Over the past 2 decades, OPC has done substantial work on plain language and is now recognised as a leader amongst drafting offices in this area. However, legislation continues to be complex.

To address this complexity, the Government has developed a Clearer Commonwealth Laws initiative. The following documents form part of that initiative:

Developing Clearer Laws Quick Reference Guide;
Clearer Commonwealth Laws: causes of complex legislation and strategies to address these;
OPC's Guide to Reducing Complexity in Legislation;

These documents are available in the table below.

A major initiative by OPC has been the introduction of the Complexity Flag System. The complexity flag system is designed to provide a structural approach to raising issues of complexity with instructors. Drafting Direction No. 4.1A (available below) sets out the system.

A Clearer Commonwealth Laws Page has also been included on the Attorney-General's Department website and can be accessed here.

The formats available for download are: PDF | RTF | DOC

Title	PDF	RTF / DOC
Developing Clearer Laws Quick Reference Guide	192k	210k
Clearer Commonwealth Laws: causes of complex legislation and strategies to address these	253k	209k
OPC's Guide to Reducing Complexity in Legislation	157k	380k
Complexity Flag System (Drafting Direction No. 4.1A)	71k	178k