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

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.

Quick Start

Use Remotely (No Install Needed)

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

Endpoint: https://mcp.ansvar.eu/law-au/mcp

Claude Desktop -- add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "australian-law": {
      "type": "url",
      "url": "https://mcp.ansvar.eu/law-au/mcp"
    }
  }
}

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

{
  "github.copilot.chat.mcp.servers": {
    "australian-law": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.ansvar.eu/law-au/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"]
    }
  }
}

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"

Key Legislation Covered

Deployment Tier

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

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.

Database Estimates

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).

Available Tools (13)

Core Legal Research Tools (8)

EU/International Law Integration Tools (5)

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

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.

Security

This project uses multiple layers of automated security scanning:

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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}
}

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)

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