"Who will guard the guardians?" : Assessing the High Court’s role of constitutional review

The High Court of Australia has the power to invalidate Commonwealth legislation if the Parliament is found to have exceeded its legislative powers. However, what mechanisms are available to prevent the High Court from exceeding its own power? This paper examines the impact of the High Court’s role of constitutional review, particularly the negative impact on developments in finance and trade. Three mechanisms that could act as a check on the power of the High Court are examined (amending the Judiciary Act, removing a judge and altering the Constitution), but ultimately, each is found to be of limited effectiveness.17 page(s