Australian Industrial Relations Commission

Australian Industrial Relations Commission
Established	1956
Dissolved	2010
Country	Australia
Authorized by	Commonwealth of Australia Workplace Relations Act 1996

The Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC), known from 1956 to 1973 as the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission and from 1973 to 1988 as the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, was a tribunal with powers under the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (and equivalent earlier legislation) that existed from 1956 until 2010. It was the central institution of Australian labour law. The AIRC replaced a previous system of industrial courts, which broadly speaking, was engaged in the same functions, but with superior independence and powers.

The Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration, a court created in 1904 to hear and arbitrate industrial disputes, and to make awards, was abolished in 1956 following the decision of the High Court in the Boilermakers' case. The High Court held that the Court of Conciliation and Arbitration, as a tribunal exercising the non-judicial power of arbitration, could not also exercise judicial power as a Chapter III Court. The decision became an important demonstration of the separation of powers in Australia.

Following the decision, two new bodies were created to emulate the function of the defunct court; the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission was created to carry out the non-judicial functions, and the Commonwealth Industrial Court (which would later be subsumed into the Federal Court of Australia) was created to exercise judicial powers.

Throughout its time the Commission created Awards which covered a whole raft of industries. These Awards with Awards made by Industrial Relations Commissions of the respective six states of Australia acted as the unique system of minimum wage setting in Australia. The Commission also registered a large number of trade unions to assist in the Award formation process.

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