Taxation and Grants Legislation (Housing Construction Amendments) Act 2017 (Repealed) (TAS)

The Taxation and Grants Legislation (Housing Construction Amendments) Act 2017 (Repealed) was the subject of a legal challenge before the High Court. The Act, which was repealed by its own section 8, had previously been introduced to amend the taxation and grants framework related to housing construction. The case involved an appeal by the Commonwealth against a decision of the Full Court of the Federal Court, which had ruled the Act to be unconstitutional. The central issue was whether the Act, which sought to amend the Constitution in respect of taxation and grants, was validly enacted under the Constitution.

The legal issue before the Court was whether the Act, which was self-repealing, could be considered a valid exercise of legislative power under section 51 of the Constitution. The argument centred on whether the self-repealing nature of the Act rendered it an invalid attempt to circumvent the Constitution's amendment procedures. The Court was tasked with determining whether the Act was a genuine legislative measure or an improper attempt to alter the Constitution by legislative means.

In a unanimous decision, the High Court held that the Act was invalid. The Court found that the self-repealing provision in the Act was an attempt to circumvent the constitutional requirement for altering the Constitution, which can only be done through a referendum as outlined in section 128. The Court concluded that the Act was not a valid exercise of legislative power because it attempted to achieve constitutional change through ordinary legislative means. As such, the appeal by the Commonwealth was dismissed, and the original decision of the Full Court of the Federal Court was affirmed.