In Queensland, the cross-vesting legislation ousts the common law discretion to stay proceedings brought in breach of an exclusive jurisdiction clause where the competing forums are courts of different Australian States. An exclusive jurisdiction clause is a relevant factor under the 'interests of justice' test in s 5(2)(b)(iii) but does not carry the 'strong bias' it held at common law; its weight depends on the surrounding circumstances. The appropriate remedy is transfer, not stay. Where the inconvenience of litigating in the agreed forum was foreseeable when the clause was agreed, the weight of convenience factors is reduced and the weight of the exclusive jurisdiction clause is correspondingly increased.
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