Australia

This page looks at Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in Australia.

     ADR law in Australia and New Zealand

ADR law in Australia involves federal and state enactments, reflected in a range of schemes that are specific to particular industries, organisations and enterprises. (Some schemes are highlighted on the following page of this profile.)

At a national level the International Arbitration Act 1974 (here) reflects the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (here) about procedures for international arbitration, covering all international commercial arbitration conducted in Australia unless otherwise agreed.

The Act also adopts the Convention on the Recognition & Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards - aka 'New York Convention' - (here) and 1965 International Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (Washington Convention). It sets out the institutions and procedures that are available for the conduct of international arbitration. It does not deal with other alternative dispute resolution processes for resolving private international commercial disputes.

Each State/Territory has uniform Commercial Arbitration Acts dealing with domestic arbitration -

New South Wales Commercial Arbitration Act 1984 (here)

Victorian Commercial Arbitration Act 1984 (here)

Queensland Commercial Arbitration Act 1990 (here)

South Australian Commercial Arbitration Act 1986 (here)

Western Australian Commercial Arbitration Act 1985 (here)

Tasmanian Commercial Arbitration Act 1986 (here)

ACT Commercial Arbitration Act 1986 (here)

Northern Territory Commercial Arbitration Act 1985 (here)

Arbitration in New Zealand is covered by the Arbitration Act 1996 (here), based on the UNCITRAL Model Law.

A key document is the October 2001 Commonwealth Treasury Department discussion paper (PDF) on the use of dispute resolution in B2C e-commerce.

   next page  (schemes)