How the data is built

Where ScheduleOne's requirements come from, how every one is tied to the law's own words, and what the data doesn't cover.

You shouldn’t have to trust a black box with something that carries legal risk. This page sets out where the data comes from, what is guaranteed about every requirement, and where its limits are.

Where the law comes from

ScheduleOne’s legal database holds the Acts, regulations and legislative instruments in force in the jurisdictions it covers: more than 15,000 laws. Most of it comes from the Open Australian Legal Corpus, an openly licensed collection of Australian legislation, and Commonwealth, ACT and Northern Territory law is updated from the official legislation registers. Only legislation in force is used: not court decisions, and not bills.

Coverage shows exactly which jurisdictions are included, with live figures.

What is guaranteed about every requirement

It quotes the law’s own words. Every requirement in the database carries the words of the provision it comes from.

The quote is checked by a computer, word for word. A requirement is kept only if its quote is found in the legislation exactly. That check doesn’t depend on judgement or on an AI model: the words are in the law, or the requirement isn’t in the database. Today, 100% of requirements pass it.

It links to its source. Every requirement names its Act or regulation and section, with a link to the official text, so you can read the law yourself.

Uncertain readings are looked at again. Where a reading of the law isn’t clear-cut, it is reviewed again rather than accepted. Where a requirement turns on a fact only you know, ScheduleOne asks you rather than guessing.

It is tested against known answers. The data is checked against provisions whose answers are already known, including a list of well-known record-keeping duties, all of which it gets right.

What the data doesn’t cover

Everything beyond the jurisdictions listed on Coverage. Businesses outside them still receive every Commonwealth requirement, and see new requirements as law changes when coverage is extended.
Similar rows across states. National schemes mirrored in each state, such as work health and safety law, appear once per jurisdiction, each with its own law.
Government-only duties (for example, “the Registrar must keep a register”) are recorded but kept out of business schedules.
What isn’t legislation: court decisions, industry codes and standards, and contracts. Those belong in your own business rules.