Writing and style guide

Agriculture Victoria’s tone of voice

The language used on agriculture.vic.gov.au is clear, accurate and sincere. It is written for regular people in active, plain language. It reflects our tone of voice, which is:

Trustworthy. The point of truth for all things Victorian agriculture.
Authoritative. It provides accurate and up-to-date information.
Easy to understand. It uses simple and engaging language to talk to our audiences.
Inclusive. It is clear and concise, accessible and understandable to a broad audience.

Well-written content should be informative, relevant and concise. Users should be able to extract the desired information from any content source quickly and easily.

Certain pages may need to include technical or policy-based information and we may need to reflect the language used in regulations and legislation in some instances. However, we aim to avoid unnecessary complexity and jargon.

Our tone of voice is professional: it is not overly colloquial or chatty but it is not over-formal either (unless as stated above it needs to be).

Use standard tone

On agriculture.vic.gov.au, we use the easiest tone for people to understand which is a ‘standard’ tone for most content. Standard tone sits between ‘formal and ‘informal’ tones of voice.

Examples

Write this: Standard: Please arrive 15 minutes before the event starts.

Not this: Formal: Participants should be seated 15 minutes before the event commences.

Not this: Informal: Why don’t you come 15 minutes early, so you don’t miss the start?

Exception: At times, we need to use formal ‘government’ language to reflect policy, regulations, frameworks or technical information. Ideally, page owners will explain complex terminology in the text in these instances.

Plain language guidelines

Plain English language is a requirement of the Agriculture Victoria website. This section of the Style Guide has been based on Australian government research and style guides and is designed to help you write clear actionable text.

When you write for agriculture.vic.gov.au you should:

follow best practice guidelines for writing for websites (this checklist can help)
follow the website style rules.

Good online content is easy to read and understand. It answers the users’ information need and it uses a clear structure, subheadings. short sentences and simple vocabulary to help people find what they need quickly.

Hemingway

Hemingway is a tool that can help you write clearly. The maximum recommended readability level is Grade 8.

Use plain English

Use plain English to express information simply, using words users understand.

If you’re writing for a specialist audience, you might think you need to use complex language. However, research shows that specialist audiences still prefer simpler, clearer writing.

To use plain English:

use everyday words that your audience use and understand. This allows people to quickly find and absorb information. It means that people are more likely to understand your content and take the required action
keep content succinct – we recommend 15 to 25 words per sentence

You can use technical terms if they’re not jargon. However, you should always explain any technical terms on first use, even if you think your audience may be aware of the term.

Avoid jargon, bureaucratic language or terminology.

Examples

Write this: Submit your application by 5 pm on Monday 9 June to be eligible.

Not this: You are required to submit your application by the due date of 5 pm, Monday 9 June to ensure your eligibility.

Write this:

If you're served a Notice under the Catchment and Land Protection (CaLP) Act 1994 to eradicate or control noxious weeds on your property you will need to undertake one or more 'prescribed measures'. These are:

using a registered herbicide
cultivating the soil
physically removing the weeds
mulching.

Not this:

Descriptions of management measures that are 'Prescribed' under the Catchment and Land Protection (CaLP) Act 1994 and Regulations 2002. These are the prescribed measures to comply with a Notice served under the CaLP Act:

Application of a registered herbicide
Cultivation
Physical removal
Mulching

Notice under CaLP Act

Where a landowner is served with a Notice under the CaLP Act for the eradication or control of noxious weeds one or more of the prescribed measures described in that Notice must be undertaken in order to comply with that Notice.

Write this: Farmers and the community

Not this: Key stakeholders

Avoid shortened terms, like acronyms or abbreviations. These can be a form of jargon and may be difficult for users to understand. If you need to use them, spell them out on their first use.

Choose simpler words

Find the simplest way to convey meaning. Choose simple rather than complex words or phrases if their meanings are the same and avoid ‘officialese’.

Use active voice

Use active voice. This means the subject is performing the action in the sentence. Active voice keeps language direct and engaging.

Examples

Write this: You must meet these requirements when bringing plants and plant products into Victoria.

Not this: Requirements that must be met when bringing plants and plant products into Victoria.

Write this: Agriculture Victoria implemented the reform.

Not this: The reform was implemented. (In this case, the sentence is missing the ‘subject’ or ‘agent’ – who implemented the reform?)

Exceptions:

Use passive voice only if there is a good reason. For example, if you can’t say who did the action or because information must be concealed for ethical or legal reasons.

You are providing historical information, discussing a past event or explaining how we conducted research using a specific methodology and assumptions.

Consider sentence structure

Include a mix of sentence lengths in your document – readers like variety and rhythm.

However, aim to keep sentences to an average length of 15 to 25 words. Sometimes long sentences can’t be avoided (for example if you need to spell out a department name or add parenthetical information) so including them occasionally is okay.

You can use ‘And’ and ‘But’ to start a sentence – this is now common digital practice.

Use short sentences that focus on a single subject. If you have a long, complicated sentence, consider whether it can be made into two simpler sentences.

Consider whether you can break up long sentences using a bulleted or numbered list.

Eliminate unnecessary words. Instead, make sure each word earns its place.

Examples

Write this: Treat the plants when they are actively growing. Spraying stressed plants reduces their opportunity to take up the chemical.

Not this: Treat the plants when they are actively growing and avoid spraying when they are under stress so that you maximise the opportunity for the plants to take up the chemical.

Write this:

Before moving livestock into Victoria, owners must certify the health of their animals by completing:

prescribed certificates
vendor declarations
health declarations.

Write this: We provide advice on market entry steps for export markets.

Not this: Our team can willingly provide any market entry advice outlining the steps you may need to consider entering an export market.

Write this: Moving stressed cattle requires care and planning. Do it well before an extreme weather event to avoid aggravating the animal’s condition.

Not this: Moving cattle already under stress requires care and planning so it needs to be done well before an extreme weather event to prevent further aggravation of the animal's condition.

Writing legal content

Due to Agriculture Victoria’s regulatory role, some content pages must convey legal information. When writing legal content:

Use plain English where possible. Users still need to understand that content, so we should aim to present complicated information simply. If you need to include complex terminology, try to also provide a plain English alternative.

If you’re talking about a legal requirement, use ‘must’. For example, ‘livestock must not be fed restricted animal material’.

If you feel that ‘must’ doesn’t have enough emphasis, use ‘legal requirement’, ‘legally entitled’ and so on. For example: ‘It is a legal requirement that livestock are not fed restricted animal material’.

If a requirement is legal but administrative, or part of a process that will not have criminal repercussions, then use: ‘need to’. For example: ‘You will need to provide copies of your drivers licence’.

Example

Write this:

Timeframes to report notifiable diseases in Victoria

The Livestock Disease Control Act 1994 (LDCA) defines when notifiable diseases must be reported. If you are a livestock owner or vet, work in a laboratory or with the animals listed below you must meet the obligations set out in the Act and its associated regulations and orders.

You must notify the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline:

immediately for some non-exotic diseases of mammals, birds and bees, exotic diseases of mammals, birds, bees, fish, molluscs and crustacea
within 12 hours for other non-exotic diseases of mammals, birds and bees
within 7 days for other non-exotic diseases of mammals, birds, bees, fish, molluscs and amphibians.

Not this:

Notifiable diseases in Victoria

Notifiable diseases are defined under the Livestock Disease Control Act 1994 (LDCA) and the obligations of livestock owners, vets, laboratories and others are set out in the Act and its associated regulations and orders.

The listed diseases are broken up into:

Non-exotic diseases of mammals, birds and bees that must be notified immediately
Exotic diseases of mammals and birds that must be notified immediately
Exotic diseases of bees that must be notified immediately
Exotic diseases of fish, molluscs and crustacea that must be notified immediately
Non-exotic diseases of mammals, birds, and bees that must be notified within 12 hours
Non-exotic diseases of mammals, birds, and bees that must be notified within 7 days
Non-exotic diseases of fish, molluscs and amphibians that must be notified within 7 days

Accessibility requirements for writing

The Victorian government has a legal obligation to provide information that’s accessible. This includes people with a disability and those with lower reading comprehension. Understanding and writing for the user is the key to Agriculture Victoria fulfilling this obligation.

Accessibility advice appears throughout the style guide. But these are some fundamentals for writing accessibly:

Write in plain English.
Avoid (or explain) unusual or technical words, phrases and idioms.
Avoid acronyms. If you need to use them, expand them on their first use.
Avoid using double negatives.
Use short sentences.

Tell people exactly what they need to know – and no more.

Website style rules

These style rules align with the Australian Government Style Manual, Victorian Government Style Guide and DEECA’s Writing Style Quick Guide.

Acronyms and abbreviations

Avoid acronyms.

Exception: Long names or titles that are mentioned often throughout the content. If you do use an acronym spell it out in full in the first instance in body text and follow with the abbreviation or acronym in brackets. The abbreviation can then be used, without brackets, in the remainder of your text. Do not use abbreviations or acronyms in headings.

Only capitalise the full name of the acronym if the term is typically capitalised.

Examples

The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) has agreed to implement the expanded program on the Australian Government’s behalf. DEECA will allow a 3-month timeframe.

Request for proposal (RFP)

Significant Disease Investigation (SDI) program

Use ‘for example’ or ‘such as’; don’t use ‘e.g.’.

Don’t use ‘etc’, or ‘i.e.’ – rewrite the sentence instead.

Agriculture Victoria

Use first person (‘Agriculture Victoria’) on the first instance on each page, and in each section of the page.

After the first instance, use first-person (‘we’) in copy. Each time you use ‘we’, make sure you have already used the full name of Agriculture Victoria in that specific section. Do not assume the audience will know who the ‘we’ is.

Third-person references to Agriculture Victoria and references to other organisations should be in the singular form.

Example

Example: Agriculture Victoria is part of the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA). We are firmly focused on Victoria’s economic recovery and growth.

Ampersand (and)

Don’t use an ampersand in headings or text – write the word ‘and’.

Exception: Use in tables or charts where space is limited, or when an ampersand forms part of a name (for example, H&M).

Example

Write this: Agriculture and climate change

Not this: Agriculture & climate change

Capitalisation

Use minimal capitalisation. If in doubt, don’t capitalise.

Use sentence case (capitalising the first letter of the first word and proper nouns only) for headings, subheadings, table headings and scientific names.

Use capitals for proper nouns when needed for clarity or legislative reasons (such as the names of people, organisations, or government policy or programs). The word ‘policy’ or ‘program’ should only be capitalised when they are part of the official policy or program title.

If you want to move between using a proper name (for example Agriculture Victoria) with a more general term (for example the department or the organisation) capitalise the proper name but lowercase the defining term.

Capitalise a person’s job title when written together with the person’s name but lowercase generic references to job titles.

Examples

Beekeeper permits (heading)
Varroa destructor (scientific name)

Climate Change Strategy
BushBank program
On-Farm Drought Infrastructure grants

Agriculture Victoria (the department)
AgriBio Centre for AgriBioscience (the centre)
Biosecurity Statement for Victoria (the statement)
Victorian Government (the government)

James McDonald, Strategy Director
Chief Scientist Tanya Kawaguchi
health and safety adviser
the executive director

Colons and semicolons

Use colons to introduce a word phrase or clause that provides more detail introduce a question give an example summarise or contrast what comes before it and for sentence fragments.

The word after a colon is almost always lowercase. Exception: Use uppercase if the word is a proper noun or it starts a question.

Use a colon in mathematical ratios.

Examples

There is only one issue: feral cats

The strategy began with the question: What would best serve user needs?

The minister is confident: Agriculture Victoria has plans in place.

Write this:

50:50 split

the ratio is 10:5:1

Not this:

50/50 split

the ratio is 10–5–1

Commas

Don’t use a comma in lists before an ‘and’ or ‘or’.

Exception: Use a comma to separate 2 different points in a sentence (usually, the comma will go before the second ‘and’).

Example

Write this: Forms for mediation, information and supporting resources are now accessible from the VSBC’s website.

Not this: Forms for mediation, information, and supporting resources are now accessible from the VSBC’s website.

Write this: Use artificial and natural shade to protect cattle at night, and from the extremes of wind, heat and cold.

Contact details

Do not share personal details (such as a personal email address or phone number); instead, provide a shared email inbox. This protects staff privacy; it also means a user will get a response more quickly if a staff member is away or if changes in the team occur.

Example

Write this: For more information, contact drought.support@agriculture.vic.gov.au

Not this: For more information, contact john.smith@agriculture.vic.gov.au

Contractions

A contraction is a shortened form of a word or a word formed by joining 2 words together. Use it in less formal, more conversational content pages (for example, event pages).

Legal and specialist content (including pages describing regulations or providing explicit instructions) typically avoids using contractions. Be guided by the type of content you are producing.

Examples

We appreciate that the new rules weren’t advertised widely. We’re now contacting everyone who might be affected. Please don’t hesitate to contact the website team if you have any questions. [Informal]

Do not travel into an area until safe passage is assured. [Explicit instruction]

Dashes (–)

Use spaced en dashes (not em dashes) in number and date spans between 2 related terms (such as a geographical link) and to indicate a change of thought or the addition of information.

Examples

50–60% (but ‘50% to 60%’ in body text)

Climate Change Strategy 2021–2030

Victoria–New South Wales border

Commonwealth–state relations

Agricultural activities significantly contribute to our state’s overall emissions – the fourth-largest share of Victoria’s emissions in 2018.

Learn more: Dashes (Australian Government Style Manual)

Dates and time

Use day, date, month, year order.

Don’t use suffixes (for example, 9th, 3rd).

Example

Write this:

Monday 9 June 2025

Not this:

Monday 9th June 2025

June 9, 2025

Use a space after the numeral for time.
Use a colon between hours and minutes.
Don’t use full stops in am and pm.

Examples

Write this:

11 am

11:30 am

Not this:

11a.m

11.30 a.m.

Use the full numerical year.

Example

Write this: 1976

Not this: ‘76

Use the full word for days and months.

Exception: Use abbreviations in tables and lists where space is tight.

Forward slash (solidus /)

Don’t include spaces between words and a forward slash.

Exception: Include spaces in official dual place names (for example, truwana / Cape Barren Island)

Example

Write this: High/low setting

Not this: High / low setting

Headings

Use sentence case (capitalising the first letter of the heading and any proper nouns only) for all headings, subheadings and table headings.

Do not use acronyms or abbreviations.

Examples

Write this: Managing your wellbeing in an emergency

Not this: Managing Your Wellbeing in an Emergency

Hyphens (-)

Use a hyphen only when two (or more) words are joined together to act like one single idea or description.

Examples

high-risk invasive plants

non-English language

Italics

Limit the use of italics. Only use f for:

published works (books, films and podcasts)
Acts and legal cases, foreign words and phrases
scientific names (genus and species).

Examples

Domestic Animals Act 1994

Atelerix albiventris (African pygmy hedgehog)

Legislation and legal material

We must cite legal material such as acts of parliament, legislation and treaties in a consistent, accurate way.

Acts of parliament

Capitalise all words in Acts of parliament (except articles like ‘and’). Don’t put a comma before the year.

Example

Write this: Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals (Control of Use) Act 1992

Not this: Agricultural And Veterinary Chemicals (Control of Use) Act,1992

Italicise the Act on first mention, then revert to a shortened, roman numeral throughout the text either as ‘the Act’ or presented without the date.

Example

The Wildlife Act 1975 protects the conservation of wildlife. The Act promotes the sustainable use of and access to wildlife. The Wildlife Act prohibits and regulates the conduct of persons engaged in activities concerning or related to wildlife.

If the Act’s title has a number, include the number exactly as written.

Example

Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals (Control of Use) Act (No. 1) 1992

Bills

Use roman text for bills.

Example

Agriculture and Food Safety Legislation Amendment Bill 2024

Use an initial capital for the word ‘Bill’ when you write about a specific bill: ‘the Bill’, ‘this Bill’.

If you are writing about 2 or more bills, use the lower case: ‘the bills’, ‘these bills’.

Schedules

Use capital ‘S’ for long and shortened forms of named schedules.

Example

The information can be found in Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Act 1975.

See also: Legal material (Australian Government Style Manual)

Lists

Use bulleted or numbered lists to group related information, order steps or arrange important information. This helps users to easily scan and find the information they need.

Always use a lead-in phrase or sentence to introduce the list. Phrase lead-ins always end in a colon. Sentence lead-ins can use a colon or full stop (choose one and be consistent).

For lists using full sentences, start each list item with a capital letter and end it in a full stop.

Example

The grafting process:

The larva floats on royal jelly.
Slide the grafting tool in the vertical position close to the worker cell wall under the floating larva.
Lift out the larva.
Place the larva into the queen cell by drawing the tool across the cell base.
Grafting is complete.

For fragment lists use:

lowercase for the first letter of the list, unless it’s a proper noun
a full stop at the end of the last bullet.

Example

The products include:

hives
queen bees
used beekeeping equipment
pollen for bee feeding
bee products (including honeycomb).

Don’t use semicolons or commas at the end of list items.

Don’t use ‘and’ or ‘or’ after list items.

Use consistent formatting for all lists within a content page. For example, don’t alternate a colon and a full stop to introduce a list. Be consistent with lowercasing and punctuation and introduce like lists using similar phrasing.

Measurement

Use numerals:

in units of measurement
to show mathematical relationships – such as equations and ratios – and for decimals
when comparing numbers
in tables and charts
in dates and times
in a series of numbers
in specific contexts, such as steps, instructions, age and school years
in scientific content.

Put a space between numbers and units.

Examples

1.5 m tall

23 km

Don’t add an ‘s’ to plurals for units.

Use lowercase for units.

Exception: litres (L), millilitres (ML) and data storage.

Examples

20 mL of rain is expected

5 L of water

105 MB

Numbers

Use numbers instead of words in most instances.

Exceptions:

Use one (not 1) and zero (not 0).
Use words when starting a sentence.
Words can be used for numbers below 10 in media releases,.

Examples

Content pages:

There are 3 ways to contact Agriculture Victoria

The aim is zero emissions by 2050

In the end only one person agreed.

Media releases:

Post-weaning supplements should be introduced to calves slowly via creep-feeding and vaccinating two weeks before weaning to protect against clostridial diseases.

Use fractions when the exact number or value is not important. If it is important, use decimals instead.

Examples

About two-thirds of the crops were damaged

0.48 ML x 60% = 288,00 litres (0.28 ML)

Use commas in numbers with 4 or more digits.

Examples

$327,500

1,000

Percentages

Use numerals with a percentage sign and close up the space.

Example

Victoria accounts for about 3% of Australia's total agricultural land area.

People and organisations

Respectful language means using:

specific terms, like the name of a community, before using broader terms
plurals when speaking about collectives (peoples, nations, cultures, languages)
present tense, unless speaking about a past event
empowering, strengths-based language.

Plants and animals

Italicise the genus and give it an initial capital.

The species is in italics and is lower case.

The common name is roman.

Example

Atelerix albiventris (African pygmy hedgehog)

See also: Plants and animals (Australian Government Style Manual)

Privacy

When you handle personal information, you must comply with the Australian Privacy Principles. Personal information is any information that could identify an individual, in any format.

When collecting personal information (for example, in forms), include a privacy statement that describes how you plan to manage the information you collect.

Do not include personal details online. If you must include a person’s name, ensure you have permission in writing to do so. For more information visit the Victorian government’s privacy website.

Quotation marks

Use single quotation marks.

Exception: Use double quotation marks for quotes within quotes.

Example

‘We undertook further “targeted stakeholder consultation”,’ she stated.

See also: Quotation marks | Style Manual

Spelling list

VICNAMES is Victoria’s official place names database. Use VICNAMES to check the correct spelling of places, roads and historical information about geographic places in Victoria.

A list of commonly misspelled words and terms can also be found on the Victorian Government Style Guide.

The spellings here reflect those in the Macquarie Dictionary, which is the standard dictionary for Victorian government:

adviser (not advisor)
Agriculture Victoria (not AV, Ag Vic, AgVic, Agriculture-Victoria or Agriculture Vic)
Agriculture Victoria Connect (not Agriculture Victoria-Connect)
Country (in relation to Traditional Owners)
decision-making (noun and adjective)
e-newsletter (not enewsletter)
foot-and-mouth disease (shortened as FMD)
inquiry or enquiry (they can be used to distinguish an official inquiry from an informal enquiry
landowner (not land owner)
north-west (not northwest, north west)
on farm, on-farm – for example, ‘on-farm treatment’, but ‘the weed was found on farm’
south-west (not southwest, south west)
state prohibited weed (no hyphen between ‘State’ and ‘prohibited’)
statewide (not state-wide or state wide)
the state (no capital ‘S’)
timeframe (not time frame)
Traditional Owners (capitalise)
webpage (not web page)
wellbeing (not well-being)

Page last updated: 10 Dec 2025

Writing and style guide

On this page

Agriculture Victoria’s tone of voice

Use standard tone

Examples

Plain language guidelines

Hemingway

Use plain English

Examples

Choose simpler words

Use active voice

Examples

Consider sentence structure

Examples

Writing legal content

Example

Accessibility requirements for writing

Website style rules

Acronyms and abbreviations

Examples

Agriculture Victoria

Example

Ampersand (and)

Example

Capitalisation

Examples

Colons and semicolons

Examples

Commas

Example

Contact details

Example

Contractions

Examples

Dashes (–)

Examples

Dates and time

Example

Examples

Example

Forward slash (solidus /)

Example

Headings

Examples

Hyphens (-)

Examples

Italics

Examples

Legislation and legal material

Acts of parliament

Example

Example

Example

Bills

Example

Schedules

Example

Lists

Example

Example

Measurement

Examples

Examples

Numbers

Examples

Examples

Examples

Percentages

Example

People and organisations

Plants and animals

Example

Privacy

Quotation marks

Example

Spelling list