NSW gov creates 'legislation twin'

The NSW government has taken its digital twins in a new direction, launching what it calls the 'legislation twin'.

The late June launch was announced on LinkedIn by Department of Customer Service data scientist Matthew Roberts, and in this blog post.

The legislation twin is primarily aimed at public servants, providing an interface for users to identify how NSW “Acts, statutory instruments, environment planning instruments and gazettes” are connected to each other; the allocation of Acts to ministers; and “the consistency or variation in the definitions of terms within these elements of NSW law”.

It was populated with data from NSW legislation, statutory instruments, environment planning instruments, and NSW government gazettes, and analysed using natural language processing.

Developed by the NSW Data Analytics Centre, the twin is being updated daily, and will be expanded over time, the post said. 

Given the complexity of legislation and other instruments that confront public servants, the twin should help those charged with drafting new laws understand the “interconnections between these instruments”.

That will also help public servants and representatives “ensure that all relevant legislation is considered in preparing policy for implementation”.

It also helps users discover where terms are defined differently, in different Acts.

“Again, being able to easily cross reference these definitions helps clarify the context in which legislative change or policy initiatives are being undertaken," the post states.