Re Australasian Meat Industry Employees' Union & Ors; Ex parte Aberdeen Beef Company Limited

Aberdeen Beef Company Limited sought a writ of prohibition against the Honourable Mr Justice John President Riordan, the Honourable Mr Justice Russell John Peterson, and Commissioner Phillip Cox of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, and the Australasian Meat Industry Employees' Union. The dispute concerned the existence and genuineness of an interstate industrial dispute, which was constituted solely by the non-acceptance of a log of claims and accompanying letter of demand served by the Union on various employers, including the applicant.

The High Court was required to determine whether a genuine interstate industrial dispute existed within the meaning of the *Industrial Relations Act 1988* (Cth). Specifically, the Court had to consider whether the demands made in the log of claims, which were presented in the form of a draft award, were sufficiently specific and whether the service of these demands on individual employers, rather than on an employers' organisation, was effective in creating a dispute. The Court also had to assess the genuineness of the dispute, considering whether the Union genuinely sought to obtain the award sought in the log of claims.

The Court's reasoning focused on the nature of the demands made in the log of claims and the method of service. It was noted that the log of claims was presented as a draft award, and the demands within it, particularly concerning coverage, were examined. The Court considered the significance of serving individual employers when an employers' organisation, the Meat and Allied Trades Federation, was also a relevant party, although it had been served with an earlier, identical log of claims. The genuineness of the dispute was to be assessed based on whether the Union's actions demonstrated a real intention to achieve the terms of the log of claims.