check-nsw-legislation-l0cka

Check NSW Legislation

Use the NSW legislation website as the controlling source. Produce a provenance record, not a bare assertion that legislation is "current".

Read references/nsw-legislation-method.md before performing a check. It defines the official-source hierarchy, authorisation boundary, point-in-time method and URL structure.

Workflow

1. Fix the scope.
   • Accept Acts, statutory instruments and environmental planning instruments in the website's In force and Repealed collections.
   • Record the requested date. If none is given, use today's Australia/Sydney date and state it explicitly.
   • Return OUTSIDE SCOPE for Bills, Gazettes, as-made-only material, another jurisdiction, deadlines, court rules, case treatment or legal advice.
   • Treat an environmental planning instrument map or a document adopted by reference as an authorisation limitation; do not represent it as authorised NSW legislation.
2. Resolve identity and collection.

   • Search legislation.nsw.gov.au and identify the official status page.

   • Match the exact title, type, year and number, NSW website identifier, and present In force or Repealed collection. Treat multiple plausible titles as ambiguous.

   • When command execution is available, use the bundled navigation helper after establishing the identifier and collection:

     python3 <skill-root>/scripts/nsw_lookup.py urls act-1987-015 \
       --collection inforce --as-at 2024-01-01
     

     Resolve <skill-root> as the directory containing this SKILL.md. The --collection value is the title's present collection. For an explicit historical date, the helper returns the present title page separately and generates the selected-version URLs under the site's inforce/<date> route. It does not prove that the title operated on that date or establish identity, currency, commencement or authorisation. Do not cite a generated URL as a source used unless it resolved and was inspected. The helper is optional, offline and read-only; it only formats official URLs and makes no network requests. Without command execution, follow the same steps on the official website directly.

3. Select the point-in-time version.
   • Use the status-page timeline and the Legislative history table of versions for the requested date.
   • Record whether the selected text is described as Current or Historical, its effective date range, and the date used in the official URL.
   • If an exact-date page cannot be opened, use another accessible official page for the same displayed version plus the table of versions to establish the effective range. Explain the fallback and do not list the inaccessible page as inspected.
   • Keep the title's present In force or Repealed collection separate from whether a historical version applied on the requested date.
   • Do not infer that the date embedded in a URL is the version's effective start date; confirm the displayed Currency of version statement.
4. Check commencement, currency and authorisation.
   • Read Status Information, including Currency of version, Provisions in force, Notes, file-last-modified details and the access timestamp.
   • Inspect Legislative history for original and amending legislation, commencement information, the table of versions and provision-level history notes relevant to the request.
   • Treat "Does not include amendments by" and partial-commencement notices as qualifications. A Bill listed under "See also" is not an amendment.
   • Account for the website's stated update lag after a change (confirm the current statement on the site's help pages). Do not give an unqualified result when a recent relevant change may fall inside that interval.
   • HTML and PDF versions in the In force and Repealed collections, including historical versions, are authorised under the website's stated section 45C framework. Do not transfer that assurance to EPI maps, documents adopted by reference or material outside those collections.
   • For an exact provision, inspect the selected version's text and relevant commencement and history material; do not rely on title-level metadata.
5. Report using the required result contract.