Telstra Corporation Ltd v Worthing

In *Telstra Corporation Limited v Worthing*, the High Court of Australia considered a dispute concerning the application of New South Wales workers' compensation legislation to Telstra. The core of the disagreement revolved around whether the federal *Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988* (Cth) was inconsistent with the *Workers Compensation Act 1987* (NSW) in its application to Telstra, and whether the Compensation Court of New South Wales had jurisdiction to hear the matter, given its potential to involve the interpretation of the Constitution and the exercise of federal jurisdiction.

The legal issues before the High Court were primarily twofold: first, whether the *Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988* (Cth) evinced a legislative intention to exclusively occupy the field of workers' compensation for federal instrumentalities like Telstra, thereby rendering the *Workers Compensation Act 1987* (NSW) inoperative in relation to Telstra due to inconsistency under section 109 of the Constitution; and second, whether the Compensation Court of New South Wales possessed the necessary jurisdiction to determine a matter that might involve the interpretation of the Constitution and the exercise of federal jurisdiction.

The High Court reasoned that the *Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988* (Cth) was intended to be a comprehensive code for the compensation of federal employees, including those of Telstra. Consequently, any state legislation that purported to apply to Telstra in this area would be inconsistent with the federal Act and therefore invalid by operation of section 109 of the Constitution. The Court further held that the Compensation Court of New South Wales lacked the jurisdiction to determine a matter that involved the interpretation of the Constitution and the exercise of federal jurisdiction, as this fell outside its statutory remit.

The High Court allowed the appeal, setting aside the orders of the Court of Appeal and ordering that the application for determination be struck out for want of jurisdiction. Telstra was ordered to pay Mr Worthing's costs of the appeal to the High Court.