If an Act has been amended a number of times, the Government printer will re-issue the Act in a new pamphlet version, incorporating all of the changes up to a specified date.

Reprinted Acts are a bit like an online compilation, except that they potentially become out-of-date over time, if subsequent amendments are made to provisions of the Act.

Reprinted acts are not passed again by the parliament, but are compiled by the executive branch of government under legislative authority.

Authority

Online compilations of Commonwealth Legislation are now authoritative and can be used in legal proceedings, as outlined in the Evidence Amendment Act (Cth) Schedule 3. An authoritative online compilation from the Federal Register of Legislation, will always be in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format and will include the words 'Authorised version' or 'Authoritative'. 

In Western Australia, the Online compliation of an Act is not recognised as authoritative. Paper reprints are the official authorised version of WA Legislation, and it is this version which should be taken to court (along with any subsequent amending Acts, if the provision you wish to cite was affected by the amendments).

The Western Australian Legislation database, has made available downloadable PDFs of all reprints of current Western Australian Acts in force.

Top tip!: Reprints should always be updated to ensure you have the current version of the law, or to see if any amendments have been made since the latest reprint. See Updating Acts for more information.