Queensland Ballet Company

[2025] FWCA 3051

[2025] FWCA 3051

FAIR WORK COMMISSION

DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009

s.218A - Application to vary an agreement to correct or amend errors, defects or irregularities

Queensland Ballet Company

(AG2025/2820)

QUEENSLAND BALLET DANCERS’ ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2025

Live performance industry
COMMISSIONER HUNT	BRISBANE, 9 SEPTEMBER 2025

Application for variation of the Queensland Ballet Dancers’ Enterprise Agreement 2025

1. On 12 August 2025, I issued a Decision[1] approving the Queensland Ballet Dancers’ Enterprise Agreement 2025 (the Agreement).

1. In correspondence directed to the Fair Work Commission (the Commission) during the agreement approval process, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), a bargaining representative for the Agreement, advised that the value of the accommodation allowances provided by clause 40.5(b) of the Agreement were less than those set out at clause 14.3(e) of the applicable Live Performance Award 2020 (the Award). The MEAA also identified a possible clause referencing error in clause 13.1(c) of the Agreement. Clause 13.1(c) referred to the ordinary hours of work prescribed in clause 26, however such ordinary hours are housed in clause 25 of the Agreement.

1. I informed the parties of my preliminary view that the errors identified by the MEAA could be corrected by the Commission exercising its discretion to vary the Agreement under s.218A of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act). Queensland Ballet Company (the Employer) advised that it was agreeable to the Commission exercising its discretion in this manner.

1. Section 218A of the Act provides as follows:

“218A  Variation of enterprise agreements to correct or amend errors, defects or irregularities

(1)The FWC may vary an enterprise agreement to correct or amend an obvious error, defect or irregularity (whether in substance or form).

(2)The FWC may vary an enterprise agreement under subsection (1):

(a) on its own initiative; or
(b) on application by any of the following:

(i) one or more of the employers covered by the agreement;
(ii) an employee covered by the agreement;
(iii) an employee organisation covered by the agreement.

(3) If the FWC varies an enterprise agreement under subsection (1), the variation operates from the day specified in the decision to vary the agreement.”

1. I am satisfied that the accommodation allowances contained in clause 40.5(b) of the Agreement represent an obvious error within the meaning of s.218A(1) of the Act. The allowances fall significantly below those provided by the Award. The parties to the Agreement could not reasonably have intended that employees be paid such low allowances.

1. I am also satisfied that the reference to clause 26 in clause 13.1(c) is an obvious error. The clause explicitly refers to “ordinary hours of work”. These are plainly prescribed by clause 25 of the Agreement, not clause 26.

1. Being satisfied that the Agreement contains obvious errors, I exercise my discretion to vary the Agreement to correct the errors identified by replacing the allowances table located under clause 40.5(b) with an updated table, and by replacing the reference to “clause 26” in clause 13.1(c) with a reference to “clause 25”. I do so on the Commission’s own initiative pursuant to s.218A(2)(a) of the Act.

1. 
   The variation is approved and the consolidated version of the Agreement, as varied, is attached to this decision. The variation will operate from the operative date of the Agreement, which was 19 August 2025.

COMMISSIONER

[1] [2025] FWCA 2688.

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