Every figure on this site is read from the Act or from an official government page, kept with the words it was read in, and listed with the day its source was checked. This page explains what that means in practice.
What counts as a source
The site relies on two kinds of source, in this order of weight.
- The Act. The text of the law as published on the official legislation site of the state, territory or Commonwealth. Where the site states a rule, it names the Act and the section.
- An official government page or regulator guide. Used for what an Act does not say in a form a reader can use, such as where to lodge a complaint, or for an official calculator. When a figure rests on a guide and not on the Act, its citation names the guide.
Nothing else is used to state a rule. Law firm articles, news reports, forums and summaries are left out, and if the only support for a rule is a source of that kind, the rule stays off the site until it can be read in an official one.
Some legislation sites show their text only in a full web browser, so those Acts are read there and the text is saved with the figure. Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory do not license their legislation for reuse. For those two the site keeps quotations shorter and always links the official text.
What the checked date means
The "checked" date in a page's Sources list is the day the editor last read that source and found its rules as stated. It is not the day the Act was made or amended, and it is not a promise that nothing changed afterwards. Rules are read again every week. A figure is only shown if its source was read recently, and a new version of the site is refused when a figure in it has gone too long without a fresh reading. If a source cannot be read on the day, the old date stays visible and the site does not pretend otherwise.
Quotations
Where the exact wording of the Act matters, such as the conditions under which pro rata leave is paid, the site quotes it with its section number. Quotations are short, and each one is compared with the saved text of its source before the site is published, so a quotation cannot drift from the Act.
Derived arithmetic
Statutes state rates in months, weeks or fractions of a year. Readers usually want a different unit, such as weeks of leave after ten years. Where the site converts one into the other, the result is labelled as the site's own arithmetic and the working is printed beside it, so you can redo it with a calculator. The same sums are recomputed from the underlying figures each time the site is published, and publication stops if a printed result differs from the recomputed one.
The calculator uses the same figures. It counts calendar dates, deals with an anniversary that falls on 29 February by a stated rule, and subtracts any unpaid break you enter. Each result lists the steps taken and the section each step rests on. Test cases worked by hand from the Acts cover the day before, the day of and the day after each threshold in each jurisdiction.
When the Act is silent
Some questions have no answer in the Act: a case its drafters did not address, or a matter left to an award or an agreement. Where the Act was read and is silent, the page says so and names who to contact. It does not infer a rule from a general principle and present it as law.
How changes are made and logged
When a source changes, the figure is updated, its checked date moves and the change is entered on What's new with the date and the page affected. When a figure is corrected because the site was wrong, the entry says so. A change that has been published but has not yet taken effect is not shown as current; if it is mentioned at all, the page says what has been published and when it starts.
How pages are organised
A rule is stated once, on the page where it belongs, and other pages link to it. The comparison of all eight jurisdictions sits on a single page, and each state page concentrates on what is particular to its Act. This keeps one rule from being described three ways on three pages, one of which could go out of date.
What the site does not do
It does not collect what you type, set cookies, run analytics or show advertising; the privacy page covers this. It does not give advice on individual cases; see the disclaimer.
Reporting an error
If a figure does not match its source, write to the address on the contact page with the page and the section. The editor rereads the source, corrects the page and logs the correction.