Referencing
when transferring text into your document through the clipboard, use the ‘Paste as
unformatted text’ option – this will ensure that no unnecessary (and possibly corrupting)
styles appear in your document.
For help with templates or style advice, contact the Communications team at
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx.
The
MDBA First Nations cultural protocols and style guide provides specific advice to achieve a
consistent approach when working with or referring to First Nations people in facilitation,
publications, products and on the web.
Ministerial correspondence is not covered here. Its style is prescribed and is overseen by the
MDBA Parliamentary Team. See the Parliamentary section on Billabong.
Last updated: 3 January 2024.
A to Z acronyms and quick style guide
The A to Z quick reference guide provides a comprehensive list of definitions, acronyms, water management terms, punctuation, commonly
misspelled words and place names.
Access the A to Z acronyms and quick reference guide
The guide is a Microsoft List that allows you to filter and search. To suggest an addition to the guide, email xxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx.
Australian Government conventions
All references to Commonwealth Government or Federal Government should be to ‘Australian Government’ in all cases and on all products.
When referring to the Australian Government and state and territory governments, use the following convention:
The Australian Government and the governments of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and the Australian Capital
Territory…
Departmental names should be written as ‘the Australian Government Department of XYZ’.
With states, spell out in full (except in tables, or when used as an adjective). Always spell out the name of state governments in full, for example
‘New South Wales Government’.
Read more in the Australian Government Style Manual section on government terms.
Legislation
It’s important to cite legal sources in a consistent and accurate way across government.
The style for the titles of Acts of parliament is to use title case. Use italics in the first mention of the titles with the year, and include the jurisdiction
(not in italics). Include the shorter informal title at the first mention. For subsequent mentions, use the shorter informal title, no italics. There is no
need to include the year and jurisdiction each time.
Always use an upper case A for Act. For example: Staff must read the Act to understand their compliance responsibilities.
Examples
The
Water Act 2007 (Cth) (the Water Act) – use the full citation (that is, include the year and in italics, and the jurisdiction) the first time in each
chapter or on each web page. For subsequent uses write as ‘the Water Act’ without the year and not in italics.
The Basin Plan is legislation, so the first reference needs to be written as The Basin Plan (2012) (the Basin Plan). Subsequent mentions are written as
the Basin Plan.
Make sure to differentiate between the Water Act and state legislation of the same name when both appear in a document or web page, and
include the state jurisdiction:
Water Act 1912 (NSW),
Water Management Act 2000 (NSW),
Water Act 2000 (Qld),
Natural Resources Management Act
2004 (SA),
Water Act 1989 (Vic),
Water Resources Act 2007 (ACT)
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act). For subsequent uses, ‘the FOI Act’.
Read more in the Australian Government Style Manual section on legal material.
Plain language
Always use words appropriate for your readers. When you are writing your document, keep your reader in mind. Say exactly what you mean, using
the simplest words that fit and words the reader will understand.
Use personal pronouns when it suits the context, voice and tone.
A direct, active voice and tone helps to engage users. Active voice and tone make it clear who must do what. Active voice is preferred. In a
sentence written in active voice, the subject of the sentence
performs the action. In the passive voice the subject
receives the action.
Reading levels
The Australian Government Style Manual recommends writing to a reading level of
Year 7 (or age range
12 to 14 years), after removing any proper
names and titles. Using literacy statistics this means around 83% of the Australian population is likely to understand your content.
You can check the reading level of your document or content by either:
using the readability scores in Microsoft Word (on the Home tab, choose Editor, then go to Document stats)
copying and pasting your text into the free online Hemingway tool.
Active voice
A formula to use for writing in
active voice is: subject – verb – object
Write this
The dog bit the postman.
Avoid
passive voice: object – verb – subject.
Not this
The postman was bitten by the dog.
Read more about active voice in the Voice and tone section of the Australian Government Style Manual.
Our brand tone of voice
The MDBA tone of voice aligns with our values. Through this, we aim to achieve consistent and quality content in our external communication
products, including the MDBA website. These principles apply to all MDBA Portfolios.
Because
This means our
We use this
we value
Our voice is
communication
voice when
Writing principles to apply or avoid
Written examples
is
Being
Informative
Open
We need to
Use plain language. Keep it simple.
The Murray–Darling Basin is the largest and
courageous
Factual
provide factual
Search out easier to understand
most complex river system in Australia.
Explanatory
and clear
words for scientific terms.
It covers 1 million square kilometres of south-
Purposeful
information
Avoid jargon, uncommon
eastern Australia, across New South Wales,
Formal
abbreviations and acronyms that
Authoritative
are not well known.
Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and the
Realistic
Australian Capital Territory.
At its heart, the Basin Plan sets the amount of
water that can be taken from the Basin each
year, while leaving enough for our rivers, lakes
Engaging
We want to
and wetlands and the plants and animals that
Being in
Open
motivate our
Don’t try too hard; make sure it
sounds credible.
depend on them.
community
Supportive
Factual
audience or
We know the Basin encompasses a complex
Informative
build their
Make sure it sounds empathetic.
network of people, industries and
Friendly
trust
organisations with competing interests and
this is why water needs to be managed
carefully for future generations.
We work with Basin governments to agree on
Explanatory
Use respectful language that starts
the scientific approach to assessment and
Friendly
Ongoing
a dialogue and creates mutual
monitoring of the health of the Basin.
Being in
Collaborative
Purposeful
collaboration
understanding.
We share our science and modelling with
community
Informal
is needed to
Suggest what people can do, rather
Basin governments and seek input from their
Realistic
succeed
than what they shouldn’t.
own government experts to validate the
analysis and results.
Make sure it doesn’t sound
The people running the rivers use ‘models’ to
Factual
We share our
patronising.
simulate a range of possible future scenarios
Bringing
Make sure it sounds authentic. For
Inspiring
Open
knowledge
and consider how different rainfall,
energy
Engaging
and science
language to portray authenticity try
evaporation and climate conditions could
Optimistic
outcomes
saying it out loud, or ask ‘does it
sound real?’
impact on river flows.
Read more about Voice and tone in the Australian Government Style Manual.
Our channels – tone of voice dimensions
The below diagram provides an overview of the tone of voice you should aim for when writing content for MDBA’s main external and internal
channels. The tone of voice applies to scales of:
complexity (simple to detailed)
formality (informal to formal).
Capital letters
Use capital letters sparingly, most commonly at the start of a sentence and for proper nouns and proper names.
For titles of people, full titles should be capitalised, but generic titles should not. Certain official titles, such as Prime Minister and Governor-
General, are always capitalised.
The terms
federal and
parliament only require capitals when they form part of an official title (the Federal Court of Australia). The
House (meaning
either parliamentary chamber) and the
Senate are always capitalised.
For states and territories, use initial capitals when referring to one specifically (for example, the State of Victoria). For generic or plural references,
use lower cases (for example, state government, state and territory regulatory agencies or state and territory legislation, Basin state governments).
Programs and projects do not generally need capitals, except where it is well-recognised, for example, The Living Murray (TLM).
Read more about using capital letters in the Australian Government Style Manual.
Numbers
Write the numbers ‘zero’ and ‘one’ in words. Use numerals for ‘2’ and above.
Always use a hard space (ctrl + shift + spacebar) between numbers and whatever they are modifying (for example, 4 pm) – this stops the number
being separated from what it is describing.
Don’t use en dashes between ranges of numbers, use the word ‘to’ (for example, 10 to 28).
Use phrases instead of en dashes for most spans and ranges of numbers (for example, 2017 and 2019).
Use 4 digits for both dates, joined by an unspaced en dash. Right-justify numbers in a table and use a space between abbreviations for page/s,
section/s (for example, p 42, ss 14B).
Use spaces consistently with landline, mobile, national and international phone number formats:
03 1234 4321 (landline number)
0400 000 000 (mobile number)
1300 975 707 (Australia-wide local-rate number)
13 00 00 (alternative Australia-wide local-rate number)
+61 2 1234 4321 (Australian landline number in international format)
+61 412 345 678 (Australian mobile number in international format)
Dates and times
When the day is followed by the date, do not separate with a comma. For example:
Thursday 21 June 2022 – not Thursday, 21 June 2022
When writing decades numerically do not use an apostrophe:
the 60s or the 1930s – not the 60’s or the 1930’s
When writing times in am and pm, use a colon between the hours and minutes, and a space before am or pm. No zeros are needed to show the
full hour. For example:
8:30 am to 5 pm
9 am to 6:30 pm
Use noon, midday or midnight instead of 12 am or 12 pm to make it easier for people to be certain of the time:
The webinar starts at midday.
Read more in the Australian Government Style Manual section on numbers and conventions for dates.
Percentages
MDBA uses the % symbol. The general rule is to use numerals not words: 1%, 15%. There is no space between the numeral and symbol. If starting a
sentence with a percentage, use words.
Examples
Fifty per cent of all native fish in that reach died.
It took 50% less time than the first attempt.
Em and en dashes
The Murray–Darling Basin has an
en dash (not a hyphen) between Murray and Darling. Other place names that are joined also use an en dash (for
example, Barmah–Millewa, Barwon–Darling).
Keyboard shortcuts to create an en dash are:
CTRL + hyphen on the
numeric keypad on the right side of your keyboard (not the numbers above QWERTY keys)
or
While holding down the Alt key + press 0150 on the numeric keypad
En dashes are also used in document or web page titles.
Examples
Mitta Mitta Flow Advice – 4 December 2023
Basin Plan annual report 2022–23
Register of measures – sustainable diversion limit adjustment mechanism
En dashes are twice the width of a hyphen. Em dashes are twice the width of an en dash. Em dashes are generally no longer used in government
communications.
Hyphen -
En dash –
Em dash ––
Read more in the Australian Government Style Manual section on dashes.
Shortened forms, abbreviations and contractions
Minimise use of all shortened forms, including abbreviations, acronyms, initialisms and contractions. As per the Australian Government Style
Manual, use the following for states, territories and the Commonwealth:
abbreviations: NSW, Vic, Qld, WA, SA, Tas, ACT, NT
initialisms: NSW, SA, WA, ACT, NT
contractions: Cth when in brackets after legislation
Scientific names
The MDBA convention is to use common names followed by the scientific name in brackets the first time a species is referred to in a chapter or
web page.
Example
Red river gums (
Eucalyptus camaldulensis) declined dramatically during the drought.
Read more in the Australian Government Style Manual.
Quotations
Follow the Australian Government Style Manual’s section on quotations. When the quotation is longer than 2 lines, use the ‘Quote’ style in the
MDBA report template (that is, left-indented and right-indented.)
Example
This block of text is using the ‘quote style’ provided in Microsoft Word style palette, available in the ribbon menu bar. Select your text, and then
apply the style from the style palette.
Text formatting – bold and italics
Bold and italics can distract the reader so use them sparingly. If you need to highlight words, use the ‘Strong’ (bold) style from styles palette in the
MDBA template. To italicise text, use the ‘Emphasis’ (italics) style from styles palette in the MDBA template.
MDBA style is to also use italics for Latin terms, except where the term has been thoroughly anglicised (for example, prima facie, ad hoc and per
se). The full names of Acts also use italics, refer to the Legislation section of this guide.
See the Australian Government Style Manual section on italics for all instances where they should be used.
Table formatting
With tables and figures in Microsoft Word, follow these MDBA rules:
apply the style ‘MDBA simple table1’ from the style palette
apply ‘Repeat Header Rows’ to all tables
don’t leave cells empty. Use ‘zero’ or ‘nil’ or ‘n/a’ if it is numeric data, use the numeric zero (0) but only use if zero is the true value
don’t use footnotes
when putting notes into a table, use lower case letters, not numbers
always number the tables by chapter (if applicable), for example: table 3.1 is the first table in chapter 3
do not use colons or full stops in captions (for example, Figure 8 example caption)
Footnotes and endnotes
Footnote markers should be placed at the end of a clause or sentence. Footnote markers should be placed after punctuation marks.
Example
Under the
Water Act 2007 (Cth) a potential issue relating to international traders is the definition of the phrase in ‘trade or commerce’.1
MDBA preference is for footnotes rather than endnotes.
Referencing
Use the author-date referencing system. Add hyperlinks to titles where available. For material in preparation, no italics are used:
Baker, AK, Taylor, P, Mason, K & Fogg, M (2010) ‘Acid sulfate soil assessment of sediments in the banks of the River Murray between
Blanchetown (Lock 1) and Wellington’ (in prep.).
For media releases:
Black F and Jacobsen N (4 February 2022) ACT has highest student participation and employment [media release], ACT Government, accessed
5 February 2024.
For reports:
Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) (2009), Socio-economic context for the Murray–Darling Basin, MDBA Technical Report Series: Basin
Plan: BP02, report prepared for MDBA by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics,
and the Bureau of Rural Sciences, MDBA, Canberra.
For standards:
Australian Standard, AS 3550.3–1992 Waters – Determination of alkalinity – Acidimetric titration method
After first appearance, use the abbreviated descriptor (for example, AS 3550.3–1992).
