International Commercial Arbitration in Australia: Judicial Control over Arbitral Awards
Sydney Law School Research Paper No. 19/24
U. of Adelaide Law Research Paper No. 2019-72
'Judicial Control of Arbitral Awards in Australia'. "The Cambridge Handbook of Judicial Control of Arbitral Awards", edited by Larry A. DiMatteo, Marta Infantino and Nathalie M-P Potin, Cambridge University Press, 2020, pp. 175 - 197.
30 Pages Posted: 3 May 2019 Last revised: 17 Feb 2021
Date Written: April 10, 2019
Abstract
Geographical remoteness has not prevented Australia from pursuing its ambition to become a major hub for international commercial arbitration (ICA). While regional competitors in the Asia-Pacific region such as Singapore and Hong Kong have already achieved great success in the arbitration world, Australia’s ‘Tyranny of Distance’ requires extra efforts to attract ICA cases. Recent marketing from the Australian government emphasises (1) a harmonised legal framework for ICA in line with international standards; (2) sophisticated arbitration institutions; and (3) some of the world’s leading arbitration practitioners.
While these factors do reveal strong potential to attract ICA cases, to ensure that this goes beyond a mere possibility, the Australian government and judiciary are making quite concerted broader efforts. The former has recently become more vigorous in marketing Australia-based ICA in and out of the country. The latter has generally tried to issue pro-arbitration judgments particularly over the last ten years, and in public speeches or publications leading judges have been actively summarising and promoting Australian developments both domestically and world-wide. However the court system has structural problems, due to the shared ICA jurisdiction of State and Territory Courts alongside the Federal Courts, compared to the unitary system in Hong Kong and Singapore. There are also persistent delays in court-related ICA matters under the IAA, even in the Federal Court of Australia. Nonetheless, perfection is never attainable.
The rest of this paper argues that Australia has significantly improved legal environment for ICA in line with international standards, focusing on the main topics identified for a wider cross-jurisdictional research project: (1) arbitrator bias; (2) conflicts of interests; (3) procedural irregularities and arbitrator’s misconduct during proceedings; (4) arbitrability (objective arbitrability) (5) judicial interpretation of arbitration clauses (subjective arbitrability); and (6) enforceability of arbitral awards.
Keywords: international commercial arbitration, arbitration, mediation, dispute resolution, Australian law, Commonwealth law, Asian law, comparative law, law reform, consumer law
JEL Classification: K10, K30
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation