The Australian Government challenged the High Court 's decision in the Boilermaker 's case and obtained special leave to appeal to the Privy Council on 1 June 1956 . The Australian parliament did not wait for the outcome of the appeal , passing the '' Conciliation and Arbitration Act '' which received assent on 30 June 1956 . . The court was formally established on 15 August 1956 and then Attorney-General John Spicer was appointed the first , and as it transpired , only , Chief Judge . Judges of the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration had previously been appointed to act in various courts , This practice continued with appointments to the supreme courts of the Australian Capital Territory , Christmas , Cocos ( Keeling ) , & Norfolk Islands . Sir John Spicer was appointed to the first Royal Commission into the collision between HMAS Melbourne and HMAS Voyager , and inquiries into the aviation crashes of TAA Flight 538 ( 1960 ) , Ansett-ANA Flight 325 ( 1961 ) and Ansett-ANA Flight 149 ( 1966 ) . Judges were also appointed to committees to review legislation and report to parliament , such as the appointment of Sir John Spicer to the Copyright Law Review Committee , and John Kerr to the Commonwealth Administrative Review Committee . The Copyright Law Review Committee subsequently recommended the appointment of the Copyright Tribunal and Sir John Spicer was appointed as its president . When the Australian Parliament passed the '' Trade Practices Act '' in 1965 , the Commonwealth Industrial Court was given power to enforce orders of the Trade Practices Tribunal , and Sir Richard Eggleston was appointed the first president of the Trade Practices Tribunal . In 1976 when the Administrative Appeals Tribunal was established appeals were to the Australian Industrial Court , adding yet another non-industrial matter to the Court 's jurisdiction , and Gerard Brennan was appointed as the first President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal
TAA Flight 538
Trans Australia Airlines Flight 538
Commonwealth Industrial Court