Radio 2UE Sydney Pty. Ltd. V. Burns (EOD); Commonwealth V. Wood; T. Trust Co. Of Australia Ltd. (T/As Stockland Property Management) V. Skiwing Pty. Ltd. (T/As Cafe Tiffany's); Attorney-General (NSW) V. 2UE Sydney Pty. Ltd.: State Tribunals and Chapter III of the Australian Constitution‪.‬

[This case note discusses a quartet of recent cases involving state tribunals and Chapter III of the Australian Constitution. Each of these cases addresses previously uncontroversial aspects of the distribution of judicial power between the Commonwealth and the states. Wood and Stockland, decisions of the Federal Court of Australia and the New South Wales Court of Appeal respectively, apply distinctly different tests to answer the question of whether, and if so in what circumstances, a state tribunal is to be regarded as a 'court of a State' for the purposes of Chapter Ill of the Australian Constitution and the Judiciary Act 1903 (Cth). Radio 2UE (reversing 2UE v Burns) deals with the related but subsequent question of whether a state tribunal that is not a 'court of a State' is limited in, or excluded from, exercising its 'power' or 'jurisdiction' over federal questions in consequence of implications arising from Chapter III. This case note suggests that the conclusions reached by the NSW Court of Appeal in both Stockland and Radio 2UE are difficult to reconcile with recent decisions of the High Court and may prove to be aberrations rather than portents.] I INTRODUCTION