Free Australian Standards: the legal step is done, the start date and the list are not

What happened on 25 September

The Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury, Andrew Leigh, issued a release headed for tradies. In the release, the Government says it completed the legislative process to make funding available for this program, which provides $42.7 million over four years to Standards Australia for free online access to Australian Standards contained in Commonwealth, state and territory laws. It says the Government will now work through the final steps with Standards Australia, and that it expects the program to start, in the release's words, in the coming months. Leigh's own line is the plainest statement of the idea: the release quotes him saying If the law tells you to follow a standard, you shouldn't have to pay to read it.

The legal step, read in full

The release does not name the instrument. The Federal Register of Legislation does: the Industry Research and Development (Free Access to Australian Standards Program) Instrument 2026, made by Leigh on 21 September as delegate of the industry minister, registered on 22 September, and in force from the day after registration. It is two short sections of substance. It prescribes the program under the Industry Research and Development Act 1986, which is what allows Commonwealth money to be spent on it, and it describes what the program does: the instrument says it funds free, online public access to Australian Standards referenced in Commonwealth, State or Territory legislation.

What it does not contain matters as much. The instrument sets no start date, names no dollar figure, and lists no standards. Its explanatory statement adds that it is subject to disallowance by Parliament. So the legal step is real, and it is the enabling step: it makes the spending lawful. The terms of the deal itself, including which standards and from when, sit in the arrangement still to be finalised with Standards Australia.

The money was in the Budget papers from the start

The $42.7 million first appeared on 12 May, in Budget Paper No. 2, page 142, inside a measure called Productivity, additional measures. It provides $42.7 million over four years from 2026-27 for ongoing grants to Standards Australia to provide free public read-only access to standards referenced in Commonwealth and state and territory legislation. Two details in that line are worth holding onto: the grants are described as ongoing, and the access as read-only.

We owe readers a correction of our own here. Our bushfire shutter story attributed the $42.7 million to trade reporting because we could not find it in a primary Budget document. It was in Budget Paper No. 2 all along. The figure was right; our sourcing note about it was not, and that page now says so.

Five descriptions of the same program

We have tracked the wording of this commitment since July, because the scope in each description has differed. Here is where it stands, with the new legal text added.

The Commonwealth's own documents use the broad wording: standards referenced in law, with no qualifier. The word selected comes from Standards Australia. Its store banner still reads, as it has since at least August, on the AS 3959 product page, Proposed access to selected Australian Standards referenced in legislation. Its sign-up form says on the register-interest form that Standards Australia is working towards sponsored access to selected Australian Standards referenced in Commonwealth, state and territory laws and regulation, naming the National Construction Code among them, and invites people to register to be notified when access becomes available.

What is not known, as at 5 October 2026

• The start date. As at 5 October 2026 neither the Government nor Standards Australia had published one. The release says only that the program is expected to start in the coming months. We checked Leigh's media release list, the instrument and its explanatory statement, the Standards Australia news page (its newest item, dated 25 September, is about a visit to New Zealand), its FAQ, and the sign-up form, on 5 October 2026.
• The list of standards. As at 5 October 2026 no list had been published. The instrument has none; Standards Australia's form says selected standards will be covered, without naming them; its FAQ, read the same day, describes only the existing Reader Room.
• The form of access. The Budget paper says read-only. As at 5 October 2026, neither party had said whether that rules out printing or offline copies.

What a window business pays until then

Nothing has changed at the till. We read the three standards a window business is most likely to meet on the Standards Australia store on 5 October 2026, and every price is the same as when we last checked on 4 August.

The licence terms are the same too. One licence is for one person, not shareable, read on one device at a time, and future editions are not included. Both AS 3959 and AS 2047 carry a pending-revision flag on the store, so a copy bought today may be overtaken by a new edition the licence does not cover.

The free lane for non-trade readers is also unchanged. Standards Australia's Reader Room still describes itself as for personal, domestic or household use, so a homeowner checking a shutter quote can read AS 3959 at no cost, and the business writing the quote cannot. We set out that split in August.

Which of this trade's rules are standards at all

Not every rule a window business works under sits behind the store.

Blind and curtain cords. The federal installation rule, the Competition and Consumer (Corded Internal Window Coverings) Safety Standard 2014, is a Commonwealth instrument, free on the Federal Register of Legislation. Read in full again on 5 October 2026, it refers to no Australian Standard: the 220 mm loop limit, the 1,600 mm cleat height and the labelling duty are all written into the instrument itself. Nothing in the new program changes what an installer can read here, because it was already free. We explain the rule in the 220 mm rule.

Bushfire shutters and screens. This is where the program matters. The NSW Rural Fire Service's Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2019 states that under the Deemed to Satisfy provisions of the National Construction Code, building work on bush fire prone land must comply with AS 3959 or the steel-framing NASH Standard. AS 3959 is therefore a standard referenced through the law that applies to building, which is the class the instrument describes. Whether it is on Standards Australia's list is the open question.

Glazing. The store places AS 2047 in its NCC Primary References Set. AS 1288 is listed among the references cited by AS 3959.

Our read

This section is opinion, built on the documents above.

This is real progress, and it is fair to say so plainly. In August we reported that each public description of this commitment was narrower than the last. The legal text has now gone the other way: the instrument itself describes the program in the broadest terms anyone has used, standards referenced in Commonwealth, state or territory legislation, with no "selected" and no "mandatory". The money is in the Budget papers and the spending power is in force.

What is left is the part a tradesperson actually feels: a date and a list. Both now sit in an arrangement between the Commonwealth and Standards Australia that, as at 5 October 2026, had not been published. "Selected" on Standards Australia's own form is ordinary language for a program not yet launched, and we do not read anything sinister into it. But it is the only description that leaves room for a standard referenced in law to be left out, so it is the word to watch when the list appears.

For this trade, AS 3959 is the test. It is called up for building on bush fire prone land through the National Construction Code, and Standards Australia's form names the NCC explicitly. On that reading it looks likely to be covered. That is our inference, not anything either party has said.

The practical advice follows. "The coming months" is not a date. If you need AS 3959 or a glazing standard for a job now, the store price is the price today, for one person on one device. If you can wait, register on Standards Australia's form and wait. Note too that the Budget describes the coming access as read-only, so a printed copy for the van may still cost money even after the program starts; as at 5 October 2026 nobody had said either way.

Sources

1. The Hon Dr Andrew Leigh MP, Tradies to get free access to mandatory standards, media release, 25 September 2026 (read 5 October 2026): the completed legislative process, the $42.7 million over four years to Standards Australia, the final steps still to be worked through with Standards Australia, the expected start in the coming months, the up to $1,600 a year estimate for a small construction firm, the invitation to register for updates, and the quoted remarks. His media release list, read the same day, carried nothing newer on the program.
2. Federal Register of Legislation, Industry Research and Development (Free Access to Australian Standards Program) Instrument 2026, F2026L01274, and its explanatory statement (both read in full 5 October 2026): made 21 September 2026, registered 22 September 2026, commencement the day after registration, the description of the program, the absence of a date, figure or list, and that the instrument is subject to disallowance.
3. Australian Government, Budget Paper No. 2, Budget Measures 2026-27 (PDF, 12 May 2026, read 5 October 2026), page 142, Productivity, additional measures: $42.7 million over four years from 2026-27 for ongoing grants to Standards Australia to provide free public read-only access to standards referenced in Commonwealth and state and territory legislation.
4. Standards Australia, Standards Australia welcomes Federal Budget support for sponsored access to mandatory standards, 12 May 2026 (read 5 October 2026): the description of sponsored public access to mandatory Australian Standards.
5. Standards Australia, register-interest form linked from the store banner (read in a browser 5 October 2026): sponsored access to selected standards referenced in laws and regulation, including the National Construction Code, with notification when access becomes available.
6. Standards Australia store, AS 3959:2018 (read in a browser 5 October 2026; the store is JavaScript-rendered): the $286.63 price, the pending-revision flag, the licence terms, the cited references including AS 1288:2021, and the banner describing proposed access to selected standards.
7. Standards Australia store, AS 1288:2021 and AS 2047-2014 (read in a browser 5 October 2026): the $334.63 and $239.46 prices, the pending-revision flag on AS 2047, and its place in the NCC Primary References Set.
8. Standards Australia, Reader Room (read in a browser 5 October 2026): non-commercial access for personal, domestic or household use.
9. Standards Australia, FAQs (read in a browser 5 October 2026): the answer on whether you have to pay to view a standard, which describes the Reader Room and does not mention the new program.
10. Standards Australia, News (read in a browser 5 October 2026): the newest item dated 25 September 2026, and no item on the program's start.
11. NSW Rural Fire Service, Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2019 (PDF, read 5 October 2026): that under the Deemed to Satisfy provisions of the National Construction Code, building work on bush fire prone land must comply with AS 3959 or the NASH Standard.
12. Federal Register of Legislation, Competition and Consumer (Corded Internal Window Coverings) Safety Standard 2014 (read in full 5 October 2026): the installation requirements, and that the instrument refers to no Australian Standard.
13. Federal Register of Legislation, register record for F2026L01274 (read 5 October 2026): the making date, registration time and in-force status.
14. The Window Standard, the bushfire shutter standard and its price and the access split between homeowners and the trade: our earlier tracking of this commitment, listed for context.

How we did this. The instrument and its explanatory statement were downloaded from the Federal Register of Legislation and read in full; we found the instrument by listing everything made on the Register from 10 September 2026, because the release does not name it. The Budget figure is from the Budget Paper No. 2 PDF, page 142. The Standards Australia store, Reader Room, FAQ, news page and sign-up form are JavaScript applications and were read in a full browser on 5 October 2026. Every absence above was checked at its source that day. We have not contacted Standards Australia or the Minister's office. Prices change, and subscription and licensing products exist that we have not priced.

Know the start date, or seen the list of covered standards? Tell us and we will check it at the source and log the outcome here.