Faculty of Law - GDMLP

CITATION AND REFERENCING RESOURCE

UTS Law students are expected to adopt the style of legal writing found in the Australian Guide to
Legal Citation (4th ed) (AGLC), which is published by the Melbourne University Law Review. The
AGLC can be downloaded to your desktop but it cannot be printed.

WHEN TO CITE

Legal citation is the practice of crediting and referring to authoritative documents and sources in
the advice that you provide to clients and to official departments. This is also called referencing,
but in this course, you must reference your work using AGLC Compliant citations.

In this Program

You must cite the authoritative source of the advice that you provide for assessment purposes. For
example, if you are advising on the cost of visa, you must cite the relevant Schedule 1 Item with
pinpoint reference; if you are advising on visa eligibility, you must cite the relevant Schedule 2
paragraph.

In professional practice

You will need to master your citations skills as in practice, you must cite submissions you make to
the Department of Home Affairs, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and other official
departments. Further, you must reference your internal file notes and memos when developing
immigration strategies and undertaking research and may be expected to use AGLC Complaint
citations to do this.

WHAT TO CITE

In this course your primary source of authority will normally be a provision in an Act of Parliament
(eg Migration Act 1958 (Cth)), in Regulations (eg Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth)), or in
Schedules to Regulations (eg Schedule 1 to the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth)).

Acts of Parliament are also called Statute. The Migration Act is divided into Parts and Divisions.
Divisions contain Sections. Depending on the complexity of the Section it may be further broken
down into Subsections, Paragraphs and Sub-paragraphs.

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Regulations are not made by the Parliament. The power to make them is delegated, which is why
they are often referred to as delegated or subordinate legislation. The purpose of regulations is to
provide necessary structure and detail to assist government departments and agencies to
administer the Acts of Parliament they are responsible for. Like the Migration Act the Migration
Regulations 1994 (Cth) are also divided into Parts and Divisions. However the Divisions contain
Regulations, not Sections. These Regulations may be further broken down into Sub-regulations,
Paragraphs and Sub-paragraphs.

There are 13 Schedules to the Migration Regulations. The clauses in the schedules may be broken
down into Sub-clauses, Paragraphs and Sub-paragraphs, but see below for how specific clauses in
the Schedules are referred to.

CITING LEGISLATION IN FOOTNOTES

The title of the legislation should be written in Italics. NB: For Bills, the name of the Bill and the
year should not be italicised.

• The year represents the year the legislation came into force. Even though the legislation may be
amended over time, the year referred to will remain the year the legislation originally came into
force. It should be written in Italics.

• The jurisdiction which created the legislation and to which the legislation applies is
included as an abbreviation or acronym. Migration law is within the jurisdiction of the
Commonwealth, indicated by ‘Cth’. This is not in italics.
• Pinpoint the section referred to.

Acts: Short title Year (Jurisdiction) Pinpoint reference

Example: Legal Practices Act 1996 (Vic) s 37

CITING LEGISLATIVE / REGULATORY PROVISIONS IN TEXT

If you are citing legislative/ regulatory provisions in text, the rules differ depending on whether
you are citing legislation at the start of a sentence, or within a sentence. It is important to use the
correct word to denote what pinpoint reference you are citing. See examples below:

When starting a sentence:

Acts

• Section 5
• Subsection 5(1)

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• Paragraph 5(1)(a)
• Sub-paragraph 5(1)(a)(i)

Regulations

• Regulation 4.17
• Sub-regulation 4.17(1)
• Paragraph 4.17(2)(a)
• Sub-paragraph 4.17(3)(b)(ii)

When not beginning a sentence:

Acts

•s5
o When referring to multiple sections, use ‘’ss’’.
o For example, ss 5 – 8, ss 5(1)-(3), or ss 5(2)(a)-(c)
• sub-s 5(1)
• para 5(1)(a)
• sub-para 5(1)(a)(i)

Some practitioners do not write out the word sub-s or sub-para but instead refer to
s 5(1) or ss 5(2)(a)-(c). This is acceptable, as long as the practice is used uniformly
throughout the document.

Regulations

• reg 4.17
o When referring to multiple regulations use regs 4.17-4.19, sub-regs 4.17(1)-(6) or
reg 4.17(2)(a)
• sub-reg 4.17(1)
• para 4.17(2)(a)
• sub-para 4.17(3)(b)(ii)

Some practitioners do not write out the word sub-reg, para or sub-para instead they
refer to reg 4.17(1) or reg 4.17(2)(a). This is acceptable, provided the practice is used
uniformly throughout the document.

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CITING SCHEDULES TO THE REGULATIONS

Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth) (‘the Regulations’) are the primary source for providing
technical, visa-specific migration advice.

Schedule Purpose Structure Citation example

1 Validity criteria Referred to as Items Sch 1 Item 1124B
for visas and are divided into contains paragraph
paragraphs. 1124B(1) and
subparagraph
1124(3)(a).

Some practitioners do
not write out the
word para or sub-para
instead they refer to
Item 1124B(1) or Item
1124B(3)(a).

This is acceptable,
provided the practice
is used uniformly
throughout the
document.

2 Eligibility criteria Parts are divided into Some practitioners do

for visa clauses, sub-clauses, not write out the
subclasses paragraphs and sub- word sub-clause, para
paragraphs or sub-para. Instead
they refer to Cl
Part 801 801.221(1) or Cl
Clause 801.221 801.221(6)(c)(ii). This
Subclause 801.221(1) is acceptable,
Paragraph provided the
801.221(2)(d) practice is used
Subparagraph uniformly
801.221(6)(c)(ii) throughout the
document.

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 3 Additional criteria A clause in Schedule 3 Criterion 3001, or
applicable to is referred to as a criteria 3001-
unlawful non- Criterion 3004.
citizens and
certain Bridging Criteria may be Sub-clause 3001(2)(c)
Visa holders broken into sub-
clauses

4 Public Interest A clause in Schedule 4 PIC Criterion 4005 or

is referred to as a PIC 4005
Public Interest
Criterion (PIC)
5 Special Return A clause in Schedule 5 SRC Criterion 5001 or
Criteria (SRC) is referred to as a SRC 5001.
Special Return
Criterion (SRC)
8 Visa conditions A clause in Schedule 8 Condition 8503
is referred to as a
Condition

CITING LEGISLATIVE INSTRUMENTS

The first reference to a legislative instrument should include the ‘F’ number. Subsequent
references may refer just to the IMMI or LIN number. You should also cite the legislative provision
that refers to the legislative instrument.

For example:

To ascertain the approved form for a Bridging A (Class WA) visa, we need to check
Schedule 1 Item 1301. Paragraph 1301(a) refer to an instrument in writing. As at 25
June 2019 the current version of the legislative instrument is F2019L00883
Migration (LIN 19/186: Arrangements for Applications for Bridging Visas) Instrument
2019). The form 47SP is also a valid application for a Bridging A visa. 1

1. LIN19/186

HOW TO CITE POLICY

The Citation Guide applies to citing legal sources and does not cover citing migration policy.
However, this is an important authoritative source in this Program, and students must reference

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the Policy Instructions (previously called the Procedures Advice Manual) in a way that makes clear
the source of the policy guidance referred to.

If you are using Legendcom, you can typically use the “breadcrumb trail” as your citation.

For example:

In considering whether to exercise the discretion to cancel Mr Martin’s visa under s 107 of the
Migration Act 1958 (Cth) (the Act), the delegate should also take into account that Mr Martin’s
wife Jane and son Jay, would face consequential cancellation of their visas under ss 140(1) of the
Act.

The primary source of authority that the wife and son would face consequential
cancellation of their visas is s 140(1) of the Act. However, the primary source of
authority for the proposition that the delegate must take this into account in
deciding whether to cancel Mr Martin’s visa is Policy Instruction: Act – Visa
cancellation, General visa cancellation powers (s109, s116, s128, s134B and s140)
s109 - Deciding whether to cancel - Matters that should be taken into account

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