Port MacDonnell Professional Fishermen's Association Inc. & Anor v The State of South Australia

The parties to this proceeding before the High Court of Australia were the Port MacDonnell Professional Fishermen's Association Inc. and another party (the appellants) and the State of South Australia (the respondent). The dispute concerned the interpretation of the phrase "adjacent to South Australia" in the context of state legislative power over territorial waters, particularly in areas that might be considered adjacent to more than one state.

The central legal issue before the Court was to determine the meaning of "adjacent to South Australia" and how to resolve potential conflicts of legislative power and the creation of proprietary rights, such as fishing licenses, in areas of overlapping territorial jurisdiction between states. The Court was required to consider whether two legislatures could validly confer rights in respect of the same area of water and, if so, by what principles such conflicts should be reconciled.

The Court considered the submission that waters in a bay, such as Discovery Bay, could be described as adjacent to South Australia even if also adjacent to Victoria, drawing an analogy to physical proximity. The discussion also touched upon the resolution of conflicts between laws of different states that purport to regulate the same conduct in overlapping territorial areas. The Court explored the concept of proprietary rights, such as a "common of piscary" conferred by fishing licenses, and whether such rights could be created by two legislatures for the same area. The application of section 118 of the Constitution, concerning full faith and credit to state laws, was also raised as a potential mechanism for resolving such conflicts, with a focus on the state possessing the predominant territorial nexus.