EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Statutory Rules 1988 No 66
Conciliation and Arbitration Regulations (Amendment)
(Issued by the Authority of the Minister of State for Industrial Relations)
The Australian National Airlines Commission has been exempted from the operation of Division 1A of Part III of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 (“the C & A Act”) by paragraph 70A(1)(d) of that Act. Section 15 of the Australian Airlines (Conversion to Public Company) Act 1988 (“the Act”) deems the Commission to be a public company registered in the A.C.T. under the name Australian Airlines Limited. Subsection 69(2) of the Act rescinds the Commission’s exemption by omitting the reference to the Commission in paragraph 70A(1)(d) of the C & A Act. Section 15 and subsection 69(2) of the Act came into operation by Proclamation on 30 April 1988 following consideration at the Federal Executive Council meeting of 21 April 1988. The regulation maintains the exemption of the Airline from the operation of Division 1A, and is expressed to come into effect on the same day as section 15 of the Act.
As a body corporate established under the law of the Commonwealth Australian Airlines Limited comes within the definition of “Commonwealth authority” in subsection 70A(1) of Division 1A of Part III of the C & A Act. Division 1A gives the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission (“the Commission”) jurisdiction in respect of industrial disputes and industrial matters affecting Commonwealth and Territory employees.
The definition of “Commonwealth authority” in subsection 70A(1) of the C & A Act states that:
“‘Commonwealth authority’ means -
(a) a body corporate established for a public purpose by or under a law of the Commonwealth or an Ordinance of the Australian Capital Territory; or
(b) a company or other body corporate incorporated under a law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory, being a company or other body corporate in which the Commonwealth has a controlling interest;
other than -
(c) ...
(d) ... the Australian National Airlines Commission ...
(e) a body declared by the regulations to be a body to which this definition does not apply;”
The definition therefore enables regulations to be made excluding particular Commonwealth authorities from the definition and therefore from the operation of Division 1A of Part III of the C & A Act. A number of Commonwealth authorities have already been excluded from the definition by regulation 164AAC of the Principal Regulations. The effect of such an exclusion from Division 1A is to bring the relevant authority within the general jurisdiction of the Commission contained in Division 1 of Part III of the C & A Act.
The present regulation excludes Australian Airlines Limited from the definition of “Commonwealth authority”. The decision to do so is based upon the organisation’s commercially orientated operations and is consistent with the exemptions already made for other major Government enterprises.
Regulation 164AAC sets out the bodies declared to be bodies to which the definition of Commonwealth authority does not apply.
The regulation amends regulation 164AAC by the inclusion of a reference to Australian Airlines Limited as a body to which the definition of “Commonwealth authority” in subsection 70A(1) of the C & A Act does not apply.