NSW: how much red tape? | Cut The Red Tape

NSW legislation in force

877Acts

559Statutory instruments (regulations, rules, by-laws, orders)

192Environmental planning instruments (LEPs and SEPPs)

1,628Total titles in force

As at 13 October 2026, 7:13 PM AEDT, from the NSW Legislation website (Parliamentary Counsel’s Office) in-force collection.

Why is NSW so much smaller than federal?

Federal counts include thousands of amending Acts and instruments that stay on the books after they have done their job. NSW automatically repeals amending laws once they commence (Interpretation Act 1987, section 30C): their changes are written into the main law, and the amending law disappears. So NSW mostly counts only the main, “principal” laws. The two numbers are not directly comparable.

By department

Department	Acts	Instruments	Total
Department of Communities and Justice	257	126	383
Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure	48	214	262
Department of Customer Service	88	105	193
Treasury	103	52	155
Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water	74	70	144
Premier’s Department	59	38	97
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development	52	42	94
Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport	41	26	67
Ministry of Health	35	26	61
Department of Education	33	22	55
Department of Transport	27	28	55
The Cabinet Office	1	0	1
Unallocated (no administering Minister)	109	2	111

46 Acts are administered jointly by Ministers in different departments and are counted under each, so rows add up to more than the totals above. Instruments include statutory instruments and EPIs, counted once, under the department of the lead Minister for their parent Act.

Draft. Departments are derived from the Administrative Arrangements (Minns Ministry—Administration of Acts) Order 2023 (which Minister administers each Act) and the Administrative Arrangements (Public Service agencies and Ministers) Order 2023 (which department serves each Minister). Where a Minister serves several departments we assign one primary department by hand. Acts administered jointly by Ministers in different departments are counted under each department, so department figures add up to more than the overall total. Regulations, other statutory instruments and EPIs are counted once, under the department of the lead (first-listed) Minister for the Act they are made under.

Sourced from the New South Wales Legislation website at 13 October 2026. For the latest information on New South Wales Government legislation please go to https://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.