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ARTICLE · 08 DECEMBER 2016

Might a local council be a bully?

Bartier Perry Solicitors
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If a local council was found to be a trading corporation, it could be subject to the operation of the Fair Work Act.

AustraliaGovernment, Public Sector
Mark Paul
Mark Paul
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Back in April 2015 we asked whether NSW local councils might be "trading corporations" for the purposes of the Constitution, even though the Local Government Act says they are not corporations but are body politics of the State.

We were commenting on the High Court decision of Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia v Queensland Rail [2015] HCA 11 (8 April 2015). The High Court was dealing with the question of whether Queensland Rail Ltd, a corporation, was a trading corporation, and the High Court said yes it was. That meant that Queensland Rail Ltd came under the operation of the Fair Work Act and was no longer within the industrial relations realm of Queensland.

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