Australian Law MCP Server

The Federal Register alternative for the AI age.

Query 1,253 Australian Acts -- from the Privacy Act and Security of Critical Infrastructure Act to the Corporations Act, Cybercrime Act, and more -- directly from Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client.

If you're building legal tech, compliance tools, or doing Australian legal research, this is your verified reference database.

Built by Ansvar Systems -- Stockholm, Sweden

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Why This Exists

Australian legal research is scattered across the Federal Register of Legislation, ComLaw, AustLII, and state government portals. Whether you're:

• A lawyer validating citations in a brief under the Privacy Act 1988 or Corporations Act 2001
• A compliance officer checking Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) for your data handling practices
• A legal tech developer building tools on Australian Commonwealth legislation
• A researcher tracing legislative history from Royal Assent through amendments

...you shouldn't need dozens of browser tabs and manual PDF cross-referencing. Ask Claude. Get the exact provision. With context.

This MCP server makes Australian law searchable, cross-referenceable, and AI-readable.

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Quick Start

Use Remotely (No Install Needed)

Connect directly to the hosted version -- zero dependencies, nothing to install.

Endpoint: https://australian-law-mcp.vercel.app/mcp

Client	How to Connect
Claude.ai	Settings > Connectors > Add Integration > paste URL
Claude Code	claude mcp add australian-law --transport http https://australian-law-mcp.vercel.app/mcp
Claude Desktop	Add to config (see below)
GitHub Copilot	Add to VS Code settings (see below)

Claude Desktop -- add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "australian-law": {
      "type": "url",
      "url": "https://australian-law-mcp.vercel.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}

GitHub Copilot -- add to VS Code settings.json:

{
  "github.copilot.chat.mcp.servers": {
    "australian-law": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://australian-law-mcp.vercel.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Use Locally (npm)

npx @ansvar/australian-law-mcp

Claude Desktop -- add to claude_desktop_config.json:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "australian-law": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ansvar/australian-law-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor / VS Code:

{
  "mcp.servers": {
    "australian-law": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ansvar/australian-law-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

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Example Queries

Once connected, just ask naturally:

• "What does the Privacy Act 1988 say about Australian Privacy Principles?"
• "Find provisions about critical infrastructure in the SOCI Act"
• "Is the Cybercrime Act 2001 still in force?"
• "What does the Corporations Act say about directors' duties?"
• "Search for data breach notification requirements under the Privacy Act"
• "Which Australian laws implement the GDPR?"
• "What are the penalties under the Competition and Consumer Act?"
• "Build a legal stance on telecommunications data retention in Australia"

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Key Legislation Covered

Act	Year	Domain	Key Topics
Privacy Act	1988	Data Protection	Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), personal information, data breach notification
Security of Critical Infrastructure Act (SOCI)	2018	Critical Infrastructure	Critical infrastructure sectors, positive security obligations, incident reporting
Telecommunications Act	1997	Communications	Carrier obligations, interception, data retention
Corporations Act	2001	Corporate Law	Company regulation, financial services, market conduct
Competition and Consumer Act	2010	Consumer Protection	Australian Consumer Law (ACL), anti-competitive conduct
Cybercrime Act	2001	Cybercrime	Computer offences, unauthorised access, data interference
Electronic Transactions Act	1999	Digital	Electronic signatures, electronic contracts, validity

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Deployment Tier

MEDIUM -- dual tier, free database bundled in npm package.

Tier	Platform	Database	Content
Free	Vercel (Hobby) / npm (stdio)	Statutes only (~150-200 MB)	Core Commonwealth legislation, FTS search, EU/international cross-references
Professional	Azure Container Apps / Docker / Local	Full database (~800 MB - 1 GB)	+ Case law (via AustLII), explanatory memoranda, regulatory guidance

The full database is larger due to case law from AustLII and supplementary materials. The free tier contains all Commonwealth Acts and regulations from the Federal Register of Legislation.

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Database Estimates

Component	Free Tier	Full (Professional)
Commonwealth Acts	~150-200 MB	~150-200 MB
Case law (AustLII)	--	~400-500 MB
Explanatory memoranda	--	~100-200 MB
Cross-references & metadata	~5 MB	~15 MB
Total	~150-200 MB	~800 MB - 1 GB

Delivery strategy: Free-tier DB bundled in npm package (Strategy A -- fits within Vercel 250 MB function limit). If final size exceeds 250 MB after ingestion, switch to Strategy B (runtime download from GitHub Releases).

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Available Tools (13)

Core Legal Research Tools (8)

Tool	Description
search_legislation	FTS5 full-text search across all provisions with BM25 ranking
get_provision	Retrieve specific provision by statute + chapter/section
check_currency	Check if statute is in force, amended, or repealed
validate_citation	Validate citation against database (zero-hallucination check)
build_legal_stance	Aggregate citations from statutes for a legal topic
format_citation	Format citations per Australian conventions (full/short/pinpoint)
list_sources	List all available statutes with metadata
about	Server info, capabilities, and coverage summary

EU/International Law Integration Tools (5)

Tool	Description
get_eu_basis	Get EU directives/regulations for Australian statute
get_australian_implementations	Find Australian laws implementing EU act
search_eu_implementations	Search EU documents with Australian implementation counts
get_provision_eu_basis	Get EU law references for specific provision
validate_eu_compliance	Check implementation status of EU directives

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Why This Works

Verbatim Source Text (No LLM Processing):

• All statute text is ingested from official Australian government sources
• Provisions are returned unchanged from SQLite FTS5 database rows
• Zero LLM summarization or paraphrasing -- the database contains regulation text, not AI interpretations

Smart Context Management:

• Search returns ranked provisions with BM25 scoring (safe for context)
• Provision retrieval gives exact text by statute identifier + chapter/section
• Cross-references help navigate without loading everything at once

Technical Architecture:

Official Sources --> Parse --> SQLite --> FTS5 snippet() --> MCP response
                     ^                       ^
              Provision parser         Verbatim database query

Traditional Research vs. This MCP

Traditional Approach	This MCP Server
Search official databases by statute number	Search by plain language
Navigate multi-chapter statutes manually	Get the exact provision with context
Manual cross-referencing between laws	build_legal_stance aggregates across sources
"Is this statute still in force?" --> check manually	check_currency tool --> answer in seconds
Find EU basis --> dig through EUR-Lex	get_eu_basis --> linked EU directives instantly
No API, no integration	MCP protocol --> AI-native

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Data Sources & Freshness

All content is sourced from authoritative Australian legal databases:

• Federal Register of Legislation -- Official Australian government legal database

Verified data only -- every citation is validated against official sources. Zero LLM-generated content.

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Security

This project uses multiple layers of automated security scanning:

Scanner	What It Does	Schedule
CodeQL	Static analysis for security vulnerabilities	Weekly + PRs
Semgrep	SAST scanning (OWASP top 10, secrets, TypeScript)	Every push
Gitleaks	Secret detection across git history	Every push
Trivy	CVE scanning on filesystem and npm dependencies	Daily
Socket.dev	Supply chain attack detection	PRs
Dependabot	Automated dependency updates	Weekly

See SECURITY.md for the full policy and vulnerability reporting.

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Important Disclaimers

Legal Advice

THIS TOOL IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE

Statute text is sourced from official Australian government publications. However:

• This is a research tool, not a substitute for professional legal counsel
• Court case coverage is limited -- do not rely solely on this for case law research
• Verify critical citations against primary sources for court filings
• EU cross-references are extracted from statute text, not EUR-Lex full text

Before using professionally, read: DISCLAIMER.md | SECURITY.md

Client Confidentiality

Queries go through the Claude API. For privileged or confidential matters, use on-premise deployment.

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Development

Setup

git clone https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems/Australian-law-mcp
cd Australian-law-mcp
npm install
npm run build
npm test

Running Locally

npm run dev                                       # Start MCP server
npx @anthropic/mcp-inspector node dist/index.js   # Test with MCP Inspector

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Related Projects: Complete Compliance Suite

This server is part of Ansvar's Compliance Suite -- MCP servers that work together for end-to-end compliance coverage:

@ansvar/eu-regulations-mcp

Query 49 EU regulations directly from Claude -- GDPR, AI Act, DORA, NIS2, MiFID II, eIDAS, and more. Full regulatory text with article-level search. npx @ansvar/eu-regulations-mcp

@ansvar/us-regulations-mcp

Query US federal and state compliance laws -- HIPAA, CCPA, SOX, GLBA, FERPA, and more. npx @ansvar/us-regulations-mcp

@ansvar/security-controls-mcp

Query 261 security frameworks -- ISO 27001, NIST CSF, SOC 2, CIS Controls, SCF, and more. npx @ansvar/security-controls-mcp

@ansvar/automotive-cybersecurity-mcp

Query UNECE R155/R156 and ISO 21434 -- Automotive cybersecurity compliance. npx @ansvar/automotive-cybersecurity-mcp

30+ national law MCPs covering Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, UAE, UK, and more.

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Contributing

Contributions welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Priority areas:

• Court case law expansion
• EU cross-reference improvements
• Historical statute versions and amendment tracking
• Additional statutory instruments and regulations

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Roadmap

• Core statute database with FTS5 search
• EU/international law cross-references
• Vercel Streamable HTTP deployment
• npm package publication
• Court case law expansion
• Historical statute versions (amendment tracking)
• Preparatory works / explanatory memoranda
• Lower court and tribunal decisions

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Citation

If you use this MCP server in academic research:

@software{australian_law_mcp_2025,
  author = {Ansvar Systems AB},
  title = {Australian Law MCP Server: AI-Powered Legal Research Tool},
  year = {2025},
  url = {https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems/Australian-law-mcp},
  note = {Australian legal database with full-text search and EU cross-references}
}

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License

Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE for details.

Data Licenses

• Statutes & Legislation: Australian Government (CC BY 4.0)
• EU Metadata: EUR-Lex (EU public domain)

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About Ansvar Systems

We build AI-accelerated compliance and legal research tools for the global market. This MCP server started as our internal reference tool -- turns out everyone building compliance tools has the same research frustrations.

So we're open-sourcing it.

ansvar.eu -- Stockholm, Sweden

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_{Built with care in Stockholm, Sweden}