This law retroactively validates many past State acts in Western Australia affecting land and waters, changing whether native title is extinguished, partially preserved, or preserved, and confirming certain Crown resource, water and public‑access rights. It makes the State liable to pay compensation where the Native Title Act entitles holders, creates...

The Act vests all petroleum in the Crown and creates a statutory regime for exploration, prospecting and production via permits, licences and leases, imposing fees, bonds, rents and royalties alongside technical reporting, inspection and compensation rules. Decision making is concentrated with the Minister/Governor and disputes go to a specialist Warden’s...

The Act vests subsurface petroleum and geothermal resources in the Crown and creates a licensing/permit regime for searching, exploring and recovering them. It grants the Minister broad decision and enforcement powers, sets operator duties, fees, royalties and compensation rules, and controls transfers and registration. It affects explorers/operators,...

The Property Law Act 1969 sets default formalities and implied terms for conveyances, mortgages, leases, trusts and encroachment remedies in Western Australia. By prescribing execution/writing rules, statutory warranties, mortgagee powers and tenant protections, it shapes risk allocation and enforcement incentives. Buyers, sellers, lenders, landlords,...

The Interpretation Act 1984 sets the default rules for reading and operating every written law in Western Australia, supplying common definitions, timing, publication, delegation and procedural mechanics that other Acts and regulations inherit. It affects everyone governed by WA law—Ministers, agencies, courts, businesses and individuals—because it...

This Act modernises trustee law in Western Australia by setting who may act as trustee, granting broad powers to manage and invest trust property subject to prudence and review, and creating limited safe harbours where trustees obtain proper advice or valuations. It protects third parties dealing in good faith, enables trustee corporations to act as sole...

This Act sets the rules for managing Crown land: who can buy, sell, lease, charge or register interests, and how those dealings take effect. It gives the Minister wide powers to acquire, hold and deal with Crown and some freehold land, to register covenants, caveats and charges, to require approvals and to raise fees (see ss10, 11, 15, 18, 19). Those powers...

The Act creates an Industrial Relations Commission, defines who and what counts as an industrial matter, and gives the Commission broad conciliation, arbitration and award‑making powers. It sets statutory processes for employer–employee agreements, remedies for unfair dismissal, bullying/sexual‑harassment and flexible‑work claims, and enforcement via...

This Act sets out how courts must sentence convicted persons in the State: it defines sentencing principles, procedural steps (pre‑sentence reports, victim impact statements), alternative orders (pre‑sentence orders and community orders), mandatory minimums and parole restrictions for offences tied to declared criminal organisations, and a regime to declare...

Creates a licence based regime for building, operating and regulating petroleum pipelines in WA: applications, Ministerial approval and conditions, registration, land access and compensation, ongoing safety/operation duties, fees, securities and enforcement powers. It mainly affects licensees (compliance, acquisition costs, limits on transfers), landowners...

Rewrites civil‑liability rules: narrows negligence and causation tests, creates presumptive risk categories, caps certain damages, and restricts personal‑injury advertising and touting. It grants protections to health professionals, public bodies, good samaritans and school staff, sets special procedures for child‑sexual‑abuse and dust‑disease claims, and...

Mechanically, the Act makes a long list of conduct unlawful: it forbids discrimination and harassment on grounds such as sex, marital status, pregnancy, breastfeeding, gender history, race, religion/political conviction, impairment, age, family responsibility and sexual orientation across employment, education, accommodation, goods/services, clubs and land....

The Evidence Act 1906 sets who may testify, when courts can compel answers or grant immunity certificates, rules for forensic evidence certificates, and procedures for taking evidence by video or audio link across jurisdictions. It affects witnesses, accused persons, parties, courts, forensic laboratories and legal practitioners because it governs...

This Act fixes deadlines for starting legal claims to recover property, money or other rights and extinguishes stale claims if not brought in time. It forces claimants to act (or secure acknowledgments/part payments) or lose rights, while giving defendants finality and a limitation defence. Special rules pause or restart time for concealed fraud, infancy or...

The Limitation Act 2005 sets fixed time limits for most civil claims and arbitrations, defines when causes of action accrue, and creates rules to stop, extend or restart limitation periods in specified circumstances. It removes time bars for child sexual‑abuse claims and certain later dust‑disease claims, and gives courts discretionary power to extend time...

This law protects places and objects of traditional, sacred or ceremonial significance to Aboriginal people by registering them, creating offences for unauthorised interference, and allowing protected‑area declarations and vesting or acquisition of material. An Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Committee assesses sites and recommends actions; the Minister makes...

The Act reorganises and clarifies the Supreme Court of Western Australia’s structure, powers and procedures, setting who may sit, how cases are managed, and how judges and court officers are appointed and removed. It centralises procedural rule‑making with the Court, enables case‑management tools (mediation, referees, transfers) and prescribes...

Creates a criminal and regulatory regime for specified drugs and plants: it criminalises manufacture, supply, possession and cultivation; provides an administrative diversion for minor cannabis offences; bans psychoactive substances; regulates precursor sale/storage; and grants police broad stop/search/seize/destroy powers alongside sampling, analysis,...

This Act vests all petroleum and geothermal resources in the State Crown (s.9) and sets up a licensing and registration system for exploration, drilling and production, with the Minister authorising titles, approvals, directions and valuation (s.30, s.69, s.145). Title‑holders must pay royalties, annual fees and compensate affected landowners (ss.142, 137,...

This Act creates Western Australia’s legal framework for managing fisheries and aquaculture: it defines fish and fishing activities, establishes licences/permits/leases, empowers the Minister, CEO and Joint Authority to make management plans, orders and exemptions, and sets enforcement, penalty and infringement procedures. It also creates levy and...

This Act remakes Western Australia’s defamation law: it modifies the common law, treats all published defamatory matter as actionable, narrows who can sue (excluding some corporations and claims about the deceased), and harmonises choice‑of‑law rules. It mandates a structured pre‑litigation “offer to make amends,” shields apologies from being admissions,...

The law creates an administrative system (Authority, Council, Committee, Trust and CEO) to hold, manage and dispose of designated reserved Crown lands, run accounts for proceeds (including an Aboriginal Trading Account), and deliver programs and funding to persons of Aboriginal descent. It centralises decision‑rights with the Minister and the statutory...

The Act establishes a cross‑vesting system allowing civil proceedings to be transferred between the WA Supreme Court, other States/Territories and specified federal courts so related federal/state matters can be heard in the most appropriate forum. It affects courts, litigants, and Attorneys‑General (who get notice in certain “special federal” cases),...

This Act imposes stamp duty on a wide range of instruments and transactions linked to Western Australian land, mining tenements, securities, unit trusts, companies and vehicle licences. It prescribes detailed definitions, valuation rules, lodgement and payment timings, exemptions, endorsements and penalties, and gives the Commissioner powers to assess and...

The Criminal Appeals Act 2004 sets out how criminal appeals and special re‑openings work in Western Australia: who may appeal, time limits, leave gates, courts’ powers, and effects on enforcement. It also creates an authorised‑officer/Court of Appeal pathway for reinvestigating or re‑charging acquitted persons and limits publication about those pre‑charge...

This Act lays out how criminal matters are handled: an infringement‑notice system for prescribed offences (including special rules for vehicle offences), how prosecutions start, disclosure and committal before trial, and jury and judge‑alone trial procedures in summary and superior courts (see ss5–17, 20–41, 35, 95–99, 102–120, 85). It gives powers to...

This law sets who controls and manages many types of public land and waters (national, conservation and marine parks, nature reserves, State forests, timber reserves and lands under s8A/s8C arrangements), vests most of that land in the Commission/CEO, and prescribes how land is planned, used, commercialised and enforced. The CEO runs day to day management,...

The law enables the State to dispose of the Dampier–Bunbury natural gas pipeline, using statutory transfer orders to move assets, liabilities and contracts to an assignee, and creates a DBNGP Land Access Minister to hold and manage a mapped corridor and confer pipeline rights. It funds compensation and administration through a Corridor Trust Account and...