Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

[Index] [Search] [Download] [Related Items] [Help]

AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMISSION AMENDMENT RULES 1999 (NO. 3) 1999 NO. 276

STATUTORY RULES 1999 No. 276

Amendment of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission Rules

(Issued by the Authority of the President of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission)

Authority

Section 48 of the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (the Act) authorises the making of the rules of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (the Commission).

Under subsection 48(1) of the Act the President of the Commission by signed instrument, after consultation with members of the Commission, may make rules, not inconsistent with the Act, with respect to:

(a)       the practice and procedure to be followed in the Commission; or

(b) the conduct of business in the Commission; and, in particular:

(c)       the manner in which, and the time within which, applications, submissions and objections may be made to the Commission; and

(d)       the manner in which applications, submissions and objections may be dealt with by the Commission.

Moreover, subsection 4(1) of the Act states:

" 'prescribed' includes prescribed by Rules of the Commission made under section 48;"

Purpose

A number of amendments have been made to improve the workings of the Rules.

Details

The President of the Commission, after consultation with members of the Commission, has made amendments to the Rules to the following effect:

Rule 1 is a formal provision stating the name of these Rules.

Rule 2 provides that these Rules commence on Gazettal.

Rule 3 is a formal provision, providing that the Australian Industrial Relations Commission Rules are amended as set out in these Rules.

Schedule 1

Item l amends rule 29 to impose a requirement, in the interests of natural justice, on a notifier under section 166A of the Act to serve the notice on any officer or employee of an organisation of employees who is mentioned in the notice. Prior to the amendment, the notice was only required to be served on an organisation of employees even if the notice also mentioned an officer or employee of the organisation. The amendment imposes a similar obligation on the Registry when giving a copy of the notice endorsed with the time and date of its receipt in the Registry..

Item 2 modifies the application form for consent to the alteration of eligibility rules so as to remove the present requirement to set out the eligibility rules of the organisation as in force immediately before the alterations. Instead, the amendment requires that the eligibility rules be set out as if the application had been granted and the alterations to the rules were in force with the alterations highlighted using distinctive characters. Prior to the amendment, these notices have, on occasion, been of doubtful value to potential objectors as they did not clearly identify what the alterations were. It is expected that highlighting of the alterations will be of assistance to potential objectors.