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Comment on the External Affairs Power

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 January 2025

Michael Crommelin
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Extract

My comment on Professor Sawer’s paper is confined to three matters: the executive power of the Commonwealth to conclude treaties on behalf of Australia; the relevance of the subject matter of a treaty to the scope of Commonwealth legislative power to implement the provisions of the treaty; and the concept of federalism inherent in the High Court’s decision in the Franklin Dam case.

Type
Article Commentary
Information
Federal Law Review , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , March 1984 , pp. 208 - 215
Copyright
Copyright © 1984 The Australian National University

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References

1 Commonwealth v Tasmania (1983) 46 ALR 625.

2 (1936) 55 CLR 608 (hereafter cited as Burgess)

3 LR Zines, “The Growth of Australian Nationhood and its Effects on the Powers of the Commonwealth” in Zines, LR (ed), Commentaries on the Australian Constitution (1977) 1, 22-25.Google Scholar

4 (1936) 55 CLR 608, 682.

5 lbid 636.

6 (1982) 39 ALR 417 (hereafter cited as Koowarta).

7 (1982) 39 ALR 417, 434.

8 Ibid 449 per Stephen J; 469 per Murphy J.

9 Ibid 470.

10 Ibid 479.

11 Commonwealth v Tasmania (1983) 46 ALR 625, 838-839.

12 Ibid 842.

13 (1936) 55 CLR 608, 680-682.

14 Ibid 669.

15 lbid.

16 lbid 658.

17 Ibid 641.

18 lbid.

19 lbid.

20 (1965) 113 CLR 54 (the Second Airlines case).

21 Ibid 85.

22 Ibid 136.

23 Ibid 153.

24 (1975) 135 CLR 337 (the Seas and Submerged Lands case).

25 Ibid 390.

26 Ibid 470.

27 (1982) 39 ALR 417, 440-441.

28 Ibid.

29 Ibid 453.

30 Ibid 454.

31 Ibid 488.

32 Ibid 463 per Mason J; 472-473 per Murphy J.

33 (1983) 46 ALR 625; 667-668 per Gibbs CJ; 743-744 per Wilson J; 844 per Dawson J. All clearly preferred the more stringent requirement that the subject matter constitute an “external affair”, but felt constrained by Koowarta to adopt the criterion of “international concern”: 670 per Gibbs CJ; 752 per wilson J; 837-838 per Dawson J.

34 Ibid 804 per Deane J; see also 689-692 per Mason J; 728-830 per Murphy J.

35 Ibid 804.

36 Ibid 772.

37 Ibid 774.

38 (1982) 39 ALR 417, 443 per Gibbs CJ; 452 per Stephen J; 460 per Mason J; 472 per Murphy J; and 481-482 per Wilson J. Brennan J did not address this issue.

39 Ibid 438 per Gibbs CJ; 452-453 per Stephen J; 481 per Wilson J.

40 Ibid 460 per Mason J; 472 per Murphy J.

41 (1983) 46 ALR 625, 694-695.

42 Ibid 726-728.

43 Ibid 762-768 per Brennan J; 823-824 per Deane J.

44 Ibid 823.

45 Ibid 668-669 per Gibbs CJ; 752 per Wilson J; 841 per Dawson J.