Clayton Utz, Melbourne

Commercial arbitration in Australia is governed by two distinct statutory regimes. The first is state-based and regulates domestic arbitration. The second is Federal and regulates international arbitration. The International Arbitration Act 1974 (Cth) (‘IAA’) was amended in 2010, to ensure that the current arbitration law and, more importantly, the current arbitration practice complies with internationally accepted norms. The domestic legislation was also the subject of significant reform with all states committed to introducing uniform legislation. To date, three Australian states, New South Wales (2010), Victoria (2011) and South Australia (2011) have enacted the uniform legislation. The Northern Territory and Tasmania have passed the legislation and it is awaiting commencement, while in Western Australia and Queensland it awaits assent. The only jurisdiction which has not introduced a bill is the Australian Capital Territory.

Prior to 2010, domestic commercial arbitration in Australia was governed by the so-called “Uniform Acts” that were based on the English Arbitration Act 1979. Following concerns that domestic commercial arbitration in Australia was not providing the advantages which had been originally intended by the Uniform Acts, the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General in 2009 formulated a new domestic arbitration regime modelled upon the 2006 UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (‘Model Law’). The state of New South Wales was the first to enact the Bill on 1