The Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 was an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n Commonwealth Government

Government of Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement among six self-governing British colonies, which became the six states...

 Act "relating to Conciliation

Conciliation

Conciliation is an alternative dispute resolution process whereby the parties to a dispute agree to utilize the services of a conciliator, who then meets with the parties separately in an attempt to resolve their differences...

 and Arbitration

Compulsory arbitration

Compulsory arbitration. In labor disputes, some laws of some communities force the two sides labor and management, to undergo arbitration. These laws mostly apply when the possibility of a strike seriously affects the public interest...

 for the Prevention and Settlement of Industrial (workplace) Disputes extending beyond the Limits of any one State", and was assented to on 15 December 1904, almost four years after federation

Federation of Australia

The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia formed one nation...

. Alfred Deakin

Alfred Deakin

Alfred Deakin , Australian politician, was a leader of the movement for Australian federation and later the second Prime Minister of Australia. In the last quarter of the 19th century, Deakin was a major contributor to the establishment of liberal reforms in the colony of Victoria, including the...

 (Protectionist), Chris Watson

Chris Watson

John Christian Watson , commonly known as Chris Watson, Australian politician, was the third Prime Minister of Australia...

 (Labor), and George Reid

George Reid (Australian politician)

Sir George Houstoun Reid, GCB, GCMG, KC was an Australian politician, Premier of New South Wales and the fourth Prime Minister of Australia....

 (Free Trade) all served at one point as Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Australia

The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...

 in 1904 due to disagreements over the specifics of the bill.

The chief objects of this Act were:

• To prevent lock-outs and strikes in relation to industrial disputes;
• To constitute a Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration having jurisdiction for the prevention and settlement of industrial disputes;
• To provide for the exercise of the jurisdiction of the Court by conciliation with a view to amicable agreement between the parties;
• In default of amicable agreement between the parties, to provide for the exercise of the jurisdiction of the Court by equitable award;
• To enable States to refer industrial disputes to the Court, and to permit the working of the Court and of State Industrial Authorities in aid of each other;
• To facilitate and encourage the organization of representative bodies of employers and of employees and the submission of industrial disputes to the Court by organizations, and to permit representative bodies of employers and of employees to be declared organizations for the purposes of this Act;
• To provide for the making and enforcement of industrial agreements between employers and employees in relation to industrial disputes.

This document introduced the rule of law in industrial relations for the whole nation by establishing the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration

Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration

The Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration is a defunct Australian court, which had jurisdiction to arbitrate interstate industrial disputes....

. The Bill was drafted and introduced by Charles Cameron Kingston

Charles Kingston

Charles Cameron Kingston, Australian politician, was an early liberal Premier of South Australia serving from 1893 to 1899 with the support of Labor led by John McPherson from 1893 and Lee Batchelor from 1897 in the House of Assembly, winning the 1893, 1896, and 1899 state elections against the...

, Australia's pioneer of compulsory arbitration

Compulsory arbitration

Compulsory arbitration. In labor disputes, some laws of some communities force the two sides labor and management, to undergo arbitration. These laws mostly apply when the possibility of a strike seriously affects the public interest...

, drawing on New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 legislation (New Zealand's Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1894

Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1894

The Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1894 was a piece of industrial relations legislation passed by the Parliament of New Zealand in 1894. Enacted by the First Liberal Government of New Zealand, it was the world's first compulsory system of state arbitration...

). Kingston resigned when Cabinet refused to allow the Bill to cover seamen on coastal ships. Labor Members succeeded in introducing an amendment to have the Bill cover State government employees, a provision Deakin believed to be unconstitutional.