{"id":"C2004A03247","name":"Builders Labourers' Federation (Cancellation of Registration) Act 1986","slug":"builders-labourers-federation-cancellation-of-registration-act-1986","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"6 of 1986","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":7465,"registerId":"commonwealth-C2004A03247-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-03-30","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Builders Labourers' Federation (Cancellation of Registration) Act 1986","content":"---\nmeta-content-style-type: text/css\nmeta-content-type: application/xhtml+xml; charset=utf-8\n---\n\n?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" standalone=\"no\"?>\n\n![](image.001.png)\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nBuilders Labourers’ Federation (Cancellation of Registration) Act 1986\n\n \n\nNo. 6, 1986\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nAn Act to cancel the registration of The Australian Building Construction Employees’ and Builders Labourers’ Federation under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nContents\n\n1 Short title\n\n2 Commencement\n\n3 Cancellation of registration of Federation\n\n \n\n![](image.001.png)\n\n \n\n \n\nBuilders Labourers’ Federation (Cancellation of Registration) Act 1986\n\nNo. 6, 1986\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nAn Act to cancel the registration of The Australian Building Construction Employees’ and Builders Labourers’ Federation under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904\n\n[Assented to 14 April 1986]\n\nThe Parliament of Australia enacts:\n\nWHEREAS the Parliament considers that it is desirable, in the interest of preserving the system of conciliation and arbitration for the prevention and settlement of industrial disputes extending beyond the limits of any one State, to cancel the registration of The Australian Building Construction Employees’ and Builders Labourers’ Federation under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904:\n\nBE IT THEREFORE ENACTED by the Queen, and the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows:\n\n##### 1  Short title\n\n  This Act may be cited as the Builders Labourers’ Federation (Cancellation of Registration) Act 1986.\n\n##### 2  Commencement\n\n  This Act shall come into operation on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.\n\n##### 3  Cancellation of registration of Federation\n\n  The registration of The Australian Building Construction Employees’ and Builders Labourers’ Federation under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 is, by force of this section, cancelled.\n\n \n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act’s operative text matches its stated purpose in the preamble: it cancels the registration of The Australian Building Construction Employees’ and Builders Labourers’ Federation under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 (s 3) and takes effect on Royal Assent (s 2). The scope is limited to that single named cancellation and does not expand beyond that purpose in its operative provisions."},"complexity_factors":["Single, narrowly targeted legal operation (cancels registration of a single named organisation).","Immediate commencement on Royal Assent reduces procedural complexity.","Primary complexity arises from legal dependence on the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904: downstream effects require consulting that separate statute.","No delegated discretion or administrative procedure in the Act itself—effect is automatic rather than rule‑based.","Preamble asserts a systemic purpose, but the Act does not specify mechanisms to achieve or measure that purpose, creating an interpretive gap."],"plain_english_summary":"What this Act does (mechanically)\n\n- Section 3 of the Act cancels, by force of that section, the registration of \"The Australian Building Construction Employees’ and Builders Labourers’ Federation\" under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904. (See s 3.)\n- The Act takes effect on the day it receives Royal Assent. (See s 2.)\n- The Act’s short title is set out in section 1.\n\nParliament’s stated reason\n\n- The preamble records that Parliament \"considers that it is desirable, in the interest of preserving the system of conciliation and arbitration for the prevention and settlement of industrial disputes extending beyond the limits of any one State, to cancel the registration...\". That is Parliament’s expressed purpose for enacting the cancellation.\n\nWhat this means in practice (plain-English, source‑grounded)\n\n- The single, operative legal change made by this instrument is the removal of the Federation’s registration under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 (s 3). Any practical effects of that removal — for example, loss of statutory rights, privileges, or procedures that flowed from registration — follow from how the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 treated registered organisations. The present Act does not itself list those downstream rights or processes; it only cancels the registration (s 3).\n\nWho decides and who is directly affected\n\n- Decision: the Parliament enacted this statutory cancellation; the Act’s operative effect occurs automatically on Royal Assent (s 2 and s 3). The Act contains no further administrative steps or delegated discretion.\n- Directly affected party: the named Federation is the subject of the cancellation (s 3). By operation of the Act, the Federation no longer holds the registration specified.\n\nCosts, incentives and trade‑offs (source‑grounded analysis)\n\n- Concentrated effect: the legal consequence of the Act is concentrated on the named Federation because the Act singles out that organisation for cancellation (s 3). Any immediate compliance burden or loss of statutory status falls on that organisation and, by extension, its members.\n- Systemic claim vs. local cost: the Parliament’s preamble frames the cancellation as serving the broader objective of preserving the conciliation and arbitration system. That is a declared purpose; the Act itself implements the specific measure (cancellation). The material trade‑off is that Parliament replaced whatever statutory status the Federation held under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 with immediate derecognition—how that affects dispute-resolution patterns or private parties depends on the rights and procedures established by the external Act (Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904), which this Act does not restate (s 3).\n- Information gap and legal dependence: because the Act does not specify the consequences of losing registration, the practical and legal effects depend on provisions of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 and any subsequent application or interpretation of that Act to the Federation’s situation. That creates legal dependency: to assess downstream effects precisely, one must examine the other statute and any relevant practice or decisions under it.\n\nImplementation, compliance burden and discretion\n\n- Implementation is immediate and formulaic: the Act cancels registration by statutory operation on Royal Assent (s 2, s 3). There is no administrative discretion or staged compliance process in this Act: the cancellation occurs \"by force of this section\" (s 3).\n- Ongoing compliance burden: the Act itself does not impose ongoing regulatory obligations or processes on third parties. Any new compliance requirements would arise only if other statutes or administrative bodies change their practices in response.\n\nSubstitution effects and likely behavioural responses (conditional)\n\n- Removing statutory registration may prompt the named organisation, its members, or other actors to alter how they pursue dispute resolution or representation. Exactly how they respond (for example, seeking re-registration under different terms, using alternative industrial mechanisms, or changing bargaining arrangements) depends on the options and legal pathways available under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 and other applicable laws; those pathways are not detailed in this Act (s 3).\n\nBottom line\n\n- The Act performs a single legal act: it cancels the registration of the named Federation under the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904, effective on Royal Assent (s 2–3). Parliament states the purpose in the preamble. The concrete consequences for rights, dispute procedures, and behaviour flow from the interaction between this cancellation and the separate statutory regime in the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904; those downstream effects are not specified in this Act itself."},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":1,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains precisely targeted at its original purpose — the deregistration of a specific union. There has been no expansion of scope; the Act contains no regulatory framework, no ongoing administrative functions, and no provisions that could be interpreted broadly. It is a 'one-shot' statute that accomplished a single, discrete action."},"complexity_factors":["Only 3 operative sections (short title, commencement, and cancellation provision)","No defined terms section","No cross-references to other legislation beyond naming the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904","Single, unconditional operative provision with no exceptions, conditions, or procedural requirements","Total length of approximately 200 words of substantive text"],"plain_english_summary":"This is a short, highly targeted law that **deregisters a specific trade union** — the Australian Building Construction Employees' and Builders Labourers' Federation (commonly known as the Builders Labourers' Federation or BLF).\n\n**What it does:**\n- **Cancels the legal registration** of one particular union under Australia's old industrial relations system (the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904)\n- Once deregistered, the union **loses its official status** to represent workers, negotiate awards, and participate in the formal industrial arbitration system\n\n**Who it affects:**\n- Members of the Builders Labourers' Federation (construction workers, labourers)\n- Employers in the building industry who dealt with this union\n- The union itself, which effectively ceased to exist as a legal entity under federal law\n\n**Why it matters:**\nThis was a **politically significant move** — the BLF was a militant union known for its \"green bans\" (environmental protection strikes) and aggressive industrial tactics. The Hawke Labor government used this Act to shut down the union, arguing it was damaging the conciliation and arbitration system. It remains a notable example of government intervention to dissolve a union, rather than leaving it to the industrial courts or membership decisions."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/builders-labourers-federation-cancellation-of-registration-act-1986","history":"/api/acts/builders-labourers-federation-cancellation-of-registration-act-1986/history","analysis":"/api/acts/builders-labourers-federation-cancellation-of-registration-act-1986/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/builders-labourers-federation-cancellation-of-registration-act-1986/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/builders-labourers-federation-cancellation-of-registration-act-1986/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/builders-labourers-federation-cancellation-of-registration-act-1986/documents"}}