Fair Work Amendment (State Referrals and Other Measures) Act 2009 (124 of 2009)

Schedule 1   Referring States

Fair Work Act 2009

31   Subsection 30B(6)

Repeal the subsection, substitute:

Effect of termination of reference

(6) Despite anything to the contrary in a referral law of a State, a State ceases to be a referring State if any or all of the following occurs:

(a) the State's initial reference terminates;

(b) the State's amendment reference terminates, and neither of subsections (7) and (8) apply to the termination;

(c) the State's transition reference terminates.

(7) A State does not cease to be a referring State because of the termination of its amendment reference if:

(a) the termination is effected by the Governor of that State fixing a day by proclamation as the day on which the reference terminates; and

(b) the day fixed is no earlier than the first day after the end of the period of 6 months beginning on the day on which the proclamation is published; and

(c) that State's amendment reference, and the amendment reference of every other referring State (other than a referring State that has terminated its amendment reference in the circumstances referred to in subsection (8)), terminate on the same day.

(8) A State does not cease to be a referring State because of the termination of its amendment reference if:

(a) the termination is effected by the Governor of that State fixing a day by proclamation as the day on which the reference terminates; and

(b) the day fixed is no earlier than the first day after the end of the period of 3 months beginning on the day on which the proclamation is published; and

(c) the Governor of that State, as part of the proclamation by which the termination is to be effected, declares that, in the opinion of the Governor, this Act:

(i) is proposed to be amended (by an amendment introduced into the Parliament by a Minister); or

(ii) has been amended;

in a manner that is inconsistent with one or more of the fundamental workplace relations principles.

(9) The following are the fundamental workplace relations principles :

(a) that this Act should provide for, and continue to provide for, the following:

(i) a strong, simple and enforceable safety net of minimum employment standards;

(ii) genuine rights and responsibilities to ensure fairness, choice and representation at work, including the freedom to choose whether or not to join and be represented by a union or participate in collective activities;

(iii) collective bargaining at the enterprise level with no provision for individual statutory agreements;

(iv) fair and effective remedies available through an independent umpire;

(v) protection from unfair dismissal;

(b) that there should be, and continue to be, in connection with the operation of this Act, the following:

(i) an independent tribunal system;

(ii) an independent authority able to assist employers and employees within a national workplace relations system.