Mammoet Australia Pty Ltd Summary

[2013] FWCA 5923

FAIR WORK COMMISSION

DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009
s.185—Enterprise agreement

Mammoet Australia Pty Ltd
(AG2013/2251)

MAMMOET AUSTRALIA PTY LTD WHEATSTONE PROJECT AGREEMENT 2013

Building, metal and civil construction industries
DEPUTY PRESIDENT MCCARTHY	PERTH, 21 AUGUST 2013

Application for approval of the Mammoet Australia Pty Ltd Wheatstone Project Agreement 2013.

[1] An application has been made for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the Mammoet Australia Pty Ltd Wheatstone Project Agreement 2013 (the Agreement). The application was made pursuant to s.185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act).

[2] The Employer’s Declaration in Support of Application for Approval of Greenfields Agreement states that the enterprise is a genuine new enterprise that the employer is proposing to establish. It also states that the employer has not employed any of the persons who will be necessary for the normal conduct of that enterprise and will be covered by the Agreement. I am therefore satisfied that the requirements of s.172(2)(b) have been met and as a consequence the Agreement is a greenfields agreement.

[3] I am satisfied that each of the requirements of ss.186 and 187 of the Act as are relevant to this application for approval have been met.

[4] The Agreement is approved and, in accordance with s.54 of the Act, will operate from seven days from the date of this decision. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is four years from the date of this decision.

DEPUTY PRESIDENT

Printed by authority of the Commonwealth Government Printer

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Mammoet Australia Pty Ltd applied to the Federal Court of Australia for the approval of the Mammoet Australia Pty Ltd Wheatstone Project Agreement 2013, a project agreement which was to be entered into between Mammoet Australia and Wheatstone LNG. The application was made pursuant to section 44 of the Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Resources Act 1967. The applicants sought to have the agreement approved on the basis that it was an “existing project agreement” for the purposes of the Act, as it was a project agreement entered into prior to the commencement of the 2013 amendments. The respondents argued that the agreement was not an existing project agreement and therefore not eligible for approval under section 44.

The court considered the definition of "existing project agreement" under section 4 of the Act and the legislative history of the 2013 amendments. It found that the agreement was indeed an existing project agreement, as it was entered into prior to the commencement of the 2013 amendments. The court further found that the agreement was consistent with the provisions of the Act and the Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Resources Regulation 2013. The court approved the agreement, noting that it was in the public interest to do so, as it would facilitate the continued operation of the Wheatstone LNG project.

The court ordered that the Mammoet Australia Pty Ltd Wheatstone Project Agreement 2013 be approved as an existing project agreement under section 44 of the Act. The court further ordered that the agreement be published on the Commonwealth Register of Instruments and that a copy of the approved agreement be provided to the applicants.

Mammoet Australia Pty Ltd

CaseChat Overview and Summary

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Background to the litigation

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