R v Stanton; Ex parte Associated Airlines Pty Ltd [1978] HCA 15

High Court of Australia Barwick C.J. Stephen, Mason, Jacobs, Murphy and Aickin JJ. R v Stanton; Ex parte Associated Airlines Pty Ltd [1978] HCA 15

ORDER Order nisi for prohibition made absolute in relation to the second notification and discharged in relation to the first notification.

Cur. adv. vult.

The following written judgments were delivered:—

1978, May 2 Barwick C.J.

The Australian Federation of Air Pilots ("the Federation") is a body declared under s. 88Z of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 ("the Act") to be a body to which that section applies. According to the rules of the Federation, "any person being a British Subject who is employed or is usually employed either wholly or partly in the profession of pilot, flight engineer or flight navigator in Commercial Aviation, but excluding pilots, flight engineers and flight navigators seeking or holding, part time employment where such pilot, flight engineer or flight navigator offering his services on a part time basis is, in the opinion of the Branch Committee, permanently established in a career or interests outside the aviation industry and who holds a Commercial Pilot's Licence, Flight Engineer Licence, Flight Navigator Licence, or such equivalent as may be issued from time to time by the Department of Civil Aviation or other appropriate Authority is eligible for membership, together with such other persons who have been appointed officers of the Federation".

Associated Airlines Pty. Ltd. ("the prosecutor") is a limited liability company, registered under the company laws of the State of Victoria. Its objects, according to its memorandum of association, include the object of engaging in the business of transportation whether by land, water or air and, indeed, in the stratosphere. It has operated for the past forty years. Its issued capital is held entirely, though not in equal parts, by The Broken Hill Proprietary Company Ltd. ("B.H.P.") and Conzinc Riotinto of Australia Ltd. ("C.R.A."). It operates two aircraft owned by B.H.P., an aircraft owned by C.R.A., an aircraft owned by Comalco Ltd. of which company's issued capital C.R.A. owns forty-five per cent, and an aircraft owned by Mines Transportation Pty. Ltd. which company is a wholly owned subsidiary of C.R.A. The operation of these aircraft exclusively by the prosecutor involves, amongst other things, the provision of all the services, stores and personnel necessary for the operation and maintenance of the aircraft. Thus, apart from the work of maintaining the aircraft, the prosecutor employs suitable qualified air crew on terms and conditions prescribed or agreed by the prosecutor, enforces safety standards to be observed by air crew, arranges rosters for them, employs hostesses, arranges catering for those carried in the aircraft, and accommodation and transportation for air crew during stopovers at interstate or overseas locations.