The Fair Work Commission (FWC), until 2013 known as Fair Work Australia (FWA), is the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

industrial relations Industrial relations or employment relations is the multidisciplinary academic field that studies the employment relationship; that is, the complex interrelations between employers and employees, labor/trade unions, employer organizations, ...

tribunal created by the ''

Fair Work Act 2009 The ''Fair Work Act 2009'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia, passed by the Rudd Government to reform the industrial relations system of Australia. It replaced the Howard Government's WorkChoices legislation, it established Fai ...

'' as part of the

Rudd Government Rudd Government may refer to the following Australian governments: * Rudd government (2007–10) Rudd Government may refer to the following Australian governments: * Rudd government (2007–10) * Rudd government (2013) {{Dab ... * Rudd gov ...

's reforms to industrial relations in Australia. Operations commenced on 1 July 2009. It is the successor of the

Australian Industrial Relations Commission The Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC), known from 1956 to 1973 as the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission and from 1973 to 1988 as the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, was a tribunal with powers ...

, and also performs functions previously performed by the

Workplace Authority The Workplace Authority was an Australian Government statutory agency that existed from 1 July 2007 to 1 July 2009. It replaced and expanded the role of the Office of the Employment Advocate, which had existed since 1997. It was itself replaced b ...

and the

Australian Fair Pay Commission The Australian Fair Pay Commission was an Australian statutory body that existed from 2006 to 2009. It was created under the Howard Government's "''WorkChoices''" industrial relations laws in 2006 to set the minimum pay for workers. Established t ...

. The office of President of the Fair Work Commission is currently vacant since the retirement on 18 November 2022 of

Iain Ross Iain Ross (born 15 December 1928) is a former Scotland international rugby union player. Ross played as a scrum half. Rugby career Amateur career Ross played for Hillhead HSFP. Provincial career Ross played for Glasgow District in the ...

; Vice President Adam Hatcher is currently acting as President. , it operates under the portfolio of the Australian Attorney-General, the Hon

Mark Dreyfus Mark Alfred Dreyfus (born 3 October 1956) is an Australian politician and lawyer who has been attorney-general of Australia and cabinet secretary since June 2022, having held both roles previously in 2013 and from 2010 to 2013 respectively. ...

MP. The general manager of the FWC is Murray Furlong, who was appointed in October of 2021. FWC's functions include the setting and varying industrial awards,

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Bec ...

fixation, dispute resolution, the approval of enterprise agreements, and handling claims for unfair dismissal.

Role

FWC is an independent workplace relations tribunal with the power and authority to regulate and enforce provisions relating to

minimum wages A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Bec ...

and employment conditions,

enterprise bargaining Enterprise bargaining is an Australian term for a form of collective bargaining, in which wages and working conditions are negotiated at the level of the individual organisations, as distinct from sectoral collective bargaining across whole industr ...

, industrial action, dispute resolution, and termination of employment. The ''Fair Work Act'' is an attempt to create a more national system for regulating industrial relations in Australia. Each state has the discretion to hand over some or all of their industrial relations powers to the Commonwealth, and should a state decide to refer their powers to a centralized and national industrial relations system, all the employees of that state would effectively be covered by the national ''Fair Work Act''. The FWC has taken over the roles of the

(AIRC) in matters of workplace disputes and industrial actions. It is also involved in the process of determining national industrial relations policies, including setting minimum wages and regulating the award system. Since the introduction of the ''Fair Work Act'', all states except Western Australia have referred their powers to the Commonwealth.

Structure

When originally founded, all FWC members were previously members of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. The FWC has a President (currently vacant), two Vice Presidents, a number of Deputy Presidents and Commissioners. The General Manager reports to the President and is responsible for administration. This position replaced the Industrial Registrar. The inaugural President was Justice Giudice. He retired from this position in February 2012, and was succeeded by former Victorian Supreme Court judge

who served from 2012 to 2022. FWC has members based in Melbourne (M), Sydney (S),

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

(B),

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

(N),

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

(P),

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

(A) and

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

(C). The members of the FWC, as at 21 November 2021, are:

President

* (currently vacant)

Vice presidents

*Vice President A Hatcher (S) - currently Acting President *Vice President J Catanzariti (S)

Deputy presidents

*Deputy President I Asbury (B) *Deputy President VP Gostencnik (M) *Deputy President M Binet (P) *Deputy President WR Clancy (M) *Deputy President LE Dean (C) *Deputy President P Anderson (A) *Deputy President AC Colman (M) *Deputy President I Masson (M) *Deputy President A Beaumont (P) *Deputy President A Millhouse (M) *Deputy President T Saunders (S/N) *Deputy President N Lake (B) *Deputy President G Boyce (S) *Deputy President B Cross (S) *Deputy President A Mansini (M) *Deputy President J Young (M) *Deputy President MJ Easton (S) *Deputy President A Bell (M) *Deputy President T Dobson (B) *Deputy President PJ Hampton (A) *Deputy President BM O'Neill (M)

Commissioners

*Commissioner PJ Spencer (B) *Commissioner BD Williams (P) *Commissioner DS McKenna (S) *Commissioner IW Cambridge (S) *Acting Commissioner MP Bissett (M) *Commissioner CF Simpson (B) *Commissioner T Lee (M) *Commissioner B Riordan (S) *Commissioner LAT Johns (S) *Commissioner NP Wilson (M) *Commissioner T Cirkovic (M) *Commissioner C Platt (A) *Commissioner K Harper-Greenwell (M) *Commissioner J Hunt (B) *Commissioner S McKinnon (M) *Commissioner L Yilmaz (M) *Commissioner S Mirabella (M) *Commissioner P Ryan (S) *Commissioner A Matheson (S) *Commissioner P Schneider (P)

Additional members

Additional members are dual appointees with other bodies, or sit part-time as expert panel members: *Deputy President DJ Barclay (Hobart, also President of the Tasmanian Industrial Commission) *The Hon Martin Ferguson AM (Expert Panel Member) *Adele Labin-Romain (Expert Panel Member) *Professor Mark Wooden (Expert Panel Member)

References

{{reflist

External links

Official websiteFair Work Ombudsman Award Finder websiteFair Work Infoline websiteWhat is the Fair Work Act?
Australian labour law Commonwealth Government agencies of Australia 2009 establishments in Australia Commonwealth of Australia courts and tribunals Leave of absence Labour relations organisations in Australia Labor relations boards Courts and tribunals established in 2009