Australia's legal system, and the rights it actually gives you

Common law means judge-made law: principles built up through decided cases, where a court's reasoning binds lower courts in the same hierarchy. Contract, negligence and much of property law started life this way and still carry that shape.

Statute — an Act passed by a parliament — sits above common law and can override it. Modern Australian law is overwhelmingly statutory: the Australian Consumer Law, the Fair Work Act, the residential tenancies Acts, the Migration Act. What the common law still does is fill gaps and supply the interpretive principles courts use when reading those statutes.

Because Australia federated in 1901 but retained the colonial legal systems underneath, each state's common law developed separately at first. Since 1963 the High Court has held that there is a single Australian common law, uniform across the country, even though the statutes sitting on top of it differ everywhere.

Almost every legal matter starts at the lowest level and can only move up on appeal. The names differ by state, but the structure is consistent.

Magistrates' or local courts hear the great majority of criminal matters — traffic offences, minor assaults, drug possession — plus civil claims up to a threshold that varies by state. There is no jury. This is the court an ordinary person is most likely to see.

District or county courts (which Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory do not have) hear more serious indictable offences with a jury, and larger civil claims. Supreme courts hear the most serious criminal matters — murder, large-scale drug importation — the largest civil claims, and appeals from below.

Alongside these sit the federal courts: the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia for family law, migration and smaller federal matters; the Federal Court of Australia for corporations, competition, intellectual property, taxation and administrative review. The High Court of Australia is the final court of appeal for everything, state and federal alike, and the only body that can authoritatively interpret the Constitution.

Every state and territory has a civil and administrative tribunal — NCAT in New South Wales, VCAT in Victoria, QCAT in Queensland, SAT in Western Australia, SACAT in South Australia, ACAT in the ACT and NTCAT in the Northern Territory. Tasmania distributes the same functions across several specialist bodies.

These tribunals hear residential tenancy disputes, consumer claims, retail lease disputes, guardianship and administrative review of state government decisions. They are deliberately designed to be usable without a lawyer: filing fees are low, procedure is simplified, and in many matters legal representation requires the tribunal's permission.

At the federal level, the Administrative Review Tribunal reviews Commonwealth administrative decisions — Centrelink, veterans' entitlements, migration and NDIS matters among them. It replaced the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in October 2024.

The Constitution contains only a handful of express rights: trial by jury for Commonwealth indictable offences (s80), freedom of religion from Commonwealth interference (s116), acquisition of property on just terms (s51(xxxi)), and a prohibition on discriminating between residents of different states (s117). The High Court has also found an implied freedom of political communication, which restrains laws burdening political speech but does not create a personal right to speak.

Almost everything else comes from statute. Anti-discrimination protection sits in the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, Sex Discrimination Act 1984, Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and Age Discrimination Act 2004, plus state equivalents. Privacy sits in the Privacy Act 1988. Consumer protection sits in the Australian Consumer Law. Employment rights sit in the Fair Work Act 2009.

Three jurisdictions have gone further and legislated general human rights charters: the ACT in 2004, Victoria in 2006 and Queensland in 2019. These require public authorities to act compatibly with listed rights and require courts to interpret legislation consistently with them where possible, but they do not allow a court to strike down a law.

Legal Aid commissions exist in every state and territory. They provide free information and initial advice to anyone, and fund representation for people who pass means and merits tests — most commonly in criminal, family and some civil matters.

Around 160 community legal centres operate independently, many specialising in tenancy, employment, welfare rights, women's legal services, environmental defence or Aboriginal legal services. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services operate in every jurisdiction.

For disputes with a business, an ombudsman is almost always faster, cheaper and more effective than a court. Ombudsman schemes are free to the consumer and funded by member businesses, and their determinations bind the business but not you — you keep your right to go to court if you reject the outcome.