Pape's Case 2009 HCA 23 (7 July 2009) – State Powers - What Sir Maurice Byers QC Said.
The High Court has decided that the Rudd Labor Government's Bonus Payment is lawful.
Sir Maurice Byers, apart from being a former Commonwealth Solicitor General, which really means chief legal adviser and advocate for the Commonwealth Government, was the quietest, most forceful and succinct appeal advocate before the High Court in the last 50 years.
One day, when back at the NSW Bar, he came down to the lunch which many barristers used to eat more or less in common, and the topic came round to, “What were the powers left to the States?”.
Maurice brought the discussion to a halt when he said,
“The powers left to the States are those powers which are left when full effect has
been given to every provision of the Commonwealth Constitution.”
The overwhelming impression was that that was not much and flowed chiefly from the provision of the Constitution which converted the Australian Colonies into States and are therefor an eradicable part of the Australian polity. .