New Zealand Law Style Guide

The format for citing Hansard is as follows:

Element	Date of debate	Volume	Abbreviated title	Pinpoint
Example	(6 April 2005)	624	NZPD	19676

Eg (6 April 2005) 624 NZPD 19676.

For the United Kingdom Parliamentary Debates, the same format is used. Include “HC” or “HL” after the abbreviated title to indicate whether the debate took place in the House of Commons or the House of Lords. For the pinpoint, give the column number.

Eg (1 November 1990) 178 GBPD HC 1088.

Eg (8 July 1996) 574 GBPD HL 1.

5.1.2 Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives

Many official government documents are published in the Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives (AJHR). Selected volumes of the AJHR have been digitised and are available from the National Library’s website at <www.atojs.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/atojs>.

The citation method for such documents is as follows:

Element	Author	Title	Year of Journal	Volume	Report Series	Reference Number	Pinpoint
Example	Geoffrey Palmer	“A Bill of Rights for New Zealand: A White Paper”	[1984–1985]	I	AJHR	A6	at 29

Eg Geoffrey Palmer “A Bill of Rights for New Zealand: A White Paper” [1984–1985] I AJHR A6 at 29.

The author is the department, organisation, select committee or officer identified in the publication. Give the title in full and in quotation marks.

If the journal spans multiple years, these should be named. The year of the journal also acts as the volume number and so is within square brackets. If the journal is bound in composite volumes for that year, the volume number should be given in roman numerals.

If a paragraph number is available for a pinpoint citation, this should be used rather than a page number and placed inside square brackets.

It will generally only be necessary to cite to the Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives in the case of older documents. Many more recent documents, such as select committee reports which are published in the Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, are also available as freestanding documents. Where a document is so available, it may be cited as such using the appropriate citation format.

5.1.3 Submissions to select committees

The format for citing submissions to select committees is as follows:

Element	Author	Title	Pinpoint citation
Example	New Zealand Law Librarian Group Inc	“Submission to the Justice and Law Reform Committee on the Interpretation Bill 1998”	at [3]

Eg New Zealand Law Librarian Group Inc “Submission to the Justice and Law Reform Committee on the Interpretation Bill 1998” at [3].

5.1.4 Standing Orders

The format for citing standing orders is as follows:

Element	Title	Year	Order number
Example	Standing Orders of the House of Representatives	2008	, SO 261(3)
Rule	5.1.4(a)	5.1.4(b)	5.1.4(c)

Eg Standing Orders of the House of Representatives 2008, SO 261(3).

(a) Title

Give the title of the standing orders. In the case of New Zealand, this is “Standing Orders of the House of Representatives”.

(b) Year

The year when the latest amendments were brought into force follows the title.

The order being cited should follow “SO”.