health.gov.au style guide
July 2024
by the
and Aged Care administratively.
This document has been released
Department of Health

Use we/us/you
On health.gov.au, we/us means the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged
Care. Do not use ‘the department’ or ‘the Department’, or ‘the Department of Health and
Aged Care’. This is in line with the Style Manual advice to use personal pronouns (like ‘we’,
‘you’, ‘us’) when it suits the voice and tone.
Formatting
Italics
Do not use italics for emphasis. Follow Style Manual advice on italics.
Bold
Avoid using bold for long sections of text. Use a callout instead.
by the
Legislation
To ensure Acts of Parliament appear italicised, use the Cite style in GovCMS within the
source code.
Ensure you identify the jurisdiction of the Act as either national or state based by the lead in
sentence, not by using (Cth) or (NSW)
Linking to legislation – use the ‘latest’ link. Right click and copy the ‘go to latest’ link.
Transcripts
and Aged Care administratively.
For audio/video resources follow this example.
Abbreviations and acronyms
Spell out once per page. For abbreviations/acronyms used in the title, spell out either in the
page title (preferred) or in the summary (if spelling it out in the title is too long). Add an s for
plural and an ‘s when possessive.
This document has been released
Capitalisation
In general, use minimal capitals.
Department of Health
Committees
When referring to working parties, committees, expert panels and so on:
• Use title case for the full name of the group (e.g. Life Saving Drugs Program Expert
Panel).
• Use lowercase thereafter for general references to the group (e.g. ‘the panel
decided...’, ‘the committee met...’).
health.gov.au style guide
3

We no longer capitalise panel, committee, working group and so on in general text
references, as per the new Style Manual government style manual guidance.
Reports, strategies, frameworks, plans
Do not capitalise these terms in general text references (for example, ‘the Strategy’ or ‘the
Report’). As per the Australian Government Style Manual, minimise capitals for common
nouns.
Job titles
You can find the rules and guidance for capitalising job titles in the Style Manual under titles,
honours and forms of address, punctuation and capitalisation, government terms, and their
blog article Capital letters: less is more.
the
Style Manual says: ‘Use initial capitals for the official titles of ministers and departmental
secretaries. Use lower case for generic references. Apply this rule to the titles of other
by
government office holders and department officials.’
Examples:
administratively.
•  National Rural Health Commissioner, Professor Ruth Stewart
•  The commissioner presented her report…
released
•  The Chief Medical Officer stated that...
Care
•  The Minister for Health and Aged Care met with…
•  The minister announced funding for… been
Aged
Publications
has and
Title case
Style Manual says to use initial capitals for ‘treaties, protocols and similar agreements.’
In our context, use initial capitals for the full titles of these publication subtypes:
document
Health
Publication subtype
of  Example title
This
Book
The Red Book
Report (only if a major report)
Department of Health and Aged Care Annual Report
2022–23
Strategy or framework
Aged Care Data and Digital Strategy 2024–2029
Department
Agreement
Eighth Community Pharmacy Agreement
Sentence case
Use sentence case for titles of the following publication subtypes. Use a capital after en
dashes used to separate parts of titles. Capitalise proper nouns, such as names of initiatives,
programs, committees or groups.
health.gov.au style guide
4

Use spaced en dashes to separate items and non-spaced en dashes in date ranges (copy
and paste an en dash from Word, or hold down the ALT key and type 0150 on your number
pad to enter one directly into GovCMS).
Publication subtype
Example title
Agenda
LSDP Expert Panel meeting agenda – 26 May 2023
Brochure
National Bowel Cancer Screening Program –
Lifesaver brochure
Collection
Certification statements for advertising campaigns
Campaign certification statement
Certification statement – Childhood immunisation
campaign 2024 – Phase 3
the
Case definition
Invasive meningococcal disease – Surveillance case
by
definition
Dataset
First Nations COVID-19 vaccination coverage –
National data – 14 June 2024
administratively.
released
Digital image
Changes to vaping in Australia from 1 July 2024 –
Social media tiles
Care
Fact sheet
Innovative Models of Care (IMOC) Program – Yolŋu-
been
led family focussed maternity care
has Aged
Form
Second-tier default benefits eligibility – Application
form
and
Government response to inquiry
Inquiry into approval processes for new drugs and
novel medical technologies in Australia
Health
Guideline
ATAGI advice on use of sedation for COVID-19
document
vaccination
of
This
Infographic
My Aged Care process overview – Aged care
assessment workforce (Integrated Assessment Tool)
Letter
Minister Colbeck's letter to aged care service
providers about infection prevention and control leads
Department
Meeting minutes
ATAGI 104th meeting bulletin – 17 April 2024
Poster
BreastScreen Australia – 1 in 7 women will develop
breast cancer poster
Presentation
Delivering high quality, person-centred palliative care
in aged care – Presentation slides
health.gov.au style guide
5

Publication subtype
Example title
Procedure
Hearing Services Program portal user guide – Submit
a claim
Public interest certificate
Procurement of suppliers to provide Regional
Assessment Services (RAS) in Victoria
Report (minor reports)
Fourth report on key performance measures for the
Seventh Community Pharmacy Agreement
Standard
PHDB data specification – Hospital to department –
2024–25
Statement
Statement on the clinical use of zoster vaccine in
the
older adults in Australia
by
Template
Hearing Services Program device quote template
Terms of reference
Strengthening Medicare Implementation Oversight
administratively.
Committee – Terms of reference
released
Grammar and punctuation Care
been
Hyphens
Aged
Use hyphens in compound adjectives placed before a noun, but not when it placed after the
has
noun. For example:
and
•  ‘I am seeking full-time work’; but ‘I work full time’
•  ‘the up-to-date accounts’, but ‘the accounts are up to date’
•  ‘an 11-year-old child, but ‘a child who is 11 years old’
document
Health
Only use hyphens to hyphenate words. Don’t use en or em dashes for that purpose.
of
Dashes This
Use spaced en dashes within content for parenthetic purposes (using a dash instead of
brackets or parentheses). In MS Word, you can enter an en dash by holding the Ctrl key and
entering the – on the number pad. MS Word will usually autocorrect a space-hyphen-space
to a space-en dash-space. In MS Word and GovCMS you can enter an en dash by holding
Department
down the Alt key and entering 0150 on the number pad.
Use en dashes for year ranges (no spaces), in publication titles (with spaces), and in
multiple-word modifiers. For example:
2020–21
Publication title – A user guide
Australian Government–funded
See the Style Manual for more on dashes.
health.gov.au style guide
6

List punctuation
We previously omitted the full stop at the end of bulleted lists because the DTA content guide
advised this. They have since changed that guidance and new style manual says to use full
stops at the end of fragment lists to end the sentence.
Percentage symbol
Use % on the web, not ‘per cent’.
Organisations take singular verbs
References to committees, departments, organisations, companies and so on use singular
verbs and pronouns, not plural:
•
the
  ‘The committee is deciding’ not ‘The committee are deciding’
•  ‘It is working on’ not ‘they are working on’
by
Linking
administratively.
Link text
released
Write link text that makes the destination clear (see Style Manual). Don’t write ‘Click here’.
Care
Write this: Register for the webinar
been
Not this: To register for the webinar, click here.
has  Aged
Legislation
and
Always link to the latest version of the Act or Regulation. For example:
www.legislation.gov.au/Latest/C2019C00023
To get this URL, right-click on the ‘go to latest’ link in the top-right corner of an Act or
Health
Regulation page
document
More info: Federal Register information on linking
of
Link to a section within legislation if needed – In the table of contents, right-click on the
This
section and copy the URL. Take the last bit of the URL including the slash (for example:
/Text#_Toc12283716) and append it to the ‘latest’ URL (for example:
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Latest/C2019C00199/Text#_Toc12283716)

The link text should be the name of the section. For example:
Department
Part 3 – Home care services of the User Rights Principles 2014
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health
The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Staff Network have approved an editorial
style guide. Please refer to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health guide.
health.gov.au style guide
7

Aged care
Aged Care have put out their own editorial style guide. Please refer to the aged care guide.
Explaining Medicare
•  Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) – this scheme is not part of Medicare.
You can say a Medicare card gives you access to the PBS or something similar.
•  Free treatment as a public patient in hospital – not ‘free treatment as a public
patient in a public hospital’.
This is because 40% of public patients are treated in private hospitals as part of
overflow when public hospitals are full or unavailable.
•  The public health system provides free hospital treatment as a public patient –
the
not Medicare.
by
Life Saving Drugs Program
See the guides and templates in this folder: Life Saving Drugs Program.
administratively.
Word list
released
Care
This list shows how words have been presented on health.gov.au and in Budget papers. We
aim for consistency with this list.
been
Aged
A
has
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander terms and phrases – See the Aboriginal and Torres
and
Strait Islander health guide
after hours – ‘care is available after hours’ but ‘after-hours care’, ‘after-hours primary care’
but ‘Primary Health Network After Hours Program’ (as they must have forgotten the hyphen
Health
when they named it)  document
of
aged care – See the aged care guide.
antibiotic-resistant bacteria
This
anti-smoking campaign
anti-vaping campaign
antiviral Department
Australian Centre for Disease Control
Australian Digital Health Agency
Australian Government (and then ‘government’ afterwards but not Commonwealth
Government or Federal Government)
age ranges – people 65 years and over; children aged 6 months to less than 5 years
health.gov.au style guide
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B
bloodborne – one word in general text (bloodborne virus). Two words in committee names
because they are wedded to this. Acronym still BBV for bloodborne virus, for consistency
with past use.
breastmilk
breastmilk bank
Budget – capital B in running text (‘the Budget’)
bulk billing
bulk billing incentive, bulk billing GP
C
the
check-up
by
chronic condition – not chronic disease
clinical quality registries (but National Clinical Quality Registries Program)
Closing the Gap PBS co-payment
administratively.
co-design
released
communique – no accent on the e; if possible use ‘Meeting summary’ or ‘Meeting minutes’
Care
instead
been
concession cardholders
Aged
co-payment
has
coronavirus – no capital unless starting a sentence
and
cost of living (noun) – ‘ease the cost of living for Australians’
cost-of-living (adjective) – ‘We want to ease the cost-of-living pressures on Australians.’
Health
COVID-19 – not Covid or covid or any other shortened version
document
of
COVIDSafe – adjective describing behaviours to reduce the spread of COVID-19
This
cross-border health issues
cutting edge (noun) – ‘This care is cutting edge.’
cutting-edge (adjective) – ‘This is cutting-edge care.’
D
Department
data – singular (data is), not plural (data are)
decision-making
E
Ebola – capitalise first letter (because it is named after the Ebola River; most diseases do not
take capitals – see Medical terms)
end-stage kidney disease
health.gov.au style guide
9

e-cigarettes
F
fact sheet – not factsheet
fellowship – lower case in running text: ‘When you complete your GP training with the
ACRRM or RACGP, you’ll achieve your GP fellowship. As a fellow, you can work
unsupervised as a GP anywhere in Australia.’ Uppercase when referring to the full name:
Fellowship of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine
face-to-face consultations
fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD)
First Nations – See the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health guide the
G
by
GP (no need to spell this out first time before using abbreviation)
government – lower case when using as subsequent references to the Australian
Government, and as an adjective (government spending, government programs)
administratively.
GP-led respiratory clinics (lower case)
released
H
Care
health care – use 2 words when the term is being used a noun. For example, delivering
been
better health care, improve rural health care, providing health care remotely, improving
Aged
access to primary health care.
has
healthcare – use 1 word when it is being used as an adjective. For example, healthcare
and
providers, healthcare billing compliance, healthcare workers
health insurer – not health fund
health professionals   document
Health
•  for a specific context, use the specific term – e.g. ‘ask the dentist who is doing your
of
root canal if you can have pain relief’
•  for a generic context where providers can be grouped, use one generic (ie if you
This
might consult a specialist or a GP or a surgeon or a psychiatrist = ‘the doctor will bill
Medicare on your behalf’; OR if you spoke to a physiotherapist, nurse, or Aboriginal
community health worker = ‘show the health professional your injury’)
•  if the context covers both ‘doctor’ or ‘health professional’ use both – e.g. ‘when you
get to the community clinic tell the doctor or health professional you see about your
Department
rash’.
Say you were writing a page about mental health medication. You could use the specific
terms GP and psychiatrist in the summary for accuracy – ‘your GP or psychiatrist can
prescribe you an antidepressant’ – but use the generic after that to keep the page simple
– ‘ask the doctor about possible side effects if you are worried’. This should help ensure
the page shows up in a search using any of the 3 terms.
healthdirect – healthdirect, all lower case, is the name of the service. So when describing the
healthdirect website, the healthdirect Symptom Checker or the healthdirect helpline, use
health.gov.au style guide
10

lower case. If you are writing about Healthdirect Australia (the organisation that operates a
number of health services on behalf of Australian governments), that name should be
capitalised.
home page – always 2 words, never homepage
I
J
K
L
life-saving (but ‘life saving’ in Life Saving Drugs Program, Surf Life Saving Australia)
the
life-threatening
by
log in and login – not sign in or log on. Use log in (verb) for buttons and links, and login
(noun) for content such as ‘your login details’.
long-stay older patients
administratively.
long-acting reversible contraception (LARC)
released
low-intensity digital service
Care
LGBTQIA+
been
M
Aged
Minister for Health and Aged Care – not Health and Aged Care Minister
has
Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS)
and
Medicare Urgent Care Clinics (then abbreviate to Medicare UCCs)
Medicare-eligible MRIs
document
Health
Medicare-funded healthcare providers
of
Monthly Care Statements
This
MyMedicare
My Health Record
My Health Record data
N
Department
national one-stop shop
national strategies for bloodborne viruses and sexually transmissible infections
nationwide
non-life-threatening, for example ‘non-life-threatening care’
nurse practitioners (NPs), but try to avoid abbreviations
health.gov.au style guide
11

O
out of pocket (noun) – ‘You won’t be out of pocket’
out-of-pocket (adjective) – ‘fewer out-of-pocket costs’
P
Privacy notice – use this term, not collection notice or collection statement, for privacy
notices used with webforms.
Q
R
recordkeeping – not record keeping or record-keeping (as per the National Archives of
Australia’s website)
the

rollout – not roll out or roll-out
by
Rural Workforce Agencies
S
administratively.
Smartraveller – when referring to the website, one word and upper case ‘S’
released
smoke-free – hyphenated, not smokefree or smoke free  Care
socio-economic
been
Star Ratings (in aged care)
has  Aged
T
and
team-based primary care
telehealth
time frame – 2 words (Macq)
document
Health
of
U
This
under serviced (noun) – ‘areas that are under serviced’
under-serviced (adjective) – ‘under-serviced areas’
underway
V
Department
videoconference
W
webpage – 1 word (Macq)
website – 1 word (Macq); not site or web site
wellbeing – 1 word, no hyphen
world-class
health.gov.au style guide
12

wraparound care
X
X-ray – upper case ‘X’
Y
Z

the
by
administratively.
released
Care
been
has Aged
and
document
Health
of
This
Department
health.gov.au style guide
13

Document Outline

Use we/us/you
Formatting
Capitalisation
Grammar and punctuation
Linking
- Link text
- Legislation
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health
Aged care
Explaining Medicare
Life Saving Drugs Program
Word list
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
- X
- Y
- Z