High Court of Australia
HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA
FRENCH CJ, HAYNE, CRENNAN, KIEFEL, BELL AND KEANE JJ
FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED & ORS PLAINTIFFS
AND
THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA DEFENDANT
Fortescue Metals Group Limited v The Commonwealth [2013] HCA 34 7 August 2013 S163/2012
ORDER
The questions reserved for the consideration of the Full Court on 5 November 2012 be answered as follows:
Question 1
Are any or all of s 3 of the Minerals Resource Rent Tax (Imposition—Customs) Act 2012 (Cth), s 3 of the Minerals Resource Rent Tax (Imposition—Excise) Act 2012 (Cth) and s 3 of the Minerals Resource Rent Tax (Imposition—General) Act 2012 (Cth) invalid in their application to the plaintiffs on one or more of the following grounds:
A. they discriminate between the States of the Commonwealth of Australia contrary to s 51(ii) of the Constitution;
B. they give preference to one State of the Commonwealth of Australia over another State contrary to s 99 of the Constitution;
C. they so discriminate against the States of the Commonwealth or so place a particular disability or burden upon the operations or activities of the States, as to be beyond the legislative power of the Commonwealth?
Answer
No.
Question 2
Are any or all of the Minerals Resource Rent Tax (Imposition—Customs) Act 2012 (Cth), the Minerals Resource Rent Tax (Imposition—Excise) Act 2012 (Cth), the Minerals Resource Rent Tax (Imposition—General) Act 2012 (Cth) and the Minerals Resource Rent Tax Act 2012 (Cth) invalid in their application to the plaintiffs on the ground that they are contrary to s 91 of the Constitution?
Answer
No.
Question 3
Who should pay the costs of the reserved questions?
Answer
The plaintiffs.
Representation
D F Jackson QC with B Dharmananda SC and W A D Edwards for the plaintiffs (instructed by Corrs Chambers Westgarth Lawyers)
J T Gleeson SC, Solicitor-General of the Commonwealth and N J Williams SC with G J D del Villar and D F C Thomas for the defendant (instructed by Australian Government Solicitor)
We try to embed the page this law was scraped from. If the site blocks framing, you still get the link and a local excerpt.
Last checked with source on —
Checking whether the official page can be embedded…
Plain-English simplify of this law: a short summary, key points, and both sides of the argument. Generated on first view via Replicate, then cached. Vote on what helps your study.
No study brief is cached for this law yet. Sign up to generate a plain-English brief.
Sign up to generate