Holt and the establishment of arbitration: an Australian perspective

Abstract

'Even the argument that New Zealand has done something is not sufficient to satisfy me of the correctness of the present government.' The speaker was Sir John Downer, a delegate to the final session of the Australian Federal Convention in 1898. The occasion was a debate on industrial arbitration, during which enthusiasts pointed repeatedly to the success of the New Zealand Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act of 1894. And the outcome was that by a narrow majority the Convention reversed its previous decisions and empowered the Commonwealth to make laws for conciliation and arbitration for the prevention and settlement of industrial dispules extending beyond the limits of any one State. (Victorian Government Printer. 1898. vol. I. p. 187)