R v Coldham; Ex parte Australian Workers' Union

The High Court of Australia considered an application for prohibition by the Australian Workers' Union (AWU) against Mr. Coldham, the Deputy President of the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, and the Australian Public Service Association (APSA). The dispute concerned the AWU's application to the Commission for a determination of an industrial dispute regarding the employment of certain Commonwealth public servants. The APSA had intervened in these proceedings, and the AWU sought to prevent the Commission from proceeding with the hearing of the APSA's intervention.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the Commission had the jurisdiction to hear and determine the intervention application by the APSA, given that the AWU's original application for the determination of an industrial dispute was itself under challenge. Specifically, the court had to determine if the Commission's power to hear and determine an industrial dispute extended to considering the claims of an intervener whose own standing or the validity of the dispute itself was being questioned.

The High Court, in a joint judgment, held that the Commission did have the jurisdiction to hear the APSA's intervention. The reasoning was that the Commission's power to hear and determine an industrial dispute is broad and encompasses all matters that are incidental to or consequential upon the dispute. The intervention of the APSA was considered a matter that could properly be dealt with by the Commission in the course of resolving the industrial dispute, regardless of any challenge to the AWU's application or the APSA's standing. The court emphasised that the Commission's jurisdiction is not ousted by a mere allegation of a lack of jurisdiction or a challenge to the existence of a dispute.

The application for prohibition was dismissed.