A wholly Commonwealth-owned company incorporated under the Corporations Act can be 'the Commonwealth' for the purposes of s 52(i) of the Constitution where the Commonwealth exercises ultimate control through ministerial powers of appointment, removal, and policy direction, even without day-to-day operational control. State laws have no operation on land held by such a company for public purposes. The multifactorial test from SGH Ltd v Commissioner of Taxation applies equally to s 52(i) as to s 114.
The full text is available to signed-in members.