United Firefighters' Union of Australia v Fire Rescue Victoria

In the case of United Firefighters’ Union of Australia v Fire Rescue Victoria, the United Firefighters’ Union of Australia sought judicial review of a decision made by the Fair Work Commission. The dispute centred around the Fair Work Commission’s decision, made on 5 February 2024, that there were no agreed terms for the determination of an intractable bargaining workplace determination under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). The Union contended that the Commission had made a jurisdictional error in its determination and sought certiorari and mandamus to compel the Commission to make a workplace determination that included the agreed terms.

The central legal issues in this case revolved around the nature of the Commission’s decision and whether it was amenable to certiorari. The Union argued that the Commission’s decision on the agreed terms was a jurisdictional fact that the Commission had wrongly determined, which warranted judicial intervention through certiorari. The court had to determine if the Commission’s decision on the preliminary issue of agreed terms had a discernible or apparent legal effect upon rights, which could be quashed by certiorari.

The court found that the Commission’s decision was not amenable to certiorari. It was an opinion on a preliminary issue and was rendered redundant by subsequent legislative amendments. The court held that the function of certiorari was to remove the legal consequences of an exercise of power, but the Commission’s decision did not have a necessary effect on the ultimate decision. The court emphasised that the Commission was not bound to adopt the findings in its preliminary decision when making the operative workplace determination. Therefore, the application for certiorari and mandamus was dismissed.

The court dismissed the Union’s application, finding that the Commission’s decision on the agreed terms was not a decision with legal consequences that could be quashed by certiorari. The court concluded that the Commission’s determination was an opinion on a preliminary issue that would be superseded by the substituted section 274(3) of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). The court held that the Commission was not bound to adopt the findings of its preliminary decision when making the workplace determination.