New South Wales Consolidated Acts

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT 1996 - SECT 309

309 Contract of carriage--meaning

(1) For the purposes of this Chapter, a
"contract of carriage" is a contract (whether written or oral or partly written and partly oral) for the transportation of goods by means of a motor vehicle or bicycle in the course of a business of transporting goods of that kind by motor vehicle or bicycle, but only--

(a) where the carrier is not a partnership or body corporate--if no person except the carrier is, except in the prescribed circumstances, employed (whether pursuant to a contract of employment or not and whether by the carrier or not) in driving or riding on that or any other motor vehicle or bicycle in the course of that business, or

(b) where the carrier is a partnership--if no person other than a partner is, except in the prescribed circumstances, employed (whether pursuant to a contract of employment or not and whether by the partnership or not) in driving or riding on that or any other motor vehicle or bicycle in the course of that business, or

(c) where the carrier is a body corporate--if no person is, except in the prescribed circumstances, employed (whether pursuant to a contract of employment or not and whether by the body corporate or not) in driving or riding on that or any other motor vehicle or bicycle in the course of that business unless the person is--

(i) a director of the body corporate or a member of the family of a director of the body corporate, or

(ii) a person who, together with the members of his or her family, has a controlling interest in the body corporate, or

(iii) a member of the family of a person who, together with the members of his or her family, has a controlling interest in the body corporate.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a reference to a carrier includes a carrier carrying on business under a franchise or other arrangement.

(3) A contract of carriage includes any contract that the Commission declares, after inquiry, to be such a contract. The Commission may make such a declaration if, in its opinion--

(a) the contract was entered into for the purpose of defeating, evading or avoiding the provisions of this Act relating to contracts of carriage, and

(b) but for being entered into for that purpose, the contract would have been a contract of carriage.

(4) A contract of carriage does not include a contract--

(a) that is, if the carrier is a common carrier, made in the ordinary course of the business of the carrier as a common carrier, or

(b) that is made in the ordinary course of business for the carriage of packaged goods for different principal contractors by the use of the same motor vehicle or bicycle, or

(c) for the carriage of mail by or on behalf of Australia Post, or

(d) for the carriage of bread, milk or cream for sale or delivery for sale, or

(e) for the carriage of goods that are to be sold pursuant to orders solicited during the carriage of the goods, or

(f) for the carriage of livestock, or

(g) if the principal contractor is a primary producer or a member of the family of a primary producer and the contract is for the transportation of primary produce (other than timber), or

(h) for the transportation of primary produce (other than timber) from or to land used for primary production, or

(i) for the delivery of meals by couriers to homes or other premises for consumption.