Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904

Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904
Parliament of Australia
An act relating to Conciliation and Arbitration for the Prevention and Settlement of Industrial Disputes extending beyond the Limits of any one State
Date of Royal Assent	15 December 1904
Introduced by	Free Trade Party led by George Reid
Status: Repealed

The Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 was a law passed by the Parliament of Australia in 1904. Its full title was an Act "relating to Conciliation and Arbitration for the Prevention and Settlement of Industrial Disputes extending beyond the Limits of any one State", and received assent on 15 December 1904, almost four years after the Federation of Australia.

The Act sought to introduced the rule of law in industrial relations in Australia and, besides other things, established the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration.

The Act was superseded by the Industrial Relations Act 1988 and was repealed by the Industrial Relations (Consequential Provisions) Act 1988 with effect on 1 March 1989. The Industrial Relations Act 1988 was replaced by the Workplace Relations Act 1996.

The main objects of the Act were:

The scope of the legislation was very controversial at the time, resulting in changes of governments of Alfred Deakin (Protectionist), Chris Watson (Labour), and George Reid (Free Trade).

The Bill was drafted and introduced by Charles Kingston, Australia's pioneer of compulsory arbitration, drawing on New Zealand's Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1894. Kingston was a Minister in Deakin's Protectionist Government, which was supported by the Labour Party. In July 1903, Kingston resigned suddenly from Deakin's government in a fit of anger over the opposition of John Forrest and Edmund Barton to an extension of conciliation and arbitration to British and foreign seamen engaged in the Australian coastal trade.

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