textual amendment of the Australia Act.

No provision of the Australia Act 1986 has been the subject of a successful constitutional challenge. Courts have consistently treated the Act as a valid exercise of Commonwealth legislative power supported by the requests of all state parliaments under s 51(xxxviii) of the Constitution. The termination of appeals in section 11 has been accepted without litigation; the transitional savings in subsection (4) have operated to permit only a handful of pre-commencement matters to proceed, after which the jurisdiction of the Privy Council over Australian courts ceased.

Controversies have instead arisen at the margins. The precise interaction between section 6's manner-and-form requirement and the Commonwealth Constitution has been debated in academic commentary, particularly whether a state parliament could, by following its own entrenched procedure, enact legislation that might indirectly affect Commonwealth matters. Section 5(b) appears to foreclose that possibility by denying force to any state law repugnant to the Commonwealth Constitution.

The extra-territorial legislative power conferred by section 2(1) has been cited in cases concerning the limits of state legislative competence, but always as confirmatory of power rather than as a source of controversy. The requirement in section 7(5) that advice to Her Majesty be tendered by the Premier has removed earlier uncertainties about the source of advice on state matters and has not generated litigation.

Section 15's special procedure has never been invoked, leaving unresolved (as a practical matter) the precise relationship between that procedure and a s 128 referendum that might purport to alter the Australia Act. The text of section 15(3) appears to preserve the s 128 power, but the interaction remains untested.

Most practitioners assume the Australia Act is a purely historical relic. In fact it continues to supply the legal foundation for the direct relationship between the Sovereign and state Governors. A subtle but important gotcha is that section 7(3) expressly reserves to the Queen (not the Governor) the power to appoint and remove a Governor; any state legislation purporting to alter that would engage the section 5 savings and the section 15 procedure.

Section 6's preservation of manner-and-form requirements is frequently overlooked. A state parliament that attempts to repeal an entrenched provision without following the required supermajority or referendum procedure will produce a law "of no force or effect" even though sections 2 and 3(2) appear to grant plenary power. The definition of "State" in section 16(1) includes a "new State", yet the unanimous concurrence requirement in section 15 has never been updated to address how a new State would participate in any future amendment process.

The repeal of the Colonial Laws Validity Act 1865 in section 3(1) applies only to laws made after commencement. Pre-commencement state laws that were once saved by the 1865 Act remain valid only to the extent they were not repugnant at the time they were made; this temporal distinction is occasionally missed in due-diligence exercises.

Section 11(4)(b)(ii) preserves appeals where special leave was granted by Her Majesty in Council on a petition presented before commencement. Because "Her Majesty in Council" is defined broadly in section 16(1), any lingering petition lodged before 3 March 1986 could theoretically still be pursued, although in practice the last such matters were exhausted decades ago.

Finally, the interpretive provision in section 16(2) that treats the Constitution Act 1889 (WA) as included in references to "a law made by that Parliament" is a Western Australian-specific gloss that does not apply to other states; practitioners acting across jurisdictions sometimes overlook this asymmetry.

Compliance with the Australia Act 1986 is largely passive for private citizens and most businesses. State legislatures and their drafters must ensure that any bill affecting the constitution, powers or procedure of the parliament complies with whatever manner-and-form requirements are contained in existing state law (s 6). When advising on the validity of state legislation that might appear to conflict with historic UK law, counsel should cite section 3(2) to confirm that repugnancy is no longer a ground of invalidity.

Governors and Premiers must observe the statutory rule in section 7(5) that advice is tendered by the Premier; any attempt to route advice through United Kingdom ministers would be contrary to the Act. In litigation, practitioners should never seek to institute an appeal to Her Majesty in Council from a post-commencement decision of an Australian court; any such step would be met with the absolute bar in section 11(1).

When drafting Commonwealth legislation that might touch upon the Australia Act or the Statute of Westminster, parliamentary counsel must confirm that the bill either does not engage section 15 or, if it does, that the requests or concurrences of all state parliaments have been obtained. Constitutional amendments under s 128 that would affect the operation of the Australia Act should be drafted with section 15(3) in mind.

For due-diligence exercises involving state constitutional law, lawyers should examine both the Australia Act amendments in sections 13 and 14 (for Queensland and Western Australia) and the continued operation of any entrenched provisions preserved by section 6. In cross-border regulatory advice, section 2(1) can be cited to support the extraterritorial reach of state legislation provided there remains a sufficient connection with the legislating state.

Because the Act is constitutionally entrenched and contains no ongoing reporting or licensing obligations, "compliance" is essentially a matter of respecting the distribution of powers and the procedural limits it has codified. Annual reviews of state legislation for repugnancy are now obsolete; the focus has shifted to ensuring consistency with the Commonwealth Constitution (protected by s 5) and with any applicable manner-and-form requirements.

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