Understanding legislation

Who should attend

This course has been designed for participants who do not have legal training. It provides an introduction to a range of legal concepts relevant to everyone whose job requires them to understand legislation.

Course outline

This course provides an introduction to sources of law including common law, the Constitution and legislation. There is also an explanation of usual structure of legislation and terminology used in statutory interpretation. The key components of the course are sessions on the principles of statutory interpretation and the role and key features of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.

This is an interactive course and there are a variety of examples and exercises to illustrate key concepts. Course materials will be given to each participant for use as future reference.

Objectives

Participants will come away from the course with a working understanding of the key issues in interpretation, how to approach the task of interpreting Commonwealth legislation and when legal advice may be required.

Presenters

Our presenters are experienced lawyers from our Office of General Counsel who have a great depth of knowledge of the government environment and who specialise in statutory interpretation, machinery of government and constitutional law.