Legislation Revision and Publication Act 2002

Definitions and scope: The Act defines “Commissioner” as the person holding or acting in the office of Commissioner for Legislation Revision and Publication and defines “legislation” broadly to include Acts, regulations and prescribed legislative instruments (s 3). It also defines “publish” to include “republish” and “revise” to include “consolidate” (s 3). These basic definitions set the boundaries of what the program can cover and what actions count as publication or revision.

Program and object: Section 5 creates an ongoing program for revision and publication, with the principal object of consolidating public general legislation and making up-to-date copies available to the public in printed or electronic form (s 5(1)-(2)). “Public general legislation” is the principal focus; private Acts and certain other classes may be excluded (s 5(3)). The Commissioner has discretion to decide whether legislation of restricted or local application is sufficiently important to justify inclusion (s 5(3)(b)).

Appointment and supervision: The Governor may appoint the Parliamentary Counsel or a legal practitioner employed in the Office of Parliamentary Counsel as Commissioner (s 4(1)). The Attorney-General may appoint an acting Commissioner where there is no Commissioner or the Commissioner is unable to act (s 4(2)). Supervision is a mandatory precondition: legislation may only be revised or published under the Act under the supervision of the Commissioner (s 6).

Permitted editorial alterations: Section 7 is the core operational schema for revision. It lists what may be omitted (for example headings, spent, expired or superseded provisions, and provisions that are only savings or transitional and apply to a past time) (s 7(1)(a)(i)-(iii)). It lists permitted stylistic and drafting changes: altering long titles and headings to reflect omissions (s 7(1)(b)); removing obsolete headings (s 7(1)(c)); correcting minor errors (s 7(1)(d)); updating references to substituted legislation (s 7(1)(e)); altering names, titles or citations changed by or under an Act (s 7(1)(f)); modernising 20th-century year figures where future action is concerned (s 7(1)(g)); and a wide array of style and formatting changes to achieve consistency (s 7(1)(h)(i)-(ix)). The section authorises additional alterations of kinds prescribed by regulation (s 7(1)(i)). Importantly, s 7(2) prohibits any alteration that would change the effect of the legislation.

Recording amendment history: When revising legislation the Commissioner must make publicly available legislative history notes that record instruments by which legislation has been amended or varied, how those instruments affected provisions, relevant assent and commencement dates, and the omission of provisions under s 7 (s 7(4)).

Publication mechanics: Section 8 permits publication in printed form or electronic form, including from a website in accordance with regulations (s 8(1)). If technical reasons prevent publication in the standard form, the Commissioner may choose another way to publish and must publish in the standard way as soon as practicable (s 8(2)). The Act treats an electronic copy downloaded from a website or a print of that copy as publication under the Act if conditions in regulation are satisfied (s 8(3)). The Commissioner can republish in parts, and such republication is taken to comprise the substituted parts together with the most recent republication of each other part (s 8(4)). Revisions have a particular interpretive legal effect: alterations made in the course of revision are to be treated as if they had been made by legislation that came into operation immediately before the date of republication (s 8(5)). The Act also requires that published legislation not use the Latin regnal year (s 8(6)).

Website-only publication obligations and validity: Section 8A requires the Commissioner to ensure website-only publications remain available from that website or otherwise published while the legislation remains in force (s 8A(1)). However, failure to comply with that duty does not affect validity or operation of the legislation (s 8A(2)).

Evidentiary presumptions: Section 9 establishes a presumption that legislation revised and published under this Act, or earlier like provisions, will be taken, in the absence of proof to the contrary, to set out correctly the legislation as in force at the date or for the period specified. This presumption applies both to revised and published legislation (s 9(1)) and to legislation published under the Act that has not been amended in material part (s 9(2)). Section 9(3) gives a prescribed website’s specified publication day legal weight in proceedings, again in the absence of proof to the contrary.

Regulation-making power and transitional continuity: The Governor has a regulation power for matters contemplated or necessary for the Act (s 10). The Schedule preserves continuity for the prior office-holder, providing that a person who held the office of Commissioner of Statute Revision prior to commencement continues as Commissioner for Legislation Revision and Publication under this Act without further appointment (Schedule cl 4).

Amendment and history markers: The Act’s legislative history records amendments and lists the repeal of the Acts Republication Act 1967. Several provisions were amended or inserted by the Statutes Amendment (Courts and Justice Measures) Act 2016 and the Legislation Interpretation Act 2021; the table at the end of the Act identifies which sections were varied and by which instrument.

Collectively, these main concepts define an administrative editorial function that consolidates, styles and publishes authoritative texts with statutory presumptions that support their use in litigation and administrative practice, while constraining the Commissioner from changing legislative effect.

Primary office-holders and public servants: The Act centralises operational responsibility in a single office, the Commissioner for Legislation Revision and Publication, who is appointed by the Governor from among Parliamentary Counsel or legal practitioners employed in the Office of Parliamentary Counsel (s 4(1)). The Attorney-General’s power to appoint an acting Commissioner where there is no Commissioner or the Commissioner is unable to act (s 4(2)) affects the Office of Parliamentary Counsel’s staffing arrangements and succession planning.

Parliamentary and executive actors: The Act affects the Governor and the Attorney-General directly by conferring appointment powers (s 4) and regulation power (s 10). Departments, agencies and statutory authorities that produce subordinate legislation or rely on statutory publication in the Gazette will be affected because s 4A treats publication under this Act as compliance with any provision that authorises or requires publishing in the Gazette (s 4A).

Legal practitioners, courts and litigants: Section 9’s evidentiary provisions create a presumption in legal proceedings that published texts set out correctly the legislation as in force (s 9(1)-(2)). That changes the evidentiary landscape for advisers, litigants and courts by making the consolidated or published text the starting point in litigation, unless “proof to the contrary” is provided. Legal practitioners must therefore be attentive to the legislative history notes the Commissioner must publish (s 7(4)) and to any differences between published consolidations and the primary instruments.

Publishers and information intermediaries: Entities that redistribute legislative texts, libraries, and commercial publishers who reprint legislation will be affected because the Act authorises consolidated and styled texts to be published, and treats electronic copies downloaded from a prescribed website as being published under the Act if conditions are met (s 8(3)). The Commissioner’s powers to alter style, numbering, formatting and spelling (s 7(1)(h)) directly affect how published texts will appear and therefore influence the downstream presentation of legislation.

Members of the public and regulated entities: The Act expressly aims to make up-to-date copies of public general legislation available to members of the public in printed or electronic form (s 5(2)). This includes businesses and individuals who need up-to-date legislative texts for compliance, contract drafting, or operational decisions. The Commissioner may exclude private Acts and legislation of restricted or local application that are judged by the Commissioner to be of insufficient importance to justify inclusion in the program (s 5(3)(a)-(b)), which affects the availability of certain texts to the public.

Drafters and departmental legislative units: Policy officers and those drafting amendments need to understand that certain editorial changes will be made on revision (for example updating references to substituted legislation, adjusting long titles, removing spent provisions, and correcting minor errors under s 7(1)). They must also be aware that alterations permitted by s 7 cannot change the effect of legislation (s 7(2)), and that legislative history notes will be made public (s 7(4)), which requires accurate recording of amendment instruments and commencement dates.

Entities relying on Gazette publication: Any provision that authorises or requires publication in the Gazette can be satisfied by publication under this Act instead of, or in addition to, publication in the Gazette (s 4A). That affects administrative practice across government where publication in the Gazette has been the traditional method of bringing instruments or actions to public notice.

Regulators and courts concerned with interpretation: The Act interacts with interpretive practice because s 8(5) treats editorial alterations made in revision as if they had been made by legislation that came into operation immediately before republication; that has potential consequences for how a consolidated text is read in relation to timing and effect.

Indirectly affected stakeholders: Commercial law firms, compliance teams, accountants and journalists will be affected by the increased reliance on consolidated and published texts as set out in s 9 and by the Commissioner’s ability to omit spent material and to alter presentation for consistency (s 7(1)). Those stakeholders rely on stable, authoritative texts to reduce search costs and uncertainty.

In summary, the Act principally affects the Office of Parliamentary Counsel and the Commissioner’s role, government publishers and departments, legal practitioners and courts by changing the mechanics of revision and publication, and indirectly affects all users of legislative texts by altering the form, accessibility and evidentiary status of consolidated legislation.

Duties of the Commissioner and Office: The Commissioner is the statutory officer responsible for supervision of revision and publication (s 4, s 6). The Commissioner must supervise any revision or publication under the Act; legislation may only be revised or published under the Act under the Commissioner’s supervision (s 6). If legislation is published only as an electronic copy from a website, the Commissioner must ensure it continues to be available from that website or is otherwise published and available to the public while the legislation remains in force (s 8A(1)). The Commissioner must also make legislative history notes publicly available when legislation is revised, recording the instruments that amended the legislation, how provisions were affected, relevant assent and commencement dates, and any omissions made under s 7 (s 7(4)).

Publication duties: The Act permits the Commissioner to publish legislation in printed or electronic form, from a website or otherwise, in accordance with regulations (s 8(1)). If practical or technical reasons prevent publication in the standard way, the Commissioner may publish in an alternative way determined by the Commissioner and must publish by the standard methods as soon as practicable (s 8(2)). For website publication, the regulations will determine the conditions under which an electronic copy downloaded or printed from a prescribed site is to be taken as published under the Act (s 8(3)). The Commissioner may republish legislation in parts and such republication will be taken to comprise substituted parts together with the most recent republication of the remaining parts (s 8(4)).

Powers to alter: When revising legislation, the Commissioner may make a defined set of omissions, corrections and style alterations, including omission of spent or expired provisions and adjustments of titles, headings and references (s 7(1)(a)-(f)). The Commissioner may correct minor errors, alter numbering, spelling, format, punctuation and other presentation matters, replace 20th-century year figures with 21st-century figures where related to future acts, and express monetary amounts in decimal currency where appropriate (s 7(1)(d), (g), (h)(i)-(vii)). The Act also allows the Commissioner to make alterations of a kind prescribed by regulation (s 7(1)(i)).

Constraint on power: Importantly, s 7(2) is an express constraint: the permitted alterations do not include any change that would change the substance or effect of the legislation. That is a legal duty on the Commissioner and a limit on the scope of permitted editorial intervention.

Rights to rely and evidentiary presumptions: Section 9 grants parties in legal proceedings the right to treat legislation revised and published under this Act, and publications that have not been materially altered, as correctly setting out the contents of legislation “in the absence of proof to the contrary” (s 9(1)-(2)). Where a regulation-prescribed website states a publication day, that day is, in the absence of proof to the contrary, to be taken as the publication day in legal proceedings (s 9(3)). Those rules create evidentiary advantages for users who rely on the Commissioner’s published texts.

Regulatory power of the Governor: The Governor may make regulations as are contemplated by or necessary or expedient for the purposes of the Act (s 10). This creates scope for delegated instruments to specify technical publication conditions, define classes of legislative instruments to be included or excluded, and to prescribe other operational matters.

Discretion on exclusions: The Commissioner has discretion to exclude certain classes of legislation from the program (s 5(3)), including private Acts, legislation judged of insufficient importance due to restricted or local application, legislation whose operation has expired or been superseded, and legislation consisting essentially of repeals or amendments (s 5(3)(a)-(d)). The Governor may prescribe additional classes of legislation by regulation (s 5(3)(e)).

Transitional duty recognition: The Schedule preserves continuity of the incumbent office-holder who was Commissioner of Statute Revision immediately before the Act’s commencement, thereby creating a duty of continuity rather than a fresh appointment for that person (Schedule cl 4).

No express enforcement penalties for non-publication: The Act imposes duties on the Commissioner but does not create specific penalties or offences for failing to perform publication duties; section 8A(2) further clarifies that failure to maintain website availability does not invalidate the legislation (s 8A(2)). The Governor’s regulation power (s 10) may create regulatory obligations, but no penal enforcement regime is contained in the Act itself.

In short, the Act vests duties in the Commissioner to supervise revision and publication, allows a defined set of editorial powers, requires public legislative history notes, imposes an obligation to maintain availability for website-only publications, and confers evidentiary rights to rely upon published texts in judicial and other proceedings.

Absence of express penal sanctions: The Act does not create statutory offences, fines, or criminal penalties tied to non-compliance by the Commissioner or other actors. There is no provision within the Act that prescribes penalties for failure to revise, publish, or maintain the availability of legislation. That absence is explicit in the text: duties such as the continuity obligation for website publication are not backed by an invalidity rule; rather, s 8A(2) expressly provides that a failure by the Commissioner to ensure availability under s 8A(1) “does not affect the validity or operation of the legislation”.

Administrative enforcement and supervision: Enforcement in practice therefore will be administrative and political rather than penal. The supervisory duty is statutory: legislation may only be revised or published under the Act under the supervision of the Commissioner (s 6). The Commissioner is appointed under s 4 and therefore accountable within the public service and to the Attorney-General (who may appoint an acting Commissioner under s 4(2)). The practical levers for enforcement are administrative oversight, parliamentary scrutiny and public accountability rather than statutory enforcement provisions.

Evidentiary consequences in proceedings: The Act creates an evidentiary regime that has enforcement-like effects in litigation. Section 9 provides that published legislation is, in the absence of proof to the contrary, to be taken to set out correctly the contents of the legislation as in force at the date specified (s 9(1)-(2)). For website publications, s 9(3) provides that, in the absence of proof to the contrary, the day specified on a prescribed website is deemed the publication day. These presumptions shift the practical evidentiary burden onto parties who challenge the accuracy or provenance of the published text. That has the effect of streamlining litigation in most cases, since courts and litigants may rely on the published consolidation unless contrary evidence is produced.

Delegated regulation: The Act empowers the Governor to make regulations “as are contemplated by, or necessary or expedient for the purposes of, this Act” (s 10). Any regulations made under that power could create procedural requirements, conditions for taken-to-be-published status of electronic copies, or other administrative obligations; such regulations might contain enforcement mechanisms or transitional rules. However, nothing in the principal Act itself prescribes enforcement sanctions or a statutory compliance regime beyond the administrative and evidentiary structure.

Remedies and legal challenge: Because s 7(2) forbids alterations that would change the effect of legislation, a party who considers a revision has altered legislative effect may seek judicial review or other relief. The Act itself does not set out specific judicial remedies; any challenge would proceed under general administrative law remedies and interpretative principles. Section 9’s presumption in favour of published texts sets up the evidentiary framework, but is expressly subject to “proof to the contrary” , litigants retain the right to adduce contrary evidence. The Act does not detail the standard or types of proof necessary; those matters fall to courts to resolve in the application of s 9.

Practical enforcement points: In practice, enforcement will be carried out by a mix of: (a) internal public-service oversight of the Office of Parliamentary Counsel and the Commissioner; (b) public, parliamentary and media scrutiny of the Commissioner’s performance; (c) reliance on general administrative law remedies if a revision or publication is alleged to exceed statutory powers (for example by changing legislative effect contrary to s 7(2)); and (d) litigation practice where parties challenge the accuracy of a published text, in which case s 9 imposes an evidential hurdle on challengers.

In summary, the Act establishes duties and evidentiary presumptions but does not create express statutory penalties for non-compliance. Enforcement is administrative and judicial in nature, through accountability within government and the courts, supported by s 9’s evidentiary regime which privileges published texts absent contrary proof.

Gazette publication requirements: Section 4A directly interacts with any Act or law that authorises or requires publishing legislation in the Gazette, by providing that publication under this Act will be taken to have complied with those requirements (s 4A). That changes the technical mechanics of statutory publication across the statute book and by administrative instrument: bodies that were required to use the Gazette can rely on publication under this Act instead of, or in addition to, using the Gazette.

Legislative Interpretation Act 2021 and legislative-history interplay: The Act contains multiple cross-references to the Legislation Interpretation Act 2021. Section 7(1)(h)(viii) permits a penalty at the foot of a provision to be stated to be a maximum penalty if so by virtue of the Legislation Interpretation Act 2021. Several amendments recorded in the legislative history were made by the Legislation Interpretation Act 2021 (Legislative history entries for 2021 indicate amendments to s 3, s 5(3), s 7, s 8 and insertion of s 4A, s 8A, and s 9(3)). The Court and drafters will need to consider how consolidated texts produced under this Act interact with interpretive rules in the Legislation Interpretation Act 2021, particularly in areas such as commencement, effect and the interpretation of penalties.

Effect on subordinate legislation and prescribed instruments: The Act’s definition of “legislation” includes regulations and “a legislative instrument of a kind prescribed by regulation” (s 3). The Governor’s regulation power (s 10) and s 5(3)(e) (permitting the exclusion by regulation of a class of legislation) mean that the Act’s practical scope over subordinate instruments depends on delegated instruments. Any Act or subordinate law which expects publication in a particular form must be read against the availability of publication under this Act and the regulations made under it.

Interaction with earlier revision statutes: The Act repealed the Acts Republication Act 1967 (Legislative history). Transitional provisions preserve continuity of the incumbent Commissioner of Statute Revision (Schedule cl 4). The evidentiary provisions in s 9 also apply to legislation revised and published under “this Act or any former Act or provision of an Act that provided for the revision and publication of legislation” (s 9(1)), thus maintaining continuity for prior publication regimes.

Evidentiary interaction with courts: Section 9’s presumptions affect procedural and substantive litigation practice: courts will treat the Commissioner’s published texts as prima facie correct unless contrary proof is supplied (s 9(1)-(3)). That interacts with rules of evidence and civil procedure, shifting practical burdens in disputes about the content or operative date of provisions. Section 8(5), which treats alterations made in the course of revision as if they had been made by legislation that came into operation immediately before the republication, interacts with doctrines of retrospective effect and statutory commencement dates; courts will need to apply interpretive principles to reconcile editorial consolidation with statutory commencement and retrospective effect rules in other legislation.

Administrative practice and record-keeping statutes: Section 7(4)’s requirement to make legislative history notes publicly available creates an operational interaction with Freedom of Information regimes, record-keeping obligations and administrative transparency policies. Agencies that rely on a particular reading of a statute will find their reliance affected by the Commissioner’s public notes specifying how a consolidation relates to amendment instruments and commencement dates.

Obsolescence and cross-references: The Act’s own notes caution that references in the legislation to other legislation, instruments or titles of bodies or offices are not automatically updated by the revision program and therefore may be obsolete (Notes to Act). That means interpretive practitioners must cross-check references and cannot assume that a consolidated text has updated every cross-reference to current terminology.

Regulatory instruments: The Governor’s regulation-making power (s 10) enables detailed interaction with other laws to be fleshed out in subordinate instruments. For example, regulations can specify the types of legislative instruments that fall within the Act’s definition of “legislation”, the technical conditions under which a website download is taken to be published under the Act (s 8(3)), and classes of legislation that can be excluded (s 5(3)(e)).

In sum, the Act interacts with other laws by replacing earlier republication machinery, by providing an alternative to Gazette publication (s 4A), by linking into the Legislation Interpretation Act 2021, by affecting subordinate instruments through delegated regulation, by creating evidentiary presumptions that will alter litigation practice, and by requiring legislative history notes that intersect with record-keeping and transparency regimes.

Principal enactment and commencement: The Legislation Revision and Publication Act 2002 (No 32 of 2002) received assent on 28 November 2002 and commenced on 1 January 2003 (Gazette 19.12.2002 p4735) as recorded in the Legislative history.

Subsequent amendments and insertions: The Act’s legislative history, as set out at the end of the text, records two later amending instruments of primary importance.

1. Statutes Amendment (Courts and Justice Measures) Act 2016 (No 62 of 2016): This amending Act, assented to on 8 December 2016, substituted s 8(1) (publication in printed or electronic form) and deleted s 8(2) as part of its amendments (Legislative history entries: s 8(1) substituted by 62/2016 s 13; s 8(2) deleted by 62/2016 s 13). It also amended s 5(2) by s 12 of that amending Act, changing the principal object wording (Legislative history: s 5(2) amended by 62/2016 s 12).

2. Legislation Interpretation Act 2021 (No 36 of 2021): This Act, assented to 30 September 2021, made a series of amendments to the Legislation Revision and Publication Act 2002, which commenced 1 January 2022 (Gazette 23.12.2021 p4619). The 2021 instrument amended the definition of “legislation” in s 3 (Sch 1 cl 8), inserted s 4A (Sch 1 cl 9), amended s 5(3) (Sch 1 cl 10), amended s 7(1) (Sch 1 cl 11) and substituted s 7(3) (Sch 1 cl 11(3)), and made multiple related changes to s 8 and added s 8A and s 9(3) (Sch 1 cl 12-14). The legislative history entries specify the clauses in Sch 1 of the Legislation Interpretation Act 2021 that effected each alteration and note their commencement date as 1 January 2022.

Replaced and repealed statutes: The Act repealed the Acts Republication Act 1967 (Legislative history). The text also notes that the Act amended the Evidence Act 1929 and the Subordinate Legislation Act 1978 as part of its principal enactment, although specific amendments to those Acts are not set out in the text supplied here (Legislation amended by principal Act).

Provision-specific amendments: The prefatory table in the Legislative history records the provisions amended and the instruments that varied them. Examples include:

• s 3 definition of “legislation”, amended by 36/2021 Sch 1 cl 8 (commenced 1.1.2022);
• s 4A inserted by 36/2021 Sch 1 cl 9 (commenced 1.1.2022);
• s 5(2) amended by 62/2016 s 12 (commenced 8.12.2016);
• s 5(3) amended by 36/2021 Sch 1 cl 10(1), (2) (commenced 1.1.2022);
• s 7(1) amended by 36/2021 Sch 1 cl 11(1), (2) (commenced 1.1.2022);
• s 7(3) substituted by 36/2021 Sch 1 cl 11(3) (commenced 1.1.2022);
• s 8(1) substituted by 62/2016 s 13 and further amended by 36/2021 Sch 1 cl 12(1) (commenced 8.12.2016 and 1.1.2022 respectively);
• s 8(2) deleted by 62/2016 s 13 (commenced 8.12.2016);
• s 8A inserted by 36/2021 Sch 1 cl 13 (commenced 1.1.2022);
• s 9(3) inserted by 36/2021 Sch 1 cl 14 (commenced 1.1.2022).

Transitional provisions: The Schedule preserves continuity for the previous office-holder by providing that a person holding the office of Commissioner of Statute Revision immediately before the commencement of the Schedule continues as Commissioner for Legislation Revision and Publication without further appointment (Schedule cl 4). Earlier Schedule clauses were omitted by the principal Act (Legislative history notes indicate cll 1-3 omitted under the 2002 Act).

Notes and cautionary entries: The Act’s notes include a specific caution that references within the legislation to other legislation, instruments or titles of bodies or offices are not automatically updated by the revision program and may therefore be obsolete. The legislative history provides access points for earlier versions and for further information via the Index of South Australian Statutes or legislation.sa.gov.au.

In aggregate, the amendment history shows iterative reform to accommodate electronic publication and to align the revision and publication framework with the broader Legislation Interpretation Act 2021. The 2016 and 2021 amending Acts made substantive procedural and definitional changes, notably to publication modalities (electronic publication, website conditions) and to the Commissioner’s powers and duties.

No reported judicial decisions are cited within the Act text supplied. The Act itself does not list or reference any judicial decisions, and the Legislative history appended to the Act does not record litigation outcomes. Therefore the statutory text contains no explicit litigation history entries or named cases.

Despite the absence of recorded cases, the Act creates legal rules that have direct implications for litigation and evidentiary practice. Two provisions are particularly relevant to how disputes may be litigated:

• Section 9 provides an evidentiary presumption that legislation revised and published under this Act, or published under this Act and not materially altered, is to be taken, in the absence of proof to the contrary, to set out correctly the contents of the legislation as in force at the date or for the period specified (s 9(1)-(2)). Section 9(3) extends that presumption to a publication day specified on a prescribed website. Practically, that places an evidentiary burden on any party who seeks to demonstrate that the published consolidation is inaccurate, incomplete, or incorrectly dates the legislation.

• Section 8(5) states that legislation revised and republished under this Act has effect as if alterations made in the course of the revision to material that forms part of the legislation for interpretation purposes had been made by legislation that came into operation immediately before the date of republication. This provision has interpretive consequences that may be litigated: courts may be required to reconcile the editorial “as if” rule with ordinary rules about commencement dates, retrospective effect, and the date on which substantive provisions take effect.

Where litigation arises challenging a revision on the basis that it has changed substantive effect contrary to s 7(2), the Act provides a statutory constraint that courts can apply. A litigant who asserts that a Commissioner exceeded the statutory powers in s 7 and thereby altered legislative effect would bring their claim under general legal remedies (for example judicial review) and would rely on the statutory framework as the benchmark of permissible action. The Act does not specify procedural rules for such challenges; therefore existing administrative law and statutory interpretation principles would govern.

The Act’s provisions will influence evidentiary practice in courts and tribunals. The “absence of proof to the contrary” standard in s 9 assumes that a published consolidation is the norm and that challengers must provide contrary evidence. That practical shift reduces the burden on litigants and courts in most cases because the published text will be the starting point; however, it retains the avenue for a challenger to prove discrepancies.

In the absence of reported cases in the supplied text, researchers and practitioners should search external case law databases and the decisions of South Australian courts and tribunals for any judicial consideration of: (a) the validity or limits of editorial changes made under s 7; (b) the evidentiary weight of published consolidations under s 9; and (c) the interpretive consequences of s 8(5) regarding the timing of alterations. The Act anticipates these litigation vectors by framing evidentiary presumptions and territorialising editorial powers, but leaves courts to determine how those provisions operate in concrete disputes.

Presumptions shift practical burdens: Section 9 creates a rebuttable presumption that published texts set out the law correctly, and that website-specified publication days are the publication days in proceedings (s 9(1)-(3)). Practically, litigants and advisers must be prepared to produce contrary proof if they contend the published consolidation is wrong. Failure to do so will likely leave the published text unquestioned in litigation. The standard “absence of proof to the contrary” is not defined; parties should expect that courts will require clear documentary or contemporaneous evidence to rebut the presumption.

Editorial powers are broad in presentation but constrained in substance: Section 7 lists extensive permitted corrections and stylistic changes (s 7(1)(a)-(h)), including omission of spent provisions, changes to headings, numbering, spelling and formatting, and correction of minor errors. Those powers can significantly change how legislation reads and how provisions are located. However s 7(2) expressly forbids changes that change the effect of legislation. The tension between broad stylistic authority and the prohibition on substantive change can produce disputes over whether a particular alteration is merely editorial or an impermissible substantive change. Practitioners should not assume that all visible changes are benign; the legal test is whether the effect has been altered.

“As if” timing effect on consolidation: Section 8(5) states that alterations made in revision have effect as if they were made by legislation that came into operation immediately before the date of republication. That creates a legal fiction for interpretation purposes which can have non-obvious consequences for the timing of rights, obligations and transitional provisions. Users should not assume that republication is merely a housekeeping exercise; the “as if” rule can affect how a court reads the temporal operation of a consolidated provision.

Commissioner’s discretion on inclusion and exclusions: Section 5(3)(b) allows the Commissioner to exclude legislation that, owing to restricted or local application or nature, is not, in the Commissioner’s opinion, of sufficient importance to justify inclusion. That subjective assessment means that some legislation may not be consolidated or published, and there is no prescribed review mechanism in the Act for that inclusion/exclusion decision. Users needing a particular local or private instrument should not assume it will be accessible in the official consolidation.

Website availability vs validity: Section 8A requires the Commissioner to keep website-only publications available while legislation remains in force (s 8A(1)), but s 8A(2) provides that a failure to do so “does not affect the validity or operation of the legislation.” The practical result is that the legal existence of a provision is not conditional on online availability, even though the Act positions online publication as the normal accessibility mechanism. For users, the risk is one of access rather than legal invalidity: absence from the website may hamper compliance and awareness even though it does not affect legal force.

References may remain obsolete: The Act’s notes explicitly warn that references to other legislation, instruments or titles of bodies or offices are not automatically updated as part of the revision program and therefore may be obsolete. Practitioners relying on consolidated texts should verify cross-references and citations against current instruments and government directories rather than assuming a consolidation has updated all such references.

No express penalties for non-performance: The Act imposes duties on the Commissioner but does not create penalties for failure to perform them. That means there is no statutory sanction for the Commissioner failing to maintain website availability or the program’s scope, beyond public, parliamentary and administrative oversight. Parties cannot rely on a statutory enforcement regime within this Act to compel publication or maintenance.

Regulations control important technicalities: Many key operational details are left to regulation (s 10; s 7(1)(i); s 8(1), s 8(3)). The conditions under which an electronic copy is to be taken as published, the classes of instruments included or excluded, and other technical matters will be defined in subordinate instruments. Users should consult the regulations to understand the full operational rules.

Potential for subtle interpretive shifts through style changes: Allowed changes include altering enacting words, separating enacting words from preambles, inserting headings above preambles, and generally changing format and presentation (s 7(1)(h)(i)-(iii)). While not changing legal effect in theory, these changes may influence judicial reading, legislative interpretation and how provisions are used in practice. That is a potential source of interpretive drift that parties should monitor.

Single-instance limitation on omitting certain material: Section 7(3) permits omission or variation of material that, before the commencement of section 19 of the Legislation Interpretation Act 2021, appeared in legislation or a Bill but did not form part of the legislation or Bill, but it may not be omitted or varied more than once. This single-instance rule can complicate later revision cycles and requires tracking to ensure that particular material is not inappropriately omitted multiple times.

Republishing in parts and tracking versions: Section 8(4) allows republishing in parts so only affected parts are substituted, and requires the republication to be taken together with the most recent republication of other parts. That means readers must check multiple republished parts to reconstruct the whole; it imposes an information-management task on users to ensure they have the most recent republished parts across an Act.

In short, the main “gotchas” are: the evidentiary presumption with its burden-shifting effect (s 9); broad editorial powers that can produce material presentational changes though constrained by s 7(2); the “as if” timing fiction in s 8(5); the Commissioner’s discretion to exclude certain legislation (s 5(3)); the fact that website unavailability affects access but not validity (s 8A(1)-(2)); and the heavy reliance on regulations to set operational detail (s 10). Practitioners should plan to verify consolidated texts against legislative history notes (s 7(4)) and against primary instruments where accuracy or timing is critical.

For the Commissioner and Office of Parliamentary Counsel

• Supervision and appointment: Ensure the Commissioner is validly appointed under s 4(1) and that an acting Commissioner is named under s 4(2) when required. All revision and publication under the Act must be under the Commissioner’s supervision (s 6).

• Publication processes and regulations: Follow the regulations made under s 10 regarding publication modalities. For website publication, ensure the conditions in the regulations are met so that an electronic copy downloaded or printed from the prescribed website is taken as published under the Act (s 8(3)). Maintain procedures to publish in printed form where required (s 8(1)) and to use the alternate publication route if technical issues prevent standard publication, republishing in the standard way as soon as practicable (s 8(2)).

• Maintain website availability: If legislation is published only on a website, ensure continuity of availability while legislation remains in force as required by s 8A(1). Keep backups and contingency publication methods, but note s 8A(2) that non-availability does not affect validity; nevertheless make availability a priority for access and reliance.

• Editorial rules and constraints: Apply s 7(1) editorial rules strictly and ensure that any omission, stylistic change or correction does not change the effect of the legislation as per s 7(2). Implement internal checklists, version-control, and peer review processes to document that each permitted alteration is non-substantive. Use the specific permitted categories in s 7(1)(a)-(h) as the checklist for permissible editorial changes.

• Legislative history notes: For each revision, publish comprehensive legislative history notes recording amendment instruments, how provisions were affected, relevant assent and commencement dates, and any omissions made under s 7 (s 7(4)). Ensure those notes are accessible with the consolidated text and are sufficiently detailed to enable external verification and rebuttal where necessary.

• Record-keeping for legal proof: Keep contemporaneous records, source instruments and mapping logs linking each consolidated provision to the original instruments and to the precise drafting changes made. Such records will assist if “proof to the contrary” is required in litigation to rebut s 9’s presumption (s 9(1)-(2)).

For government departments and drafters

• Notify and coordinate: Coordinate with the Office of Parliamentary Counsel about intended amendments and commencement details so that the Commissioner can accurately reflect changes and prepare legislative history notes. Where an Act or instrument requires publication in the Gazette, confirm whether publication under this Act will be used to satisfy that requirement (s 4A).

• Provide accurate commencement data: Ensure accurate notification of assent and commencement dates to the Commissioner for inclusion in legislative history notes (s 7(4)(c)). Accurate dates are necessary because s 8(5) treats some revision alterations as if they had been made immediately before republication for interpretation purposes.

• Expect editorial adjustment: When preparing instruments, allow for the Commissioner’s editorial changes to headings, numbering, spelling, formatting and references (s 7(1)(h)). Make sure the instrument’s policy intent is clear in the text so that editorial changes do not risk misrepresenting effect.

For legal practitioners, businesses and users

• Treat published consolidations as authoritative starting points: Rely on consolidations published under this Act as the default source in advice and litigation but be prepared to locate primary instruments where the exact wording, operative date or legislative history might be determinative. Section 9’s presumption will usually make reliance on the published consolidation practical; however, where an argument turns on nuance, obtain the original instrument.

• Check legislative history notes: Always consult the legislative history notes that the Commissioner must publish under s 7(4) to identify amendment instruments and commencement dates. This step is necessary to establish whether any omission, substitution, or change affects interpretation or operation.

• Verify cross-references and titles: Because revisions do not necessarily update all references to other legislation or titles, verify cross-references rather than assuming they are current (Notes to Act). That is particularly important for references to bodies, offices, or other legislation which may have been renamed or repealed.

• Use prescribed website publication day as evidence: If a prescribed website indicates a publication day, use that date as evidence in filings and notices; s 9(3) gives that date legal weight in the absence of contrary proof. Ensure any procedural timetables that depend on publication dates are checked against the published date on the prescribed website.

• Prepare to rebut the presumption where necessary: If you need to challenge the accuracy of a consolidation, prepare to adduce primary source instruments, drafts, parliamentary records, or contemporaneous materials sufficient to meet the “proof to the contrary” threshold in s 9.

For publishers and information services

• Follow format and attribution rules: When redistributing consolidated texts, make clear provenance and publication status to end‑users. Note the Act allows a wide range of stylistic changes; therefore indicate that texts are the Commissioner’s consolidations and link to legislative history notes.

• Maintain version-control and archives: Keep archival copies that reflect the exact downloaded or printed copy that users rely upon, since s 8(3) treats such copies as published under the Act where regulations permit. Timestamped copies will assist users and protect providers from disputes about the provenance of a particular version.

Regulatory compliance and monitoring

• Review regulations: Consult the regulations made under s 10 to understand the precise operational conditions for website publication, any classes of instruments prescribed or excluded, and other technical obligations. Ensure organisational processes are aligned with those regulatory prescriptions.

• Implement quality assurance: Use document controls, traceability logs, and legal sign-offs to ensure editorial changes only fall within s 7(1) categories and do not alter legislative effect. Maintain a public register of changes or a version history paired with legislative history notes.

In sum, compliance requires administrative systems to support accurate publication, robust record-keeping to support the evidentiary presumptions in s 9, coordination with drafters and departments about commencement and amendment instruments, and ongoing technical arrangements to keep website publications available and to satisfy any conditions laid down in the regulations.