Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance v John Fairfax Group P/L

Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance appealed against a decision of Wilcox J, who dismissed an application for an interpretation of the Journalists (Metropolitan Daily Newspapers) Award 1991. The award is binding on John Fairfax Group Pty Ltd, the respondent in this case. The appellant sought an interpretation that only certain clauses of the award did not apply to members classified in Grade 9, and that members classified in Grade 9 were entitled to be paid shift penalties in accordance with the provisions of subclause 7(g) of the award. Wilcox J had dismissed the application for interpretation on the basis that the appellant had not served the application on the other persons bound by it, and that those other persons had not been given an opportunity to be heard. The Federal Court was asked to determine whether the appeal should succeed.

The legal issues before the court were whether the appellant's interpretation of the award was correct, and whether the Court should admit additional evidence that had not been before Wilcox J. The court held that the award should be read in context and that sub-clause 7(g) did not impose upon the employer a duty to pay shift penalties to its employees who were Grade 9 journalists. The court also rejected the appellant's application to admit additional evidence, finding that an application for interpretation of an award is not a proceeding in which the Court should take it upon itself to determine disputed questions of fact.

The appeal was dismissed, and no order was made as to costs. The Court found that the appellant was not entitled to the interpretation of the award that it sought, and that the additional evidence that it sought to adduce would not have assisted in determining the appeal. The decision of Wilcox J was affirmed, and the appellant's appeal was unsuccessful.