Independent and unofficial. Not affiliated with any government body.

Cut The Red Tape

Let's count the red tape.

How many laws does Australia have? We're counting them, and we'll show you every day when laws are made or repealed.

Commonwealth legislation in force as at 23 October 2026

4,776Acts in force
24,087Legislative instruments in force
28,863Total laws in force
432,845Pages of legislation in force

Legislative instruments — net change

Instruments only (not Acts). Added = instruments newly in force; Taken away = instruments no longer in force (repealed, sunsetted or ceased); Net = Added − Taken away. Daily tracking started on 13 October 2026 (2026-10-13 baseline).

Last 24 hours since 22 October 2026 (to 2026-10-23)

+10Added
−1Taken away
+9Net change — Net up

See what changed on 2026-10-23 →

Last 7 days 2026-10-16 to 2026-10-23

+23Added
−6Taken away
+17Net change — Net up

Last 30 days — not yet available

—Added — not yet available
—Taken away — not yet available
—Net change — not yet available

Tracking since 2026-10-13: only 10 of 30 days in this window are tracked, so a full-window figure would be misleading. Tracked so far (2026-10-13 baseline, changes to 2026-10-23): +29 Added, −25 Taken away, +4 Net. This row will fill automatically once the window is fully tracked. See tracked days →

Year to date — not yet available

—Added — not yet available
—Taken away — not yet available
—Net change — not yet available

Tracking since 2026-10-13: only 10 of 296 days in this window are tracked, so a full-window figure would be misleading. Tracked so far (2026-10-13 baseline, changes to 2026-10-23): +29 Added, −25 Taken away, +4 Net. This row will fill automatically once the window is fully tracked. See tracked days →

Pick a state

Click a state on the map to see its laws. New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and Victoria have live counts; pages for the other states and territories are up, with counts coming soon.

Western Australia: page (count coming soon)Northern Territory: page (count coming soon)South Australia: page (count coming soon)Queensland: see Queensland legislationTasmania: see Tasmania legislationVictoria: see Victoria legislationAustralian Capital Territory: page (count coming soon)New South Wales: click for NSW legislation

As at 23 October 2026. Source: Federal Register of Legislation public API (api.prod.legislation.gov.au): titles in force in the Act and legislative instrument collections, updated automatically each day. The Act total may still include some amending Acts that have not yet been repealed. Pages: sum of PDF page counts of the current authorised version of each in-force Act (243,733 pages) and instrument (189,112 pages); 4 titles had no page count recorded and are excluded.

Video explainers

Short videos on what recent laws do. Newest first. Legislation links go to the Federal Register of Legislation.

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (2027 Conservation Theme for Prioritising Nominations of Threatened Species, Threatened Ecological Communities and Key Threatening Processes) Determination 2026

F2026L01397

Watch on XOn legislation.gov.au

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (National Recovery Plan for the Elderslie Banksia Scrub Forest in the Sydney Basin Bioregion) Instrument 2026

F2026L01403

Watch on XOn legislation.gov.au

By administering department

DepartmentActsInstrumentsTotal
Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts46310,44110,904
Department of Home Affairs4516,9847,435
Department of the Treasury1,1581,9773,135
Department of Veterans' Affairs1059141,019
Attorney-General's Department529425954
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing350594944
Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water210571781
Department of Finance294450744
Department of Employment and Workplace Relations142363505
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry214272486
Department of Education184262446
Department of Social Services224210434
Department of Industry, Science and Resources142232374
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade96174270
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet157110267
Department of Defence85132217
Department of Agriculture011
Unassigned (no department recorded)54256

As at 23 October 2026, from the "administering department" recorded for each title in the Federal Register of Legislation. 68 Acts and 24 instruments are administered by more than one department and are counted under each, so the rows add up to more than the totals above. More on departments.

New South Wales

NSW has 878 Acts, 559 statutory instruments and 192 environmental planning instruments in force (1,629 in total, as at 22 October 2026). See NSW by department.

Every day: what was made, what was cut, and the net result.

What this is

Cut The Red Tape is an independent, non-partisan tracker of Australian legislation. It counts the laws in force and records the changes each day: what was made, what was repealed, and the net result.

We're starting with the Commonwealth because it publishes good open data. The states and territories come next. The aim is simple: to make the size of the rulebook visible, so anyone can see whether it's growing or shrinking.

We don't take a view on whether any particular law is good or bad. We just count.

How we count

Principal Acts, not amending Acts
Most Acts passed by Parliament only change other Acts. Once their changes take effect they are usually repealed automatically. We count the principal Acts that actually hold the law, so the number isn't inflated by paperwork.
Legislative instruments
Regulations, rules and determinations are made by ministers and agencies under Acts. There are far more of these than Acts, and we count them separately.
Sunsetting
Most Commonwealth instruments expire after about 10 years unless they are remade. When an old instrument is replaced by a new one, we show it as remade rather than as new red tape.
Count isn't everything
A two-page Act and a 5,000-page Act each count as one. We plan to add page counts so size is visible too.

Roadmap

  1. Phase 1: Commonwealth. A daily count of Acts and instruments in force, a list of the day's changes, and a history chart.
  2. Phase 2: More detail. Page counts, a breakdown by government department, and a daily update on X.
  3. Phase 3: States and territories. NSW and Queensland first, then the rest, with a side-by-side comparison.

Follow along

Contact and social links are coming soon. In the meantime, check back here.

Disclaimer

Cut The Red Tape is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to the Australian Government, any state or territory government, or any government body. It is a private, independent project. Figures are drawn from public legislation registers and may contain errors. For the authoritative text of any law, use the official register.

Legislation data from the Federal Register of Legislation, Office of Parliamentary Counsel, used under a Creative Commons Attribution licence.