Arbitration in Australia: reflections by Justice Kirby

"Just as the 1904 Act grew out of the legal and economic environment of the late nineteenth century, so today the successor Act and the Constitution mould themselves to the economic and social realities of our age. Those in the bully pulpit, who attack industrial conciliation and arbitration, who think they have the whole truth for all ages, need to be put in their place. There is no room in this nation for industrial ayatollahs. Ours is a more temperate and open-minded society, as befits the representative democracy established by the Constitution and the Australian culture of "fair go" which the 1904 Act reflected and to which it made its own contribution."

"In his famous Harvester judgment, Justice Higgins noted that he had been accorded the responsibility of determining a "fair and reasonable remuneration" for employees in Australia. This required him to conceive of a wage which permitted the ordinary Australian to enjoy "a condition of frugal comfort [as estimated by current human standards]"

"Of abolition and such fantasies: Rude as it may be to mention it at such a time, there are those who see no future whatever in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. For them, it should be closed down, lock, stock and barrel. Or, if retained, converted into a mediatory body "with no legal powers of arbitration or intervention". For those of this opinion, a wholesale alteration of the legislation is required; indeed it is urgent."

"Persons of such views tend to live in a remote world of fantasy, inflaming themselves by their rhetoric into more and more unreal passions, usually engaging in serious dialogue only with people of like persuasion. For the rest of us, who live in the real world, and know our country and its institutions better, time will not be wasted over such fairy-tales. Australia is not a land of extremes. Irritatingly enough to those of extreme persuasions, Australia's basic institutions and laws tend to adapt very slowly and over time: adjusting to changing economic and social forces only as such adjustment is truly needed. So it has been with the national conciliation and arbitration tribunal. So it will be in the future. Those who want more dramatic change, as distinct from constant adjustment, need to look for another country."

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