On this page:
- Sources and references
- Victorian Government-specific guidance
- Welcome to Country
- Apolitical language
- Capitalisation of government terms
- Departments
- Forms of address
- Victorian Government ministers' naming preferences
- Victorian regions and place names
- Additional Victorian Government resources
- Branding
- Accessibility
- Content in languages other than English
- Inclusive language
Sources and references
The Victorian Government uses:
- the Australian Government Style for decisions about grammar, usage, structure and referencing
- the Macquarie for spelling
We also use these additional resources on specific topics.
Victorian Government-specific guidance
Welcome to Country
Find out if you should do a Welcome to Country or Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners for your .
Avoid the use of 'they' or 'their'.
Examples:
- I’d like to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land on which we meet today, the [insert name] people of the [insert nation name] nation and pay my respects to Elders past and present.
- The Victorian Government acknowledges Aboriginal Traditional Owners of Country throughout Victoria and pays respect to their cultures and Elders past, present and emerging. [Source: Victoria Aboriginal Heritage Council]
- The Victorian Government acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the Traditional Custodians of the land and acknowledges and pays respect to their Elders, past and present. [Source: firstpeoplesrelations.vic.gov.au]
- We acknowledge Victorian Traditional Owners and their Elders past and present as the original custodians of Victoria's land and waters and commit to genuinely partnering with them and Victoria's Aboriginal community to progress their aspirations. [Source: DEWLP email footer]
- We acknowledge the traditional Aboriginal owners of country throughout Victoria and pay our respect to them, their culture and their Elders past, present and future. [Source: DTF email footer]
Apolitical language
Victorian Government writing must be clearly distinguishable from party-political messages. It must not use party-political slogans, images or language.
Examples:
Use these terms | Don't use these terms |
---|---|
✓ Victorian Government ✓ state government | ✗ Labor Government ✗ state Labor government ✗ Andrews Government |
Capitalisation of government terms
Use capitals for proper nouns, the start of sentences and official or abbreviated specific titles, but not for generic or plural references. Some exceptions apply.
Proper noun | Generic form |
---|---|
Victorian Government | the government |
Department of Premier and Cabinet (applies to all 10 departments) | … the department (department initalisms may be used for a VPS audience only) |
Premier of Victoria former premier of Victoria former state minister | the Premier, Premier-elect former premier former minister |
Minister for the Arts | the minister ministerial office minister's office |
the Minister for Sport and the Minister for Ports | the ministers |
DPC Secretary Office of the Secretary | the Secretary the office |
State of Victoria (as a legal entity) | the state |
State Government of Victoria Victorian Government | the government (NOT the State Government, use the Victorian Government) |
Australian Government | (NOT the Commonwealth or the federal government) |
Victorian Cabinet State Cabinet | the Cabinet |
2022/23 Victorian Budget* | the State Budget the Budget successive state budgets budget provisions budgetary process |
Department of Premier and Cabinet Annual Report 2022–23 | the annual report the report |
Victorian Parliament Parliamentary Library, Parliament House | the Parliament parliamentary procedures |
Victorian Ombudsman | the Ombudsman |
ANZAC Change in capitalisation per ANZAC Day (Amendment) Act | NOT Anzac (when used in context of Victorian ANZAC events, memorials and mentions). |
* The Budget prefers this format; this is an exception. Per AGSM, ranges of numbers use an en dash.
Capitalisation of other terms commonly used in government
- Act(s)
- the Bar
- the Bench
- Bill(s)
- Ordinance(s)
- Regulation(s)
- Traditional Owner
Capitalising names of policies and programs
Capitalise the titles of government policies or programs.
‘Policy’ or ‘program’ should only be capitalised where they are part of the official program or policy title.
Capitalisation for education
Year (e.g. Year 9, Years P to 12, Prep)
VCE subjects (e.g. Theatre Studies)
Departments
Departmental initialisms are widely used within government but not generally understood outside of government. Only use an initialism if the term is repeated a lot in a page or document.
- DE: Department of Education
- DEECA: Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action
- DFFH: Department of Families, Fairness and Housing
- DGS: Department of Government Services
- DH: Department of Health
- DJCS: Department of Justice and Community Safety Victoria
- DJSIR: Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions
- DPC: Department of Premier and Cabinet
- DTF: Department of Treasury and Finance
- DTP: Department of Transport and Planning
Former Victorian department names that occasionally appear:
- DET (training moved to DJSIR as of 1 January 2023)
- DHHS (split into DH and DFFH as of 1 February 2021)
- DEDJTR (split into DJPR and DoT as of 1 January 2019)
- DELWP (mostly formed into DEECA as of 1 January 2023)
- DJPR (mostly formed into DJSIR as of 1 January 2023)
- DoT (now DTP with Planning moved from DELWP as of 1 January 2023)
Forms of address
How to address members of the Parliament of
Victorian Government ministers' naming preferences
Refer to the list of current ministers on the Parliament of Victoria to check ministers' naming preferences.
Ministers may choose to use the title ‘The Honourable’ (abbreviated to 'the Hon'). This title is granted for life, so former ministers may also use the title. The title is optional; before use, check if a member is using the title on the Parliament of Victoria .
The President of the Senate or Legislative Council and the Speaker may use the title ‘The Honourable’ while in office.
Victorian regions and place names
is the Victorian register of geographic names; you can use this to check the correct spelling of places, roads and historical information about geographic places in Victoria.
is Victoria’s official place names database. It has approximately 200,000 road names and 45,000 place names. This includes geographic features such as mountains, rivers, bounded localities such as suburbs and towns and physical infrastructure such as roads, reserves and schools.
VICNAMES is used to ensure that names are not duplicated, provide details on the location and extent on geographic features, localities and roads and to record or find historical information on place names.
-
A
- see also Shortened words and
Aboriginal peoples - see Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and
accessibility - see Make content and also the Online Accessibility
ampersand - don't use ampersand in sentences; see Organisation and Author-date
B
bibliography - see Referencing and
branding - see Brand Victoria guidelines and Apply Brand
brand names - see Commercial
C
- follow the rules of capitalisation for most natural phenomena
D
- avoid using in a span (e.g. It will take 2 to 3 hours.)
disability - see People with
E
e.g., i.e. and etc. - see Latin shortened
endnotes - see Referencing and
F
First Nations - see Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
footnotes - see Referencing and
G
H
I
inclusive writing - see Accessible and inclusive
indigenous - see Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
L
LGBTI+ - see Gender and sexual and our LGBTIQ+ Inclusive Language Guide
M
measurements, units of measurement - see Numbers and
N
names - see Titles, honours and forms of
numbers, numerals - see Numbers and ; Use numerals (NOT words) for numbers in text (most of the time) because it's easier to read on a screen. But always use words for one and zero as the numerals 0 and 1 may be confused for letters.
O
P
PDFs - only use PDFs if your research shows there are specific needs for this ; see also Rules on publishing documents and PDFs in HTML first
Q
quotation - use single quotes
R
References - See Referencing and
royalty (referring to) - - see Titles, honours and forms of and How to address royalty and
S
spelling - use Macquarie dictionary and see Common misspellings and word
T
titles - see Titles, honours and forms of and How to address royalty and
U
underline - only hyperlinks should be underlined; don't underline headings or any other
V
-
Check any spelling you are unsure of with the Macquarie Dictionary.
See the Style Manual on Common misspellings and word
Here are the correct spellings for some commonly misspelled words/terms:
adviser
behaviour
centre
child care
decision-making (n & adj)
focused (one s)
inquiries
modelling (double l)
start-up
statewide (adj)
subcommittee
subsite
the state (no capital S)
time frame (2 words)
Victorian public sector
wi-fi
whole-of-government (adj)
Additional Victorian Government resources
Branding
All government departments, agencies and entities must comply with the Brand Victoria guidelines for logos, colours, fonts and co-branding.
Accessibility
- See our guide on making content accessible. For topics not covered by this guide, refer directly to the .
- See Accessible and inclusive on the Australian Government Style Manual.
- The South Australian government's Online accessibility has been endorsed for use by all state governments.
Content in languages other than English
Refer to the Victorian Government digital guide on multilingual content for advice on developing and publishing multilingual content.
Inclusive language
See our LGBTIQ+ Inclusive Language Guide to understand how to use language respectfully and inclusively.
The Australian Government Style Manual has a section on Inclusive that covers:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
- Age diversity
- Cultural and linguistic diversity
- Gender and sexual diversity
- People with disability
Reviewed 24 May 2023