# Australia Federal Register of Legislation Scraper (`parseforge/australia-legislation-register-scraper`) Actor

Scrapes legislation title records from the Australia Federal Register of Legislation. Returns each title as a flat row with ID, name, type, status, and register link. Filter by keyword, collection, or OData expression.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/parseforge/australia-legislation-register-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [ParseForge](https://apify.com/parseforge) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Other
- **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $19.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

[![ParseForge](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ParseForge/apify-assets/main/banner.jpg)](https://apify.com/parseforge?fpr=vmoqkp)

### Australia Federal Register of Legislation Scraper

**Scrape the complete Australia Federal Register of Legislation by title, collection, or OData filter, up to a million records per run.** Every title comes with its ID, name, type, status, and direct register link. No API key required. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

The Federal Register of Legislation is the authoritative source for all Australian Commonwealth Acts, legislative instruments, and notifiable instruments, but browsing it manually or building a custom API integration is slow and complex. This Actor queries the register's public API directly, letting you pull structured lists of legislation titles by keyword, collection type, or advanced OData filter. It returns a clean, flat dataset ready for analysis, compliance tracking, or legal research.

| Who uses it | What they scrape Australia Federal Register of Legislation for |
|---|---|
| Legal researchers | Compiling a complete list of all principal Acts currently in force for a jurisdictional review. |
| Compliance officers | Monitoring the register for new or amended legislative instruments that affect their industry. |
| Government data analysts | Tracking the volume and type of new legislation published each year for a transparency report. |
| Law librarians | Building a local catalogue of all Commonwealth legislation titles with direct links back to the official register. |

### What it does

This Actor collects legislation title records from the Australia Federal Register of Legislation and returns each one as a flat row with its ID, name, type, status, and register URL.

- 🔍 **Keyword search:** Find any legislation whose title contains your search term, like 'Privacy' or 'Migration'.
- 📂 **Collection filter:** Restrict results to a specific type, such as Acts, Legislative Instruments, or Gazettes.
- ⚙️ **Advanced OData filter:** Use raw OData expressions for precise queries, like 'isPrincipal eq true' or 'year eq 2024'.
- 🔢 **Flexible sorting:** Order results by title ID or name, ascending or descending, to group legislation by year or alphabetically.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

### What you can do with Australia Federal Register of Legislation data

**📋 Build a legislation catalogue.**

A law librarian runs the Actor with no search term and the 'Act' collection filter to pull every Commonwealth Act title into a searchable internal database.

**📈 Monitor regulatory changes.**

A compliance team runs the Actor weekly with an OData filter for the current year to identify new legislative instruments that require a policy review.

**🔎 Audit a specific law's history.**

A legal researcher searches for a keyword like 'biosecurity' to collect all related principal Acts and amending instruments for a legislative history analysis.

**📊 Analyze legislative output.**

A government data analyst pulls all titles from the last five years, groups them by collection type, and charts the annual volume of new legislation.

### Why choose this scraper

| | What you get |
|---|---|
| **No API key needed** | Queries the public register API directly with no registration or authentication. |
| **Structured output** | Every title is a flat row with a fixed schema, ready for databases or spreadsheets. |
| **Full register coverage** | Access Acts, Legislative Instruments, Notifiable Instruments, Gazettes, and more. |
| **Scalable collection** | Set a maximum from 1 to 1,000,000 records per run to control your dataset size. |

### How it compares

This Actor and the Australia Legislation Scraper both pull title metadata from the same Federal Register of Legislation, but they differ in filtering and sorting capabilities.

| Feature | ParseForge | Australia Legislation Scraper - Acts & Instruments |
|---|---|---|
| Keyword title search | Yes | Yes |
| Collection type filter | Yes, 8 specific collections | Yes |
| Advanced OData filter | Yes, raw OData expressions | Not listed |
| Configurable sort order | Yes, by ID or name, asc or desc | Not listed |
| Configurable max records | Yes, 1 to 1,000,000 | Not listed |

### Configure the run

Drive the Actor with a keyword search, a collection type, and an optional OData filter, alone or in combination, and filters run as each title is read so only matches reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

```json
{
 "maxItems": 10
}
```

A larger pull:

```json
{
 "maxItems": 200
}
```

### Pricing

Pay-per-result: **$0.042 per result** collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

| Results collected | Approximate cost |
|---|---|
| 100 results | $4.20 |
| 1,000 results | $42.00 |
| 10,000 results | $420.00 |

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

### Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. [Upgrade your Apify plan](https://console.apify.com/sign-up?fpr=vmoqkp) to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

### Run it

1. [Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit](https://console.apify.com/sign-up?fpr=vmoqkp).
2. Open the [Australia Federal Register of Legislation Scraper](https://apify.com/parseforge/australia-legislation-register-scraper?fpr=vmoqkp).
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click **Start**.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the **Dataset** tab.

Run it programmatically through the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2) (`run-sync-get-dataset-items`) or the [ApifyClient](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js) for JavaScript and Python.

### Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to Australia Federal Register of Legislation through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=parseforge/australia-legislation-register-scraper"
```

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

### Troubleshooting

**Why am I getting no results?**

Check that your search term is spelled correctly and that the collection filter is not too restrictive. Try running the Actor with both fields empty first to confirm the connection works, then add your filters back one at a time.

**My OData filter is returning an error.**

Ensure your OData expression uses the correct property names and syntax. Common properties include 'isPrincipal', 'isInForce', and 'year'. The expression must be a valid OData $filter string, such as 'year eq 2024' or 'isPrincipal eq true'.

**The run is taking a long time.**

The register's API has a fixed page size, so collecting a very large number of records will take time. Reduce the 'Maximum legislation records' value if you only need a sample, or use more specific filters to narrow the result set.

**The dataset has fewer records than my maxItems setting.**

This is expected when the total number of matching titles in the register is less than your maxItems value. The Actor stops when it has retrieved all available matches, even if that number is below your limit.

**I need the full text of the legislation, not the title.**

This Actor is designed for title-level metadata discovery. Each record includes a direct link to the official register page. You can use that link with another tool or a custom scraper to fetch the full text.

### FAQ

| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Does this scraper get the full text of the legislation? | No, this Actor collects the title-level metadata from the register's search API, including the title name, ID, type, and status. It provides a direct link to the official register page where the full text can be accessed. |
| Can I filter to show only legislation currently in force? | Yes, you can use the Advanced OData filter field with an expression like 'isInForce eq true' to return only titles that are currently in force. The register's API supports a range of OData filter properties. |
| What is the difference between an Act and a Legislative Instrument? | An Act is a law passed by the Australian Parliament. A Legislative Instrument is a law made by a person or body to whom Parliament has delegated authority, such as regulations, rules, or determinations. Both are available in this Actor. |
| How do I get only the principal Acts, not the amending ones? | Enter 'isPrincipal eq true' in the Advanced OData filter field. This will restrict the results to principal legislation titles and exclude amending or repealing Acts. |
| Can I search for legislation from a specific year? | Yes, use the Advanced OData filter with an expression like 'year eq 2024' to return only titles from that year. You can also sort by Title ID, which encodes the year, to group results chronologically. |
| Does this Actor handle pagination automatically? | Yes, the Actor handles all pagination internally. You set the maximum number of records you want, and it will keep fetching pages until it reaches that limit or exhausts the results. |
| What collections are available to filter by? | You can filter by Act, Legislative Instrument, Notifiable Instrument, Administrative Arrangements Order, Constitution, Continued Law, Gazette, and Prerogative Instrument, or leave it on 'Any collection' to search across all of them. |
| Is an API key or registration required to use this? | No, this Actor queries the public, unauthenticated API of the Federal Register of Legislation. You do not need to register for a key or provide any credentials. |
| What format is the data exported in? | The dataset can be exported in CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML formats directly from your Apify run, making it easy to load into any analysis tool or database. |
| Can I combine a keyword search with a collection filter? | Yes, all input fields work together. For example, you can search for 'tax' and restrict the collection to 'Legislative Instrument' to find only tax-related regulations. |

### Related actors

Browse the full [ParseForge collection](https://apify.com/parseforge?fpr=vmoqkp) for more scrapers.

🆘 **Need help?** Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ **Disclaimer.** This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Australian Government. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.

# Actor input Schema

## `search` (type: `string`):

Free text matched against the title name, for example 'Privacy' or 'Migration'. Returns every title whose name contains this text. Leave empty to list all titles.

## `collection` (type: `string`):

Restrict results to one collection of the register. 'Any collection' returns titles across all collections.

## `filter` (type: `string`):

Optional raw OData $filter expression for advanced queries, for example "isPrincipal eq true" or "year eq 2024". Combined with the search and collection above using AND. Leave empty if not needed.

## `orderBy` (type: `string`):

Order in which titles are returned. Title ID is encoded with the year, so sorting by it groups titles roughly oldest to newest.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

How many legislation records to collect per run.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "collection": "",
  "orderBy": "id desc",
  "maxItems": 10
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "maxItems": 10
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("parseforge/australia-legislation-register-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "maxItems": 10 }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("parseforge/australia-legislation-register-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "maxItems": 10
}' |
apify call parseforge/australia-legislation-register-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,parseforge/australia-legislation-register-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/0iqkSW7g4wuOPGQgX/builds/D8yrRSaqd5VufWfJM/openapi.json