Re Wilcox & Ors, Ex parte Australian Workers Union

The Australian Workers Union (AWU) sought orders from Dawson J of the High Court of Australia to set aside a decision of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) made on 19 December 1989. The AIRC's decision concerned the registration of the AWU as an organisation under the *Industrial Relations Act 1988* (Cth). The applicants, Mr Wilcox and others, were members of the AWU and sought to challenge the AIRC's decision.

The central legal issue before Dawson J was whether the AIRC had erred in law by granting the AWU's application for registration. Specifically, the court was required to determine if the AIRC had correctly applied the provisions of the *Industrial Relations Act 1988* (Cth) when considering the AWU's eligibility for registration, particularly in relation to the scope of industries and callings the union purported to represent.

Dawson J found that the AIRC had made an error of law in its assessment of the AWU's eligibility for registration. His Honour held that the AIRC had failed to properly consider the extent to which the AWU's rules covered persons engaged in industries or callings that were not within the scope of the Act. The principle applied was that an organisation could only be registered if its rules were such that it was entitled to represent the industrial interests of a sufficient number of employees in a particular industry or calling, and that this entitlement must be assessed in light of the Act's limitations.

Consequently, Dawson J made orders setting aside the decision of the AIRC and remitting the AWU's application for registration back to the AIRC to be heard and determined according to law.