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Harvard UON Referencing Style:  Govt documents

UON Library guide to the Australian Harvard Style based on the online Style Manual: the standard for Australian Government writing and editing 2020.

Government documents and reports

 

  • For reports published online, hyperlink the title of the report and include an accessed date.
  • If you’re citing a PDF, avoid linking directly to the PDF. Instead link to the page that hosts the PDF.
  • f the document has a DOI, include it in the citation in the reference list, no accessed date is needed.
  • If there are personal contributors e.g. prepared by John Smith, list them after the title.
  • For unpublished report by an Australian Government agency, use unpublished as the year
  • For report that is part of a series, enclose the report title in single quotation marks, and italicise the series title
  • For a report to an Australian Government agency, add this information after the report.
  • See more details at the Style Manual site 

 

Report by an Australian Government agency

Author A or Agency Name (Year) Title of report: subtitle of report, Name of Agency, Name of Government, accessed Day Month Year.

AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) (2022) National sports injury data strategy, AIHW, Australian Government, doi:10.25816/k4ng-yr95. 

Baslum S (2000) Payments to Vietnam veterans: a summary, Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Australian Government.

DHAC (Department of Health and Aged Care) (1999) Hepatitis C: a review of Australia’s response, report prepared by D Lowe and R Cotton, DHAC, Australian Government.

White N and Jackson D (unpublished) Testing for EPO, Australian Sports Drug Agency, Australian Government, accessed 3 March 2020.

 

Report that is part of a series

Author A or Agency Name (Year) 'Title of report: subtitle of report', Name of Series, catalogue number, Name of Agency, Name of Government, accessed Day Month Year.

AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) (2019) ‘Australia’s welfare 2019 data insights’, Australia’s Welfare Series 14, catalogue number AUS 226, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 5 February 2020.

 

Report to an Australian Government agency

Author A or Agency Name (Year) Title of report: subtitle of report, report to Agency Name, Organisation Name or Abbreviation. 

MJA (Marsden Jacob Associates) (2020) Hydrogen-powered cars: progress to date, report to the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, MJA.

 

Published internal report

Author A or Organisation Name or Abbreviation (Year) Title of report: subtitle of report, Organisation Name or Abbreviation.

TerraCycle (2018) Report on recycling in Canberra offices, TerraCycle.

 

Report known by a short title

Sometimes a report is better known by a short title or unofficial title. If you’re citing a source like this, use the short title in text.

In the reference list, use the short title followed by a spaced en dash and the full source information. List the source where the first word of the short title would be alphabetically. For example:

In-text Citation:

The Gonski report (2011) suggests that ... 

Reference List:

Gonski report – Gonski D, Boston K, Greiner K, Lawrence, C, Scales B and Tannock P (2011) Review of funding for schooling: final report, Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Australian Government, accessed 11 February 2020.

Legal references

 

Writing about the law and legal matters requires careful citation. You can use in-text citations and footnotes to provide accurate and complete details. The digital edition of the Style Manual has considerable advice on how to cite legal material.

  • Legal references are usually cited in the text or in footnotes, not in the reference list. See the Style Manual for more details.
  • Legal references may have a separate reference list if needed. See the Style Manual for more details.
  • This guide covers the most common legal material. See the Style Manual for more details. 
  • Bills
  • Acts 
  • Cases
  • Treaties

Bills

  • A bill is a draft Act introduced into parliament.
  • Use the bill's short title (its name and the year) in title case.
  • Write the titles of bills in roman type, not italics.
  • Example: Refugee Protection Bill 2019

Acts

  • Always use capitals for the words ‘Act’ and ‘Acts’ when you write about Acts of parliament.
  • Always capitalise ‘Constitution’ when writing about Australia’s Constitution.
  • Always use the short title in italics the first time you cite the Act in your text. If there are subsequent mentions of the Act, use the short title in roman type without the year or jurisdiction, eg. 
    • … was convicted of federal offences under the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth). The Crimes Act specifies …
  • Use the shortened form of the jurisdiction in the Act’s title in roman type and in parentheses, eg.
    • Australia’s water resources in the Murray–Darling Basin are managed by laws of the Commonwealth and Basin States. Among others, this legislation includes the Water Act 2007 (Cth), Water Resources Act 2007 (ACT), Water Management Act 2000 (NSW), Water Act 2000 (Qld), Natural Resources Management Act 2004 (SA) and Water Act 1989 (Vic).
  • Include all the words in the title. If the title begins with ‘The’, ‘An’ or ‘A’, make sure you include it, eg
    • A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (Cth)
  • If the Act’s title has a number, include the number exactly as written, eg. 
    • Supply Act (No. 1) 2019–2020 (Cth)
  • Write all legislation from foreign countries in roman type, followed by the country abbreviation, eg
    • Digital Economy Act 2017 (UK)
    • Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (US)
    • Arms Legislation Act 2019 (NZ)
    • Foreign Investment Act 1999 (FIJ)
  • The pinpoint section number is optional. If you are referring to the Act as a whole, omit the section number. If you are referring to or quoting particular sections, include the section number(s), e.g., s 8.1 - point 1 within section 8.

Cases

  • A case is a matter to be settled at law. It is also an instance or the process of making a claim in a court of law.
  • The people or organisations named in the case are known as ‘parties’. Capitalise the names of the parties but use a lower case ‘v’ between the party names. There is no full stop after ‘v’.
  • Case names have this basic form: Party v Party, eg The State of NSW v The Commonwealth

  • Write the name of the case in italics in the in-text citations.

  • Use roman type for cases in reference list if you need to add them in the reference list

  •  Cases are often known by an abbreviated title. If the case has an abbreviated title, include this title in parentheses after the case name the first time you cite it, and then use the abbreviated title in subsequent citations, eg 

    • … the State of New South Wales v The Commonwealth (Wheat Case). The Wheat Case …

  • Cases are either reported or unreported. Always cite an authorised report if it is available.

  • A citation of a reported Australian case should include the parties' names in italics, followed by the year of the report, volume number of the law report series, the abbreviation of the law report series, the starting page of the case, and the pinpoint page number/s if needed, eg

    • Party v Party (Year) Volume No Law Report Series Starting page at pinpoint page

    • The State of New South Wales v The Commonwealth (1915) 20 CLR 54 at 56

  • Volumes of law report series are organised either by year or by volume number.

    • Use square brackets when a law report series are organised by year and the year is essential to finding the case, eg 

      • Rowe v McCartney [1976] 2 NSWLR 72 at 74, 76

    • Use round brackets when a law report series are organised by volume number and the year is not essential to finding the case, eg

      • Mabo v Queensland [No 2] (1992) 175 CLR 1 at 106–107

​

Treaties

  • A treaty is an international agreement that is binding under international law. 
  • Treaties include conventions, international agreements, covenants, an exchange of letters, international instruments, charters or protocols.
  • Write titles of treaties in roman type with title case (maximal capitalisation).
  • Follow the full title with the short title in parentheses and use the short title after that, eg
    • Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (Basel Convention). Australian signed the Basel Convention in 1992.
  • The year the treaty is made does not form part of the title. If you include it, write it into the sentence or add it in parentheses after the short title, eg
    • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (1966)

  • In general publications, citing the title of the treaty is usually enough.

  • Detailed citations for treaties have many elements. If you need a detailed citation for an in-text citation, notes or a reference list, the format is:

Title (Place of making, Date of making) [Year treaty entered into force] Treaty Series volume number page number in the series volume.

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (New York, 16 December 1966) [1980] ATS 23.

Singapore–Australia Free Trade Agreement (Singapore, 17 February 2003) [2003] ATS 16.

South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty (Rarotonga, 6 August 1985) [1986] ATS 32, UNTS 1445 p 177; ILM 24 p 1440; NZTS 1986/7.

  • If a short title has been introduced and used in the text, you can use the short title in the note, eg

    • The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) entered into force on 23 March 1976.1 [In-text reference]
    • 1 ICCPR (New York, 16 December 1966) [1980] ATS 23. [Short title in the note that gives the citation]

  • Always use the long title in a reference list, eg

    • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (New York, 16 December 1966) [1980] ATS 23. [Long title in reference list entry]

Parliamentary Sources

 

Parliamentary papers, such as budget papers, white papers and annual reports, may be published:

  • as individual documents, or
  • as bound volumes of all documents tabled in a parliamentary sitting.

For individual documents, cite them as you would any document of that type. For example, if you access an annual report on a departmental website, cite it as a government report.

 

Bound parliamentary papers

  • Use the name of the parliament as the author
  • Include the paper number

Name of Parliament (Year) Title of document: subtitle of document, Parl Paper X, Name of Government.

Parliament of Australia (2000) Department of Finance and Administration annual report 1999–2000, Parl Paper 32, Australian Government.

 

Parliamentary debates and proceedings

To cite a record of what was said in parliament verbatim, as recorded in Hansard, use the volume and page number. Volume numbers are before the colon, page numbers are after.

Name of Parliamentary Committee or House (Year) Debates, volume:page–page.

Australian Senate (2000) Debates, S25:65. 

Australian House of Representatives (2000) Debates, HR103:2–9.

To cite the official records of proceedings in each house of parliament, include the volume or issue number and the page number. Issue numbers are in parentheses. Volume numbers are outside parentheses.

Official Australian Parliament records may be from the Journals of the Senate or the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives.

Name of Parliamentary House (Year) Journals or Votes and Proceedings, (issue) or volume:page–page.

Australian Senate (2000–01) Journals, (123):718.

Australian House of Representatives (2000–01) Votes and Proceedings, 1:631.

Data Sets

 

  • For online data sets, hyperlink the title and include the accessed date.
  • If you’re citing a PDF or spreadsheet, avoid linking directly to the document. Instead link to the webpage that hosts the document.

 

Reference list entry: format and example

Author A (Year) Title of data set [data set], Name of Website website, accessed Day Month Year.

National Native Title Tribunal (2014) Native Title determination outcomes [data set], data.gov.au, accessed 4 January 2020.

ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) (2016) 2016 Census – Cultural diversity [TableBuilder], ABS website, accessed 16 November 2020.

ABS Statistics

 

  • For online statistics, hyperlink the title and include the accessed date.
  • If you’re citing a PDF, avoid linking directly to the document. Instead link to the webpage that hosts the document.
  • ABS sources no longer include catalogue numbers.

 

In-text citation: format and example

... (ABS Year of Publication) ... or    ABS (Year of Publication) ...

... (ABS 2021) ...    or    ABS (2021) ...

 

Reference list entry: format and example

ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) (Year) Title: subtitle, ABS website, accessed Day Month Year.

ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) (2021) Regional population growth, Australia 2019-20, ABS website, accessed 22 February 2022. 

 

The general format (i.e. NOT Harvard specific) for referencing ABS publications is available online from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Standards

 

To cite a standard published by government or a national or international standards organization, include the name of the organization, the title of the standard (in italics), an edition or other identifying number or label, and publication information.

  • Standards available freely online should hyperlink the title and add the accessed date.
  • In the reference list, list the standard under the group or organization, even if that entity is also the publisher. 

 

In-text citation: format and example

... (Organisation Year of Publication) ...

... (Standards Australia 2008) ...

... (NISO 2005) ...

 

Reference list entry: format and example

Organisation (Year) Title of Standard, Standard No, Publisher, Place of Publication.

Standards Australia (2008) The storage and handling of corrosive substances, AS 3780-2008, SAI Global. 

NISO (National Information Standards Organization) (2005) Bibliographic References, ANSI/NISO Z39.29-2005, NISO, Bethesda, MD.

Subjects: Referencing