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Wintec's APA Referencing Guides

The Wintec APA Guides, with tips and help!

How do I reference New Zealand legislation – Acts of Parliament/Statutes?

Acts are included in the reference list, in the correct alphabetical sequence. The full title of the Act is required, and this includes the date (there is no comma as it is part of the title). For example:

Craig, M. (2011). Employment in New Zealand. Wellington, New Zealand: Law Resources.

Employment Relations Act 2000. Retrieved from http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2000/0024/latest/DLM58317.html

Fergusson, K. G. (2014). Working in New Zealand. Auckland, New Zealand: Collins.

In text use the name of the Act. If it has a long title, use the full title the first time you cite it, and a
shortened form after that. For example:

It is clear from the legislation that this should be carefully planned (Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992). If employers neglect to take this into account they could face legal action (Health and Safety Act 1992), with all the costs involved.

If you are using a specific section of an Act, this needs to be indicated. For example:

Employers have a duty to provide a safe working environment for all employees (Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992, s. 6).                                                                                                                                                     


OR

The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 makes it clear that all employees must have training on the Act and understand their responsibility to improve safety in the work -place.(s. 61).                                                                                                                                                    

If more than one section is used, the example reads:

Employers have a duty to provide a safe working environment for all employees (Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992, ss. 6-12).

When using part of an Act that appears in a legal book about an Act, you need to reference the book. For example:

Companies Act 1993. (2013). New Zealand companies and securities legislation for students (2013 ed.). Auckland, New Zealand: CCH New Zealand.

How do I reference New Zealand legislation – Cases?

Cases are another legal resource you may need to reference. These are listed alphabetically in the reference list, and always include the names of the two parties, the year in square brackets, and the NZ Law report number. A retrieval statement is necessary, either for a database or a URL. For example:

Crown v Thompson [2013] NZLR 617. Retrieved from LexusNexis database. 

Milner v R [2014] NZCA 366. Retrieved August 1, 2014, from https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/from/decisions/judgments

Note: Include a retrieval date when referencing directly from the Courts of New Zealand website, as the information on there is retained publicly for 28 days only. The in text citations just list the names of the parties in italics, and the year, e.g.

From the case Crown v Thompson [2013], we can see that this is not always problematic.

 

Earlier this year Helen Milner was convicted of murdering her husband (Milner v R [2014]).

How do I reference the Code of Rights?

All first year nursing students are required to reference the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights Regulation (commonly known as the Code of Rights) for an assignment.

Reference list:

  • The references start with the name of Regulation; as it is Government legislation no author is given.
  • Although it is hosted on the Health and Disability Commissioner’s website, the HDC is not the author.
  • Note that no part of the reference below is in italics.
  • The date is part of the title, so it is not preceded by a comma.

HDC Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights Regulation 1996.  Retrieved from http://www.hdc.org.nz/the-act--code/the-code-of-rights/the-code-(full)

In text:

In the opening paragraph of the assignment students will need to state the full name of the Regulation, and put in brackets the shortened version they will use thereafter (HDC Code 1996). They can use the shortened version throughout the rest of their assignment.

Using the name of the code as part of the sentence would look something like the example below:

This assignment focuses on the HDC Code of Health and Disability Services Consumer’s Rights 1996 (HDC Code 1996), which lays out ten basic rights that all patients are granted ...

The Code defines this as meaning a “holistic view of the needs of the consumer in order to achieve the best possible outcome in the circumstances” (HDC Code 1996).

If the Code is not referred to in text, the citation would look like the following example:

This assignment focuses on the ten rights every patient is granted (HDC Code of Health and Disability Services Consumer’s Rights 1996 [HDC Code 1996]) …

The Code defines this as meaning a “holistic view of the needs of the consumer in order to achieve the best possible outcome in the circumstances” (HDC Code 1996).

Note: This code is a regulation that is treated like legislation. See Professional Codes for an example of how to reference a code that is not legislation.