Legislation Register Survey Results

Thank you to users for completing the recent survey about the new register website. The information gathered from the survey will help PCO further develop and refine the website and its functionalities to better align with user expectations and needs.

Following is a snap shot of the results and responses to a few of the comments or queries raised by users.

  • 77% of users rated the overall service provided by the register as 'excellent' or 'good'.
  • 70% of users can easily find the information they need on the register.
  • 89% of users most frequently use current legislation on the register.
  • 66% of users frequently use the 'Last pages viewed' links on the home page.
  • 50-60% of users indicated that they would be likely to use the up coming subscription service and legislative events information.
  • The majority of register users are from the ACT government.

While the majority of register users like the layout and design of the new website, a large proportion of users find the new website harder to navigate. PCO will assess this feedback and consider further enhancements to the website to improve this.

A number of users were dissatisfied with the search functionality. With 3/4 of register users using the search functionality, PCO is committed to further improving this component of the website.

Contents

On the old website I used to be able to search via Directorate specific legislation. How do I do this on the new website?

Searching and browsing by Directorate is available on the new website. On the homepage click 'Search legislation text' and then Advanced options. Use the 'Filter by Directorate' drop down menu to limit the search parameters to a single Directorate.

Search by Directorate form

Similarly, on the homepage click 'Browse legislation titles', select the legislation category and in the Browse by drop down menu select Directorate, to limit the results of legislation titles to a single Directorate.

Browse by Directorate form

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The table of regulations and instruments can be quite long, is there a way to subgroup them?

There are controls on the legislative instruments page to filter the table by instrument type, instrument classification (eg Delegation, Fee) and a filter by keyword. By default, the table only displays current instruments, however, users can click the 'Show repealed' button to display all instruments.

Legislative instrument table

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Why isn't the explanatory statement on the Act page?

An explanatory statement is a document that accompanies a bill, subordinate law or disallowable instrument that explains its purpose and detail. Because the explanatory statement is for the bill, the document is located on the bill page and a link is provided on the Act page for easy access.

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Why aren't the presentation speech, scrutiny report, Hansard etc published on the register?

A bill's presentation speech, scrutiny report, Hansard debate etc are documents prepared by the Legislative Assembly and are published on the Assembly website. The timing of the availability of these documents is determined by the Legislative Assembly. PCO regularly monitors the Assembly website and provides links to these documents when they are available.

Assembly documents links

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How do I bookmark a tab on the legislation item page?

The default view for all legislation item pages in the Current law tab. However, the other tabs can be directly linked to by adding the following suffixes to the web page address.

Using the Court Procedures Act 2004 as an example:

Note  A direct link to court forms is available in ‘Quick links’.

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Why don't the links within documents open in a new tab/window?

It is possible in Word to specify a link to open in a new tab or window, however, this setting does not remain once the document is converted to PDF. A workaround is for the user to specify how to open the link. This can be done in the following 2 ways:

  1. Use the Ctrl key and click the link.
  2. Right-click the link a select Open in new tab or Open in new window.

Note  Neither of these ways works in Internet Explorer.

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What should I do when I open a PDF or Word document and it is corrupt?

All new material published on the website is checked by staff to ensure that the documents open correctly. All documents on the old website were migrated to the new website. While spot checks were conducted throughout all legislation categories to make sure that material had successfully migrated, it was not practicable to check every single document. If you find a document that is corrupt, please contact PCO by either email (pco@act.gov.au) or phone (6205 3700) to let us know - we will fix it straight away.

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What should I do if I get the error message: "You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience."?

This message is likely to occur if you are using Internet Explorer (which is an old browser). If you are an ACT Government user please contact PCO by either email (pco@act.gov.au) or phone (6205 3700) to let us know - we will work with SSICT to rectify the issue.

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Why do I need to download and save the PDF and Word version of documents when using Chrome?

There are a number of web browser settings that can be changed to suit user preferences. Following is instructions for removing the need to download and save PDF and Word document when using Chrome.

Google Chrome

  1. Open the settings by clicking on the 3 stacked dots in the top right hand corner, then select Settings from the menu.
  2. Legislative instrument table
  3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Advanced to view more settings options. In the Downloads options switch 'Ask where to save each file before downloading' to off. This will stop the browser showing the Save As dialogue box when opening documents. The browser will now automatically save the document to the specified downloads location.
  4. Legislative instrument table
  5. Now when a PDF or Word document is opened you will see it appear in the downloads panel in the bottom left hand corner. Click on the ^ and select Always open with system viewer, then click 'Open'. The next time you open a document you will no longer see it appear in the downloads panel and it will automatically open in the system viewer (ie, Acrobat and Word).
  6. Legislative instrument table

Note  If you are an ACT Government user and experience difficulties with configuring your web browser please contact SSICT for assistance.


The following articles provide general advice on how to configure your browser for PDF documents.

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If you have any questions or comments please call the Parliamentary Counsel's Office on 62053700 or email at pco@act.gov.au.