Transport Workers Act 1928

It achieved royal assent on 24 September 1928, after being instigated and introduced to Parliament by the Bruce government (Nationalist Government of Stanley Bruce).

It was ostensibly "relating to employment in relation to trade and commerce with other countries and among the states", which mirrors the wording of Section 51(i) of the Constitution of Australia.

Following a review of the establishing act of the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration (the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904), the government required that the court consider the economic effect of its industrial awards and that mandatory court-supervised ballots.

[3] The Act required all waterfront workers to hold federal licences, or "dog collars" as they were derisively known, to work.

[4] The Act allowed the Commonwealth government, by regulation, to effectively control who worked on the docks and nearly destroyed the Waterside Workers Federation.