Stay up to date with revisions and additions to the Style Manual.
January to March 2025
Security classifications and protective markings
- Information about protective markings amended to reflect the PSPF Annual Release 2024.
- First section reworded for clarity.
- 'References' and 'Release notes' updated.
October to December 2024
Changes subsequent to publication of the Government writing handbook.
- Heading (H3) ‘Make sure lists conform to their type’ – changed to ‘Aim to write lists that conform to their type’.
- New text softens the requirement that each list in a document ‘must look the same as other lists of the same type’. Uniformity is the ideal, but the flow of text can mean that lists of the same type have different lead-ins.
- New hints added – how to achieve consistency when you can’t use a uniform style for each type of list.
Heading (H2) ‘Combine numerals and words for large, rounded numbers’:
- For clarity, ‘numbers up to one million’ and ‘large numbers over a million’ replaced by ‘numbers below a million’ and ‘ large numbers from a million’.
- New example added to demonstrate large, rounded number consisting of decimal that contains the numeral ‘1’.
- ‘Quintillions’ added to ‘Billions, trillions and quadrillions’ – definition of each changed to make meaning clearer.
- New heading (H2) ‘Use “1 million” and “one million” in certain contexts’ – new rules and examples to address gap in guidance.
- Heading (H3) ‘Use numerals and words for large, rounded numbers’ – new text and examples to accord with above amendments to ‘Choosing numerals or words’.
- Terminology standardised to correct inconsistent use of ‘one idea’ ‘one topic’ and ‘one main idea’.
- Concept of a ‘transition sentence’ – added.
- Paragraph headings – 2 sentences added.
- Heading (H2) ‘Introduce the main idea in the topic sentence’ changed to ‘Structure each paragraph well’ – ‘Topic sentences’ (H3) and ‘Transition sentences’ (H3) added, along with new content and examples.
- Heading (H3) ‘Be clear when using pronouns to start paragraphs’ – added.
- Heading (H2) ‘Keep most paragraphs to 2 or 3 sentences’ – now includes one-sentence paragraphs and their careful use.
- References – 3 added.
May to July 2024
Dashes: new heading ‘Follow exceptions to the general rule’. Includes new text and examples for en dashes to ensure consistency with the recent update to Dates and time.
February to April 2024
Major revision
‘Dates and time’ has a new structure, revised guidance, new content and updated examples.
We have listed major changes only to ensure the Changelog is readable. Minor changes have been logged internally.
Rule changes
- Shortened forms for months and days of the week – We allow more contractions for use as standard abbreviations: ‘Tue’ ‘Thur’ ‘Thu’ ‘Jun’ ‘Jul’ ‘Sep’.
World wars – The amended rule replaces the distinction between Australian and American styles with 2 acceptable styles: ‘First World War’ and ‘World War I’. Our recommendation to use roman numerals is based on corpus evidence, but we acknowledge the use of ‘1’ and ‘2’ by some agencies.
There is a rule change for the shortened form. We now recommend using roman numerals not arabic numerals – write ‘WWII’ not ‘WW2’.
Centuries – Write all centuries with numerals (3rd century). Under the previous rule, both words (third century) or numerals (3rd century) were acceptable style. Evidence supporting the change came from expert advice and corpus data.
We have added an exception for centuries to the relevant rule on the ‘Ordinal numbers’ page.
- Time zones – The initialisms for time zones now appear after the time (13:45 AEST) not before the time (AEST 13:45).
New headings
These headings contain content not covered previously.
- Dates and spans – ‘Use en dashes for particular types of year spans’ (H2), ‘Use words for spans of days and months in body text’ (H2) and ‘Use en dashes for spans of days and months when space is limited’ (H2)
- UTC – ‘Coordinated Universal Time’ (H3)
- Time and spans – ‘Use en dashes for spans of time when space is limited’ (H2) and ‘Follow the manual’s number rules for duration’ (H2)
- Dates and times together – ‘How to combine dates and times’ (H2) and ‘Combining dates and times when space is limited’ (H3)
- Shortened forms for time units – ‘Use shortened forms for units of time when space is limited’ (H2)
- Standards for dates and time – ‘Meet standards for data systems and information interchange’ (H2) and associated H3s:
- ‘Standards are voluntary’
- ‘Basic and extended formats’
- ‘Calendar date’
- ‘Local time of day’
- ‘Ordinal date’ (revision)
- ‘Combined date and local time of day’
- Instructions – ‘Insert a non-breaking space correctly’
August to October 2023
National Archives of Australia (NAA) advice to remove references to decommissioned Australian Government Locator Service (AGLS). Changes to 3 pages: Keywords and search engines, On-page optimisation and Understanding search engines.
May to July 2023
Parliaments and councils: examples updated.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples: change from the term ‘First Nations Australians’ to ‘First Nations people’.
Royalty, vice-royalty and nobility: changes to titles for the current and former Australian monarchs after the Coronation of Their Majesties The King and The Queen, 6 May 2023.
January to March 2023
Major revision
- ‘Use words instead of symbols to improve accessibility’ (H2) – text added to better explain why words are preferred in general content; additional examples
- Rules about symbols restructured under new heading ‘Use symbols when user research supports their use’ (H2)
- The following H3 sections under ‘Use symbols when user research supports their use’ are amended:
- ‘Use code for symbols, not punctuation’ – more symbols added; the terms ‘operators’ and ‘relations’ explained; example changed
- ‘Don’t use a symbol or a space for ratios’ – section moved higher up for flow; explanatory text added to examples
- ‘Subtraction and negative numbers’ – new text and additional examples
- ‘Division’ – now a stand-alone section; revised with new information about narrow no-break spaces and thin spaces; example algebraic expressions added and italicised as per mathematical style
- ‘Multiplication’ – now a stand-alone section; revised with new information about the multiplication dot; new examples added for dot and asterisk.
- The following H3 sections under ‘Use symbols when user research supports their use’ are new:
- ‘Note on terminology’ – new section to support change from ‘sign’ to ‘symbol’
- ‘Don’t use a space if a symbol modifies a value’
- ‘Use the correct style for equations’.
- New table ‘Codes for mathematical symbols’ – shows Unicode characters, HTML coding and Word subsets for common mathematical symbols
- ‘Release notes’ – updated
- ‘Evidence’ and ‘References’ – citations added
October to December 2022
- Definition of acronym – expanded to include initial syllables; new example
- Definition of initialism – expanded to include initial sounds; new example
- Shortened forms that combine an initialism and an acronym – new definition and examples
- ‘Check the correct shortened form for government organisations’ – example changed
- ‘Use capitals for most acronyms and initialisms’ – new example
- ‘Release notes’ – updated
- ‘References’ – citations added
Changes for consistency: standardise style of state and territory governments that appear as author in page references.
- ‘Evidence’ – citations added as evidence to support content in ‘Clear content helps all users’
- ‘References’ – citations added
July to September 2022
Updates and changes after the death of Her Majesty The Queen
- Royalty, vice-royalty and nobility: addition of titles for the current and former Australian monarchs and other members of the royal family
- Awards and honours: post-nominals – ‘QC’ to ‘KC’
- Cases and legal authorities: new content and examples for citing the Crown in criminal appeal cases
- Terminology – new rules and examples
- Order of precedence for arms of the ADF – new rule and example
- Names in body text – new rule and example
- Hyphen in ‘Air Vice-Marshal’ (rule change)
- Post-nominal ‘RAN’ (new rule and examples)
- Chaplains (explanatory text and examples added)
- Maritime spiritual wellbeing officers (MSWOs) (new rule and examples)
- Address blocks (new rule and examples)
- Salutations (expanded rule and examples)
- Salutations for MSWOs (new rule and examples)
- Table of ‘Ranks and salutations’ (new content)
April to June 2022
- Description of ‘possession’ in first paragraph (expanded)
- Table of noun possession rules (2 new categories and examples added)
- Descriptive phrases and the possessive form (explanatory text and examples added)
- Shortened forms – possessive, plural and definitions (new rules and examples)
- Possessive pronouns divided into 2 types – possessive pronouns and determiners (rule and examples changed)
- Apostrophes in periods of time (explanatory text added)
- No apostrophe for plural nouns that aren’t usually nouns (rule and examples changed)
- Single letter and digit plurals (text and example added)
- Apostrophes can stand in for sounds (explanatory text added)
- Apostrophes in official names (examples added)
January to March 2022
- ‘13’, ‘1300’ and ‘1800’ numbers (examples added)
- ‘Blocks’ of digits are now ‘chunks’ of digits (terminology change)
- Inoperative telephone number examples checked (examples changed)
- narrow no-break space for ‘Print considerations’ (rule change)
- Non-breaking space advice standardised (consistency across pages)
- ‘Phone words’ example replaced (example change)
- Capitalisation linked to the title’s position in relation to the name (rule change)
- Introduction of a ‘full title’ for use in display and presentation contexts (new rule and examples)
- Shortened forms of titles (new rule and examples)
- Treatment of titles and post-nominals at first mention (new rule and examples)
- ‘Titles of medical practitioners, dentists and veterinarians’ (new content added to section)
- Different types of academic titles (examples added)
- Use initial capitals for ‘Cyclone’, ‘Tropical Cyclone’ and ‘Severe Tropical Cyclone’, as well as for the given names of cyclones (rule change agreed with the Bureau of Meteorology)
- Capitalisation rule also applies to hurricanes and typhoons
- Now combined under the first heading: rules and examples for writing ordinals in words or numerals; rule for not using superscript for suffixes (restructure)
- Clearer explanation of the ‘Don’t use “thirdly” in general content’ rule (updated content, new examples)
- Add organisation name that includes a spelt-out ordinal above ‘10th’ (new example)
October to December 2021
- Punctuating lead-ins and headings consistently (new content)
- ‘Phrase lead-in’, not ‘fragment lead-in’ (terminology change)
- In addition to full stop, colon now permitted after a sentence lead-in (expanded rule)
- Addition of lead-in sentence as an option for fragment lists (new rule and example)
July to September 2021
- Use commas in numbers with 4 or more digits (add rule from Commas and new examples)
- Consequential update to Commas to ensure consistency
- Relationship between Australian spellings and other spelling systems (updated content)
- Dictionaries are descriptive rather than prescriptive (new content)
- Spelling changes from sixth edition (new content)
- Punctuation rule in ‘Shortened forms as part of the name’ now consistent with other guidance (rule change)
- Registered business names (new rule and examples)
April to June 2021
PDF (Portable Document Format): new topic page.
January to March 2021
Updates, clarifications and corrections to:
- Links
- Medical terms
- Nationalities, peoples and places outside Australia
- Natural phenomena
- Personal names.
December 2020
New accessibility and inclusion topic pages for:
- Agency responsibilities and commitments
- Applying accessibility principles
- Designing for accessibility and inclusion.
Version 1.0 (24 September 2020)
The following headings refer to published content for the digital Style Manual, version 1.0.
Each heading sets out changes from Content Guide and the sixth edition of the Style manual for authors, editors and printers.
Fixes to version 1.0 include minor edits, new examples, structural adjustments, internal cross-linking and new references. These fixes are listed under each heading.
Understanding user needs
Version 1.0 had:
- a new topic on user research and content.
- a digital focus for:
- how people find information
- how people read. - more detail and updated statistics on literacy and access.
Content formats
Version 1.0 had new guidance on:
Version 1.0 offered print considerations but focused on digital-first formats for:
- newspapers, journals and magazines (periodicals)
- reports.
It included:
- basic information on when and how to use images
- detailed information about accessibility and how to structure tables for digital content
- significant updates and expanded information about video and audio
- new and detailed content about alt text, captions and titles for images
- an overview of technical standards and accessibility requirements for video and audio formats\
- links to authoritative sources for compliance topics, such as security classifications and protective markings
- contextual links covering:
- accessibility
- copyright
- information management requirements.
Between 9 and 13 October 2020 fixes included:
- a new example on alt text, captions and titles
- more examples on blogs
- more internal links on social media
- new internal links on video and audio
- minor edits, a definition of lower thirds and more internal links on requirements for audio and video
Clear language and writing style
Version 1.0:
- had practical guidance on plain language
- discussed plain English sentences
- had mostly new content on voice and tone
- supported plain language guidance with grammatical information on parts of sentences (including clauses and phrases)
- related word choice to grammatical information about types of words
- removed the requirement to use full stops with non-Latin abbreviations
- did not use full stops with acronyms and initialisms, or contractions
- avoided using Latin shortened forms.
Between 9 and 26 October 2020 fixes included:
- a structural adjustment on the page and relating inclusive language to plain language and word choice
- adjustment to page structure, enhanced guidance and new examples on sentences
- a minor edit and an updated example on phrases
- minor edits, clarified examples and more internal links on clauses
- minor edits, more examples and internal links on verbs
- minor edits and updated examples on nouns
- minor edits, more internal links and an added reference on pronouns
- more examples and minor edits to text and page structure on paragraphs.
On 7 December 2020 fixes included:
- adjusted heading re use of 'no' with numerals in contractions
- new examples on expressing ideas and the persona and internal links on voice and tone.
Inclusive language
Version 1.0 had:
- significantly revised and updated guidance on content that relates to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
- included a section on age diversity
- updated inclusive language guidance around cultural and linguistic diversity
- new guidance on inclusive language around gender and sexual diversity
- revised and expanded inclusive terminology on the topic of people with disability.
On 9 October 2020 fixes included:
- adjusted examples and more internal links on cultural and linguistic diversity.
Structure
Version 1.0 had:
- included print considerations, but focused on writing headings for online content
- significantly updated and expanded on information about links
- fleshed out the advice on topic sentences and other guidance on paragraphs
- provided information about text boxes and callouts
- a new focus on the inverted pyramid, and narrative structure in types of structure.
Between 29 September and 12 October 2020 fixes included:
- a minor edit on narrative structure (29 September 2020)
- a new internal link on parts of sentences (12 October 2020).
On 7 December 2020, fixes included:
- updated examples and guidance on when to use list styles to lists.
Findable content
Version 1.0 had:
- expanded on information on understanding search engines
- incorporated information from the Content Guide on:
- keywords and search engines
- on-page optimisation.
Between 11 September and 25 October 2020 fixes included:
- new internal link and definition for URL on on-page optimisation
- minor edits to text and new supporting detail on understanding search engines
- minor edits and new internal link on keywords and search engines.
General conventions, editing and proofreading
Version 1.0 had:
- provided an overview of editing and proofreading
- revised guidance on italics
- outlined how the principles of minimal punctuation and minimal capitalisation inform Style Manual topics.
The Australian concise Oxford dictionary, corpus data and consultation informed advice on spelling.
On 7 December 2020 fixes included:
- more examples and alphabetical ordering of common misspellings and word confusion.
Names and terms
Version 1.0 had:
- provided more direct advice about commercial terms
- made changes to punctuation used with expressions of dates and time
- revised guidance on government terms
- clarified the use of eponyms in disease names as medical terms
- significantly expanded style advice for referring to natural phenomena
- included a new section on hyphens in personal names
- linked to external sources from basic style advice for the names of plants and animals
- expanded on advice about ships, aircraft and other vehicles
- consolidated and expanded information about topographic terms
- included guidance on personal names and cultural and linguistic diversity to complement style advice for nationalities, peoples and places outside Australia
- a new general rule not to use full stops with abbreviations which removed the requirement to use a full stop with abbreviated:
- Australian place names
- months and days of the week
- organisation names.
From 22 September to 10 November 2020 fixes included:
- minor edit with new internal link, and corrected and updated examples on ships, aircraft and other vehicles
- minor edits to text, new internal link and extra reference list item on topographic terms
- a new example on government terms.
On 7 December 2020 fixes included:
- added examples and internal links to nationalities, peoples and places outside Australia
- added words to clarify only capitalise Australian Government when the 2 words occur together on government terms
- altered examples re casing of terms and amended surrounding text to clarify exception in natural phenomena
- new subheading on how to treat family names, more examples and internal links to personal names.
Numbers and measurements
Version 1.0 had:
- updated the rule for using words for numbers in paragraph text
- updated the rule to use a comma in numbers with 4 or more digits
- recommended using the dollar symbol and numerals in most cases for Australian currency
- updated guidance on fractions and decimals
- revised guidance on the expression of mathematical relationships
- consolidated information about measurement and units
- revised guidance on ordinal numbers
- recommended using a number with the symbol for percentages
- expanded on information about telephone numbers.
On 14 October and 9 November 2020 fixes included:
- more internal cross-links on choosing words or numerals
- reworking a sentence for clarity on choosing words or numerals.
Punctuation marks
Version 1.0 had:
- updated guidance for using brackets and parentheses
- updated punctuation guidance for a bullet list
- revised guidance about the use of dashes
- revised advice about punctuation used with quotation marks
- consistency with the sixth edition in its advice on semicolons.
Referencing and attribution
Version 1.0 had:
- introduced stylistic changes to the author–date system for referencing
- revised guidance on the documentary–note system for referencing
- new and extensive advice on how to cite legal material
- expanded information about citing plays and poetry
- expanded and updated information about how to cite works of art
- covered citation style for:
- broadcast media and podcasts
- musical compositions - consolidated information on shortened forms used in referencing
- new guidance to support style guidance for citing legal material, on abbreviations for authorised and unauthorised reports.
Titles, honours, forms of address
Version 1.0 had:
- updated guidance and examples on forms of address for royalty, vice-royalty and nobility
- detailed advice about titles and post-nominals related to awards and honours
- refreshed guidance on forms of address and titles for:
- academics and professionals
- Australian Defence Force
- diplomats
- the judiciary
- members of Australian parliaments and councils.
On 30 October 2020 fixes included:
- updated and corrected on members of Australian parliaments and councils:
- an error/omission about post-nominals for members of lower houses in states and territories
- added text for clarification
- carried corrections through examples on this page.
About this page
Last updated
This page was updated Friday 14 March 2025.