The ''Transport Workers Act 1928'' (Cth), more widely known as the Dog Collar Act, was a law passed by the

Australian Parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislature, legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the ...

. It achieved royal assent on 24 September 1928, after being instigated and introduced to Parliament by the Bruce government (

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

Stanley Bruce Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 1st Viscount Bruce of Melbourne, (15 April 1883 – 25 August 1967) was an Australian politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Australia from 1923 to 1929, as leader of the Nationalist Party. Born ...

). It was ostensibly "relating to employment in relation to trade and commerce with other countries and among the states", which mirrors the wording of

Section 51(i) of the Constitution of Australia Section 51(i) of the Australian Constitution enables the Parliament of Australia to make laws about: :Trade and commerce with other countries, and among the States; Legislative powers of the Parliament. The meaning of trade and commerce is clari ...

Background

Following a review of the establishing act of the

Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration The Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration was an Australian court that operated from 1904 to 1956 with jurisdiction to hear and arbitrate interstate industrial disputes, and to make awards. It also had the judicial functions of in ...

(the

Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 The ''Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904'' (Cth) was an Act of the Parliament of Australia, which established the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration, besides other things, and sought to introduce the rule of law i ...

), the government required that the court consider the economic affect of its industrial awards and that mandatory court-supervised ballots.

Act

The Act required all waterfront workers to hold federal licences, or "dog collars" as they were derisively known, to work. The Act allowed the Commonwealth government, by regulation, to effectively control who worked on the docks and nearly destroyed the

Waterside Workers Federation The Waterside Workers' Federation of Australia (WWF) was an Australian trade union that existed from 1902 to 1993. After a period of negotiations between other Australian maritime unions, it was federated in 1902 and first federally registered ...

. The government favoured employment of non-union labour and members of the

Permanent & Casual Wharf Labourers Union of Australia The Permanent & Casual Wharf Labourers Union of Australia (PCWLU) was an Australian union for maritime labourers. The Union was established in opposition to the Waterside Workers' Federation of Australia. Branches were founded by "loyalists" i ...

Amendments

The Act was amended in 1929 and 1937, by the ''Transport Workers Act 1929'' (Cth) and the ''Transport Workers Act 1939'' (Cth).Federal Register of Legislation
/ref>

Legacy

The Chifley Labor Government replaced the Act on 22 December 1947 with the ''

Stevedoring Industry Act 1947 A stevedore (), also called a longshoreman, a docker or a dockworker, is a waterfront manual laborer who is involved in loading and unloading ships, trucks, trains or airplanes. After the shipping container revolution of the 1960s, the number o ...

'', which was itself amended in 1948 and replaced with the ''

Stevedoring Industry Act 1949 A stevedore (), also called a longshoreman, a docker or a dockworker, is a waterfront manual laborer who is involved in loading and unloading ships, trucks, trains or airplanes. After the shipping container revolution of the 1960s, the number o ...

'', which was in turn amended in 1954 and replaced by the ''Stevedoring Industry Act 1956''.Federal Register of Legislation
/ref> All Acts in this series were repealed in 1977.

Background

Act

Amendments

Legacy

References

Further reading