1989). Most notable were the maritime dispute of 1890, which was particularly
violent and involved the military in New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria and
spread to New Zealand (Le Rossignol and Stewart 1910); and the shearers’strike
of 1891, which is credited with leading to the formation of the Australian Labor
Party (Sykes 1964). The unease among organized labour, employers, politicians,
and the public led to calls for an‘independent arbitrator’to avoid bitter con-
frontation between employers and workers. This led to the proliferation during
Federation years in all the states, and New Zealand, of Arbitration and Industrial
Courts with the power to determine wages and conditions.
The key legislation, though not quite thefirst, was by the Commonwealth.
In the face of the insistent coaxing of H. B. Higgins, the 1898 Melbourne
constitutional convention had resolved, by a narrow margin, to include in
Section 51 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia this article:
(xxxv.) Conciliation and arbitration for the prevention and settlement of
industrial disputes extending beyond the limits of any one State.Sanctioned by this provision, in 1904 the new Commonwealth parliament
passed the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904, supported in varying
degrees by all three governments of that year, Labor, Protectionist, and Free
Trade. The chief objects of the Act were stated on its commencing page as:
i. To prevent lock-outs and strikes in relation to industrial disputes;
ii. To constitute a Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration
having jurisdiction for the prevention and settlement of industrial
disputes;
iii. To provide for the exercise of the jurisdiction of the Court by concili-
ation with a view to amicable agreement between the parties;
iv. In default of amicable agreement between the parties, to provide for
the exercise of the jurisdiction of the Court by equitable award;
v. To enable States to refer industrial disputes to the Court, and to permit
the working of the Court and of State Industrial Authorities in aid of
each other;
vi. To facilitate and encourage the organization of representative bodies
of employers and of employees and the submission of industrial dis-
putes to the Court by organizations, and to permit representative
bodies of employers and of employees to be declared organizations
for the purposes of this Act;
vii. To provide for the making and enforcement of industrial agreements
between employers and employees in relation to industrial disputes.(Commonwealth of Australia 1904)Phil Lewis