Australian Education Union v General Manager of Fair Work Australia

HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIAFRENCH CJ,GUMMOW, HAYNE, HEYDON, CRENNAN, KIEFEL AND BELL JJAUSTRALIAN EDUCATION UNION  APPLICANTANDGENERAL MANAGER OF FAIR WORK AUSTRALIA & ORS  RESPONDENTSAustralian Education Union v General Manager of Fair Work Australia[2012] HCA 194 May 2012M8/2011ORDER1.Special leave to appeal granted. 2.        Appeal treated as instituted and heard instanter, and dismissed.On appeal from the Federal Court of AustraliaRepresentationP J Hanks QC with J H Kirkwood for the applicant (instructed by Holding Redlich)Submitting appearance for the first respondentR C Kenzie QC with E P White for the second and third respondents (instructed by Ryan Carlisle Thomas)IntervenersS J Gageler SC, Solicitor-General of the Commonwealth with C P Young intervening on behalf of the Attorney-General of the Commonwealth (instructed by Australian Government Solicitor)M G Hinton QC, Solicitor-General for the State of South Australia with N M Schwarz intervening on behalf of the Attorney-General for the State of South Australia (instructed by Crown Solicitor (SA))Notice:  This copy of the Court's Reasons for Judgment is subject to formal revision prior to publication in the Commonwealth Law Reports.CATCHWORDSAustralian Education Union v General Manager of Fair Work AustraliaStatutes – Acts of Parliament – Interpretation – Presumptions as to legislative intention – Presumption against retrospective operation – Full Federal Court of Australia held that registration of Australian Principals Federation ("APF") under Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cth) ("WR Act") invalid because of absence of "purging rule" terminating membership of organisation of persons no longer entitled to be members – WR Act renamed Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009 (Cth) and...