The Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act of 1961 commenced from 2 May 1961. The Industrial Court and Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Commission were constituted under the Act. This legislation separated the roles previously preformed by a single Tribunal, the Industrial Court of Queensland, which was established under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act of 1929.

The Commission’s functions were essentially related to conciliating and arbitrating industrial matters, with the Industrial Court becoming an appellate Tribunal.
The Full Bench of the Commission, among other things, made declarations as to the cost of living, the standard of living, the basic wage, and standard hours of work. It made general rulings relating to any industrial matter after having given notice of its intention and in so doing gave all interested persons and opportunity to be heard. The Commission, in addition to declaring rates of pay, specified conditions of employment under each of its awards, including overtime rates; proportion of female workers to male workers, young workers to adult workers, apprentices and improvers to journeymen; hours of work as well as fixed hours of trading for shops.