Northern Territory Explanatory Statements

Explanatory Statements are documents that are issued with bills. They are written in plain English and are intended to explain the purpose of a bill. Explanatory Notes may be used in statutory interpretation (Interpretation Act s 62B)

Explanatory Statements have been issued in the Northern Territory since February 2005. For earlier bills, see the Second Reading speech. (Source: GovPubs)

Sources of Northern Territory Explanatory Statements.

NT Register of Legislation
    • Coverage: 2005-
    • The explanatory statement is linked to the record for the bill.
    • Browse bills by session or by sponsor, or browse bills currently being debated.
    • Alternatively, use the ‘All Records’ section, which aims to provide links to the Act, bill, explanatory statement and Second Reading speech all in one place (note: coverage varies and some items do not include links to all types of material). Information is listed under principal Acts, i.e. amendments are listed under the Act they are amending.
    • Provided by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel.
AustLII
    • Coverage: 2005-
    • Listed under the title of the bill. Browse by title or by year.
    • Use ‘name search’ to search the titles of bills. (ENs are listed under bill title.)
    • Use ‘database search’ to search the full text of ENs.
    • Once you have located the explanatory statement, click on the ‘bill’ tab to access the bill (where available on AustLII).
Lawlex
  • Coverage: 2005-
  • Explanatory statements are linked to the record for both the Act and the bill. Note that the free version of Lawlex only provides access to current bills (a deeper archive is available to subscribers).
  • Type in the name of the Act or bill in the ‘keywords’ field and the year in the ‘year from’ field. Set the jurisdiction to ‘NT’, then click search.
  • On the ‘home page’ for the Act or bill, click on the ‘Explanatory Statement’ link in the ‘related links’ section.

 

Information about Northern Territory Explanatory Statements

GovPubs
  • Notes that explanatory statements were first issued in the Northern Territory in 2005, and directs researchers to Second Reading speeches for information about the objectives of bills introduced prior to the publication of explanatory statements.

 

Last updated: 3 March 2014