Jumbunna Coal Mine NL v Victorian Coal Miners’ Association

High Court of Australia
Established 1903
Country Australia
Location Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

Jumbunna Coal Mine NL v Victorian Coal Miners’ Association (1908) 6 CLR 309 is a landmark Australian judgment of the High Court.[1]

The matter related to the Commonwealth Government’s power to interfere in industrial relations under section 51 of the Australian Constitution,[2] but in reaching a decision set precedent on matters of statutory interpretation.

Background

The court case arose form industrial action in 1903 at Jumbunna Coal Mine in Victoria. Following Strike action across Australia and New Zealand in the 1890s, the constitution had been drafted to allow the federal government to intervene where such action transcended state boundaries. When the Jumbunna dispute arose, the Commonwealth took action. This case considered whether or not a union could be involved in an industrial dispute under Commonwealth law when its membership was only from one State. The union had appealed that Commonwealth intervention was constitutionally ultra vires.[3]

Finding

The High Court of Australia found that provisions of a Commonwealth Act that are incidental to section 51, are valid and therefore provisions of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 were valid.

In reaching this decision the court assumed a stance that in matters where there are variable interpretations, the Court should assume a meaning to the statute as wide as possible.

The court ruled that a law which depends on its ends to be legitimate, must be appropriate and adaptable to that end. The judgment reads “Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the Constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consistent with the letter and spirit of the Constitution are constitutional.”[4]

The judgment also found that “…every statute is to be interpreted and applied so far as its language admits so as not to be inconsistent with the comity of nations or with the established rules of international law”.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Jumbunna Coal Mine v Victorian Coal Miners Association (1908) 6 CLR 309
  2. ↑ Leslie Zines, Future Directions in Australian Constitutional Law, Federation Press 1994 page 251
  3. ↑ George Williams, Labour law and the Constitution, Federation Press, 1998 page 75
  4. ↑ Jumbunna Coal Mine v Victorian Coal Miners Association (1908) 6 CLR 309 at 320 per Higgins, Barton and per O‘Connor
  5. ↑ Jumbunna Coal Mine NL v Victorian Coal Miners’ Association (1906) 6 CLR 309 at 363 per O‘Connor
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