Tristar Steering and Suspension Limited v Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales

[2007] FCAFC 50

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Constitutional Law (Cth)
2. › Inconsistency of laws
3. › Section 109 of the Constitution
4. › Covering the field
5. › Federal industrial law applying to constitutional corporations
6. › Whether Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cth) s 16 covers the field of industrial relations in relation to constitutional corporations as employers and their employees
7. › Whether State industrial law inquiry power enters the covered field
8. › Constitution, s 109
9. › Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cth), ss 4, 5(1), 6(1), 16
1. Administrative Law
2. › State industrial authority
3. › Jurisdiction
4. › Reference by Minister for inquiry and report
5. › Whether jurisdiction to inquire into matters concerning constitutional corporation excluded by federal law
6. › Industrial Relations Act 1996 (NSW), ss 145, 146(1)(d)
1. Industrial Law (Cth)
2. › Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cth)
3. › Exclusion of State and Territory industrial laws
4. › Scope of exclusion under s 16
5. › Whether exclusion limited to regulation of rights and obligations or extends to all State industrial law operating in relation to employers and employees as defined
6. › Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cth), s 16

Quick Take

Section 16 of the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cth) covers the entire field of State industrial law operating 'in relation to' constitutional corporations as employers and their employees, not merely the regulation of specific rights and obligations. A State industrial commission's power to inquire into and report on matters referred by a Minister falls within the excluded field where the inquiry concerns a constitutional corporation or its employees. The NSW Industrial Relations Commission has no jurisdiction to conduct such an inquiry.