The New Province For Law and Order

by J Isaac & S Macintyre

Cambridge, 2004

$79.95

The Commonwealth of Australia was federated in 1901. Only three short years later the Federal Government established a court system to arbitrate over industrial disputes in a young country that already had a history of half a century of organised labour. The New Province For Law and Order: 100 Years of Australian Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration is a thematic history of an important Australian institution, the federal conciliation and arbitration system, on the occasion of its centenary.

The various chapters written by leading scholars deal with the system’s political history, the work of the tribunal, the legal framework, economic social effects on indigenous and women workers, the role of employers associations and unions and the management of industrial conflict.

It is a story rich in drama involving strikes, lockouts, imprisonment of union officials, noisy protests in courtrooms and in the streets, momentous High Court judgments as well as the rise and fall of governments.

Chapters include Elusive middle ground: a political history by Tim Rowse; Arbitration in action by Stuart Macintyre; The law of conciliation and arbitration by Michael Kirby and Breen Creighton.