parliaments in Australia, the laws made by the Legislative Assembly are known as Acts. An Act is the primary form of law in the ACT. Subject to the limitations laid down in the Self-Government Act, Acts may create rights and obligations (including taxes) and create offences for noncompliance with a provision of an Act. An Act may restrict property rights in various ways (for example, requiring a person to obtain a permit before building on land) or regulate various occupations and businesses (for example, requiring a person to have a particular kind of qualification or lodge various kinds or returns). While the Self-Government Act, gives broad law-making powers, the precise topics dealt with in an Act, and the way in which the Act is to operate may all be the subject of intense debate and lobbying in the Legislative Assembly and the community as a whole. Instruments made under Acts Apart from their direct operation as sources of rights and obligations, Acts also authorise the making of other laws (mainly regulations) and instruments of various kinds (for example, providing for appointment of people to positions or determining fees and charges). Because the Legislative Assembly does not necessarily have time to attend to these matters, under our constitutional system the government of the day, acting through its departments and other agencies deals with them. For this reason, laws made the Legislative Assembly generally give powers to make regulations and other instruments. In this way the law on a subject may be