Case Notes Australian Constitutional Law

1 | Engineers’ Case | An industrial dispute between the Amalgamated Society of Engineers and employers across Australia included three employers from the Western Australian government.The ASE asserted that the Cth industrial award applied to all members including State employeess51(xxxv) ‘conciliation and arbitration for the prevention and settlement of industrial disputes extending beyond the limits of any one State’Was the industrial award made under the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 (Cth) binding on the State of Western Australia?The majority held that the Act was a valid exercise of power under s 51(xxxv); State employers with industrial dispute were subject to Cth Arbitration – States were subject to Cth law | * Changed approach * Ordinary and natural meaning * Full effect * Abolished doctrine of reserved powers | s51(xxxv)Characterisation(re 51(35))- arbitration power | 2 | Melbourne | An important case in Australian constitutional law. It stands for the proposition that there are limits on the scope of express Commonwealth legislative powers which can be implied from the federal character of the Constitution.This concerned a situation where the Commonwealth passed a law that sought to rely on the banking power vested in s 51(13). The Commonwealth wanted to require that states would only bank with the Commonwealth Bank which was at the time a commonwealth instrumentality. This meant that the States required the consent of the Commonwealth Treasurer before banking with private banks, however, the law was passed so as to say no private bank shall do any business with any state unless they had the written consent of the Federal TreasurerThe court said in a 5:2 majority that the law was not applicable to the states as it singled out state body and burdened it in its governmental capacityLatham CJ with whom Williams J agreed, said that this Commonwealth law was not a law with respect to banking it was a law with respect to state