Bills Digest no. 3 1976
Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court Amendment
Bill 1976
WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as
introduced and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest
does not have any official legal status. Other sources should be
consulted to determine the subsequent official status of the
Bill.
CONTENTS
Passage History
Purpose
Implications
Contact Officer & Copyright Details
Passage History
8 Bills related to the Federal Court
of Australia Bill, 1976
Conciliation and Arbitration
Amendment Bill (No. 3) 1976.
Bankruptcy Amendment Bill
1976
Australian Capital Territory
Supreme Court Amendment Bill 1976
Northern Territory Supreme Court
Amendment Bill 1976
Federal Court of Australia
(Consequential Provisions) Bill 1976
Income Tax Assessment Amendment
(Jurisdiction of Courts) Bill 1976
Patents Amendment Bill
1976
Trade Marks Amendment Bill
1976
Date introduced: 3 November
1976
House: House of Representatives
Short Digest of Bills
The purpose of the Bills:
To
amend the Principal Act of each of the proposed amending Acts
respectively and also 11 Acts that confer specific jurisdiction on
the Australian Industrial Court pursuant to the Government s policy
with respect to the proposed establishment of the Federal Court of
Australia.
Summary: 1. Three of the said Bills,
the Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Bill
(No. 3), the Bankruptcy Amendment Bill, the
Federal Court of Australia (Consequential
Provisions) Bill would provide for the transfer to the
proposed Federal Court of Australia of the jurisdiction presently
exercised by the Australian Industrial Court and the Federal Court
of Bankruptcy. Each of these two Courts would continue until a time
when there are no judges left on the Court, then be abolished on
the making of proclamations to that effect, and any pending
proceedings in those courts would be transferred to the Federal
Court of Australia.
Each of these three amending Acts would
commence on a date not earlier than the commencing day for the
purposes of the Federal Court of Australia Act, 1976. From that
date (1) all proceedings which may now be instituted in the
Australian Industrial Court or in the Federal Court of Bankruptcy
would be instituted in the Federal Court of Australia and (2) all
proceedings already instituted in either court but the hearing of
which had not commenced would be transferred to the Federal Court
of Australia. (3) Part heard proceedings in either court would
continue in those courts.
The Federal Court of Australia in its
Industrial Division when exercising its jurisdiction under the
Conciliation and Arbitration Act would be constituted in the same
way as the Australian Industrial Court is now constituted; i.e. by
a single judge or as a Full Court constituted by three or more
judges.
The appellate provisions would also remain
unaltered, i.e. where at present no appeal lies under the
Conciliation and Arbitration Act from a decision of the Australian
Industrial Court likewise no appeal would lie from a decision of
the Federal Court of Australia. In other cases where an appeal now
lies from the Australian Industrial Court to the High Court by
leave of the High Court an appeal would lie from the Federal Court
of Australia to the High Court.
As well as its jurisdiction under the
Conciliation and Arbitration Act the Australian Industrial Court
also has jurisdiction under 11 other Acts. (The Court has
industrial jurisdiction under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act
and the Stevedoring Industry Act, and general jurisdiction under 10
other Acts). The Federal Court of Australia (Consequential
Provisions) Bill would transfer this jurisdiction under the 11 Acts
to the Federal Court of Australia other than cases part heard on
the date of transfer of the jurisdiction.
2. The Patents Amendment Bill
and the Trade Marks Amendment Bill:
(1) would vest the original jurisdiction of
the High Court (except for the operation of section 75 of the
Constitution) with respect to patents and trade mark matters in
State Supreme Courts and the Supreme Courts of the Australian
Capital Territory and the Northern Territory
respectively;(1) (2) confer additional appellate
jurisdiction on the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in primarily
administrative matters in lieu of the present appellate provisions
to the High Court in these matters (3) provide for proceedings to
be transferred from one Supreme Court to another on application of
a party.
3. The Income Tax Assessment Amendment
(Jurisdiction of Courts) Bill: would provide (1) that
appeals lie to the full Court of the Federal Court of Australia
from decisions of single judges of State Supreme Courts on appeals
from a Taxation Board of Review and the Commissioner of Taxation
under the Income Tax Assessment Act. (2) such appeals would be
exclusive of any right of appeal that otherwise exists to the full
court of the State Supreme Courts. (3) appeals would be direct to
the High Court under the Income Tax Assessment Act by special leave
of the High Court (4) a taxation appeal would be transferred from
one Supreme Court to another on application of a party (5) the High
Court would be divested of its present original jurisdiction to
hear taxation prosecutions under the Income Tax Assessment Act and
original jurisdiction in these prosecutions would be confined to
State and Territory courts. (6) The amount of penalty in issue that
entitles a defendant to elect for trial in a Supreme Court would be
increased from $200 to $500.
4. Appeals would also lie to the Full Court
of the Federal Court of Australia from State courts (other than the
full courts of State Supreme Courts) exercising (1) bankruptcy
jurisdiction and (2) jurisdiction under the Patents and Trade Marks
Acts.
5. The Australian Capital Territory
Supreme Court Amendment Bill and the Northern Territory
Supreme Court Amendment Bill would (1) establish an office of
chief judge in each of these courts respectively, and (2) the
latter Bill would enable the appointment of a fourth resident judge
of the Northern Territory Supreme Court.
Implications:
The proposed amendments will confer
additional federal jurisdiction on State Courts and divest the High
Court of part of its work-load in both its original and appellate
jurisdiction.
The status of the Supreme Courts of the
Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory will
increase. The special provisions under the Conciliation and
Arbitration Act with respect to appeals will override the appellate
provisions in the proposed Federal Court of Australia Act. The
Federal Court of Australia will ordinarily exercise its bankruptcy
jurisdiction only in New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian
Capital Territory. The other State courts and the Northern
Territory Supreme Court will continue to exercise bankruptcy
jurisdiction. The convenience of parties will be better served by
provisions for transfer of matters from one Supreme Court to
another under proposed amendments to Patents, Trade Marks and
Income Tax Assessment Acts respectively.
The Federal Court of Australia under its
proposed appellate jurisdiction from State courts (other than the
full courts of State Supreme Courts) and the restrictive appellate
provisions to the High Court will be the authority in the specific
matters within its jurisdiction which should result in uniformity
of interpretation of the law in these matters. Further legislation
may be expected to amend other Commonwealth Acts under which the
High Court is vested with original and appellate jurisdiction in
order to transfer this jurisdiction to State and Territory Supreme
Courts and to provide further for appeals to the Federal Court of
Australia. Relevant Commonwealth Acts will be amended to bring them
into conformity with the proposals concerning the jurisdiction of
courts in the Income Tax Assessment (Jurisdiction of Courts) Bill
1976.
The convenience of Territory residents will
benefit from proposals that Australian Capital Territory and
Northern Territory Supreme Courts have (1) original jurisdiction
under the Patents and Trade Marks Acts and (2) appellate
jurisdiction under the Income Tax Assessment Act.(2)
Endnotes
- The A.C.T. and N.T. Supreme Courts would have jurisdiction only
in respect of proceedings instituted by Territory residents or
companies having their principal place of business in the
Territory.
- The A.C.T. and N.T. Supreme Courts would have jurisdiction only
where the taxpayer concerned is a Territory resident, or if a
company, has its principal place of business in a Territory.
K.I. Inglis
4 November 1976
Bills Digest Service
Information and Research Services
This paper has been prepared to support the work of the
Australian Parliament using information available at the time of
production. The views expressed do not reflect an official position
of the Information and Research Service, nor do they constitute
professional legal opinion.
IRS staff are available to discuss the paper's
contents with Senators and Members and their staff but not with
members of the public.
ISSN 1328-8091
© Commonwealth of Australia 2006
Except to the extent of the uses permitted under the
Copyright Act 1968, no part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including
information storage and retrieval systems, without the prior
written consent of the Parliamentary Library, other than by members
of the Australian Parliament in the course of their official
duties.
Published by the Parliamentary Library, 2006.
Back to top