Abstract
A full explanation of the difficulties experienced by Justice Staples during his career on the former Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission requires an understanding of the political relationship between the tribunal and its client parties and other branches of the state. It is argued that during times of political and industrial uncertainty there are strong pressures on industrial tribunals to operate in a flexible, opportunistic manner. Staples, however, based a number of his decisions on legal, social and industrial principles that he considered just and proper for the discharge of his office, but which conflicted with the interests of unions, employers, governments and even other members of the commission. His reliance on the principle of judicial autonomy did not deter his opponents from seeking to discipline and finally remove him from the bench. This incident was but the most recent of a number of similar episodes this century, which raises as yet unanswered questions about the extent to which industrial tribunals are and should be free from external intervention.
Published Version
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