Quick reference guide to the Australian Public Service Style Manual
The updated Australian Public Service Style Manual focuses on making government communication simple, clear and consistent. It is the first online 
manual and includes new guidance specifically for digital communication. To help you apply the new manual at AFSA, the Communications and 
Stakeholder Engagement team have prepared this quick reference guide. 
Capitalisation 
Punctuation 
Dashes
Use minimal capitalisation to make content easier to  Use minimal punctuation to make meaning clear. 
En dashes
read.
Too much punctuation makes text crowded and difficult 
Spaced en dashes ( – ) create a pause in a sentence and 
to read. Check the Manual for advice on how to treat 
add extra meaning, similar to commas and brackets.
For example:
each punctuation mark.
In ‘The Bankruptcy Report’, capitalise the full name and 
Use them rarely to use them effectively – for example, 
then refer to the lower case noun ‘report’ thereafter.
Commas 
to draw attention to a new and important detail for your 
Commas separate parts of a sentence so meaning is clear  main idea.
•  Use an initial capital for the word ‘government’ 
to users. Use commas when the sentence structure and 
if it is part of a formal name. Use lower case 
plain English supports their use.
It is recommended to use words instead of an en dash to 
everywhere else.
link spans of numbers.
•  Follow the rules of capitalisation for government 
Use commas to sperate in-sentence list items. 
terms.
For example:
•  Do not use all capitals for headings,Minimise 
Semi colons
•  Monday to Friday (not Monday-Friday)
capitals for common nouns and adjectives.
Semicolons can complicate sentences for users if 
•  9:00 am to 5:00 pm. (not 9-5)
•  Check the manual for guidance on when to use 
overused. Use a bullet or numbered list instead of 
proper and common names by topic. If still in 
semicolons in a complex sentence.
Em dashes
doubt, check the the Australian concise Oxford 
Em dashes (—) are not Australian Government style.
dictionary or the Macquarie dictionary.
Do not use them at the end of bullet and numbered list 
items.
Hyphens
Follow the conventions in the manual for using 
capitals for titles, honours and forms of address
Choosing numerals or words
Hyphens
•  Use capitals when an official title precedes the 
Hyphens connect words and prefixes so meaning is clear 
name of the office holder. 
Use numerals for ‘2’ and above, and write the numbers  to users.
•  Use capitals when using the terms ‘traditional 
‘zero’ and ‘one’ in words.
owner’, ‘elder’ and ‘custodian’. Titles should come 
There are few firm rules about using hyphens, and 
directly from the relevant First Nations community.
Exceptions 
dictionaries do not always agree. Refer to the Manual for 
Use words for numbers when:
detailed guidance on the points below:
Legal material has its own conventions for 
•  starting a sentence
•  Hyphens are useful in some sets of words formed with 
capitalisation. Content that has a legislative focus 
•  writing a publication title that includes a number 
prefixes, such as: ‘anti-’ and ‘auto-’
might use complementary sources to the guidance on 
written as a word
•  Write most suffixes without hyphens. For example, 
citing legal material in the manual.
•  writing a proper noun that includes a number written 
‘readable’ and ‘colourful’
as a word – for example, the film ‘ The Three Stooges’ 
•  Hyphenate some but not all compound words. For 
does not become ‘The 3 Stooges.’ 
example, ‘the accounts are up to date’ not ‘the up-to-
Ampersands
date accounts’
In addition, use words for numbers below 10 for 
•  Don’t hyphenate ‘-ing’ and ‘-ed’ verbs or most ‘-ly’ 
Avoid using ampersands unless they are part of a 
government content that follows journalistic 
adverbs. For example, ‘a fully loaded truck’ not ‘a fully-
company name, trademark, or financial market.
conventions (for example, media releases).
loaded truck’.
Australian Public Service Style Manual, www.stylemanual.gov.au

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Quick reference guide to the Australian Public Service Style Manual
The new Australian Public Service Style Manual focuses on making government communication simple, clear and consistent. It is the first online 
manual and includes new guidance specifically for digital communication. To help you apply the new manual at AFSA, the Communications and 
Stakeholder Engagement team have prepared this quick reference guide. 
Quotations
Lists
Lists
Use single quotation marks. Double quotation marks 
Lists should make it easy to scan and understand a series  Stand-alone lists 
aren’t Australian Government style. Use them only for 
of items. Structure and style lists with the reader in 
List sentence fragments (not full sentences) and have a 
quotations within quotations.
mind and use minimal capitalisation and punctuation.
heading without a colon.
      
Quotes
There are 3 different ways to structure lists: 
Rules for stand-alone lists:
Write most direct speech in single quote marks, 
•  use a heading, not a lead-in
and use single quote marks to:
Fragment lists
•  start each fragment with a capital letter
•  show direct speech and the quoted work of other 
Use these when the lead-in states the grammatical 
•  don’t add full stops to the end of any of the 
writers
subject. 
fragments (even the last item)
•  enclose the title of certain works
•  indent each list item if it helps people scan the 
•  draw attention to a word you’re defining.
If you add each fragment to the lead-in, it will make a 
content.
complete sentence.
Double quotation marks aren’t Australian 
For example: 
Government style. Use them only for quotations 
For example:
My weekly tasks
within quotations.
Queensland is famous for its:
•  Answering phone enquiries
•  islands and coral reefs
•  Booking conference venues
Use block quotes with no quotation marks for long 
•  abundant wildlife
quotes.
•  tropical rainforest.
Dates and times
Sentence lists
Acronyms and initialisms
Each sentence is marked by bullets or numbers. 
Write, abbreviate and punctuate dates and times 
consistently.
Use shortened forms only when this choice 
Sentence lists can have a:
supports plain English. 
•  heading without a colon
Following these rules for times and dates, and also refer 
•  fragment lead-in with a colon
to the detailed instructions in the manual:
If the shortened form represents a proper noun, start 
•  sentence lead-in that ends in a full stop, meaning that 
•  use numbers for the time of day 
each word with a capital letter.
if you add each fragment to the lead-in, it will make a 
•  in general, use numbers for the day and the year but 
complete sentence.
spell out the month in words
For example:
•  don’t include a comma or any other punctuation in 
‘NSW’ is written out as ‘New South Wales’.
For example:
dates, for example ‘Friday 31 October 2020’  
The committee members decided the following actions:
•  don’t shorten dates in text
If the shortened form represents a common noun, 
•  The committee secretary will respond to each 
•  don’t use ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc)
do not begin each word of the full form with a capital 
recommendation.
•  use ‘from’ and ‘to’ in spans of years.
letter.
•  The secretary will allocate responses that need more 
work to members.
For example:
•  Members will discuss the recommendations at the 
‘EIS’ is written out as ‘environmental impact statement’.
next committee meeting on 9 March.
Australian Public Service Style Manual, www.stylemanual.gov.au

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