ISSUE CASE Matters Polyukhovich v Cth geographically Polyukhovich was charged with war crimes in the Ukraine and contested the external to the validity of an Aus Act which provided that war crimes committed in Europe in Cth – WWII were punishable in Australia War Held: the Act was a valid exercise of legislative power: crimes conduct which took place outside is properly ‘Regulating Australia… characterised as a law with respect to external affairs (Mason CJ) law which can properly be characterised as a law with respect to ‘any any matter, thing or person occurring or situated outside Australia is a law with respect to J) 'External affairs'’ (Deane s 51(xxix) provides authority for Commonwealth legislation “the extending to circumstances which are geographically external to Australia, without reference to the other legislative powers conferred by s J) need additional head of power 51” (Dawson – doesn’t The be interpreted to include any matter, term 'external affairs' “should thing, even or relationship existing or arising or which might exist or arise outside J) Australia” (McHugh A law necessarily a law with respect to external affairs to the extent “is that it operates upon acts, matters and things external to Australia” (Gaudron J) Matters XYZ v The Commonwealth geographically Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) prohibited Australians from engaging in sexual activity external to the with children in other countries . Cth – Designed to stop child sex tourism by Australians Sex XYZ was charged for an alleged sex offence in Thailand, and challenged the tourism validity of the legislation under s 51(xxix). Held: affirmed the broad construction in Vic v Cth (and Polyukhovich). Conduct involved places, persons, matters, or things outside of Australia and was therefore within s 51(xxix). Matters Tasmanian Dam Case geographically Mason, Murphy, Brennan Deane JJ confirmed the broad view: all treaty external to the obligations can be incorporated into law under xxix: Cth – Murphy J, who probably had the broadest view of xxix, said that a law with Treaties respect to xxix could also include implementation of ‘the ‘any recommendation or request of the United Nations Organization or subsidiary organizations such as the World Health Organization, The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization, The Food and Agriculture Organization or the International Labour Organization.’
ISSUE CASE Matters geographically external to the Cth – War crimes Polyukhovich v Cth Polyukhovich was charged with war crimes in the Ukraine and contested the validity of an Aus Act which provided that war crimes committed in Europe in WWII were punishable in Australia Held: the Act was a valid exercise of legislative power: ‘Regulating conduct which took place outside Australia… is properly characterised as a law with respect to external affairs (Mason CJ) ‘any law which can properly be characterised as a law with respect to any matter, thing or person occurring or situated outside Australia is a law with respect to 'External affairs'’ (Deane J) s 51(xxix) provides “the authority for Commonwealth legislation extending to circumstances which are geographically external to Australia, without reference to the other legislative powers conferred by s 51” (Dawson J) – doesn’t need additional head of power The term 'external affairs' “should be interpreted to include any matter, thing, even or relationship existing or arising or which might exist or arise outside Australia” (McHugh J) A law “is necessarily a law with respect to external affairs to the extent that it operates upon acts, matters and things external to Australia” (Gaudron J) Matters geographically external to the Cth – Sex tourism XYZ v The Commonwealth Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) prohibited Australians from engaging in sexual activity with children in other countries . Designed to stop child sex tourism by Australians XYZ was charged for an alleged sex offence in Thailand, and challenged the validity of the legislation under s 51(xxix). Held: affirmed the broad construction in Vic v Cth (and Polyukhovich). Conduct involved places, persons, matters, or things outside of Australia and was therefore within s 51(xxix). Matters geographically external to the Cth – Treaties Tasmanian Dam Case Mason, Murphy, Brennan Deane JJ confirmed the broad view: all treaty obligations can be incorporated into law under xxix: Murphy J, who probably had the broadest view of xxix, said that a law with respect to xxix could also include ‘the implementation of ‘any recommendation or request of the United Nations Organization or subsidiary organizations such as the World Health Organization, The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization, The Food and Agriculture Organization or the International Labour Organization.’