NSW v Commonwealth (Work Choices Case)
Australia High Court
(2006) 229 CLR 1 (2006)
- Written by John Reeves, JD
Facts
The Commonwealth of Australia (the Commonwealth) (defendant) passed the Workplace Relations Amendment (Work Choices) Act (the act). The act sought to alter employer-employee labor agreements. Rather than being negotiated between employers and unions in a collective manner, the act sought to individualize such agreements, outside of union bargaining. The state of New South Wales (plaintiff) challenged the validity of the act, arguing that it exceeded the Commonwealth’s authority under the constitution to make laws with respect to “Foreign corporations, and trading or financial corporations formed within the limits of the Commonwealth.” New South Wales argued that the act impermissibly interfered with the regulatory power of the states, and that if the Commonwealth could regulate corporations in this manner, then there would be no limit to what areas the Commonwealth could further regulate, to the detriment of the authority of the states. The Commonwealth replied that its authority to regulate such corporations was plenary by the very text of the constitution.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Gleeson, C.J., Gummow, Hayne, Heydon, and Crennan, J.J.)
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