EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Statutory Rules 1983 No 94
Conciliation and Arbitration Regulations (Amendment)
(Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations)
The amendments to the Conciliation and Arbitration Regulations are designed to take account of changes to the Act made by the Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Act 1983. The Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Act 1983 amended Part VIIIA of the Act which deals with the Amalgamation of Organizations, abolished the Industrial Relations Bureau by repealing Part VIA of the Act and made provision for the establishment of an Arbitration Inspectorate by providing for the appointment of Inspectors and for their powers and duties.
In general terms the amendments to Part VIIIA of the Act allow:
(i) proposals for alternative amalgamations to be submitted to the Industrial Registrar in conjunction with applications for amalgamation where 3 or more organizations are involved;
(ii) applications to the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission for a declaration that a proposed amalgamation is in the public interest and in the industrial interests of their organizations;
(iii) for relaxed voting requirements in amalgamation ballots to apply where a declaration of the type referred to in the previous paragraph has been made;
(iv) for more up to date rolls of voters in all amalgamation ballots.
The regulations amend existing regulations and insert new regulations to deal with these changes.
The regulations dealing with amalgamations fall into two main categories:
(i) amendments and a new provision designed to reflect the use in the Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Act. 1983 of the terms “alternative amalgamation”, “alternative provision” and “proposed amalgamation”. Amendments in this category are made to regulations 146A, 146B, 146C and 146D. The new provision is regulation 146M; existing regulation 146M is repealed; and
(ii) amendments and new provisions designed to accommodate variations to existing procedures and new procedures provided under the Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Act 1983. Amendments and new provisions in this second category are as follows:
• Regulation 3 is designed to amend regulation 146B (which sets out requirements for schemes of amalgamation submitted pursuant to sub-section 158F) to require particulars to be provided of each alternative amalgamation where a proposed amalgamation contains an alternative provision;
• Regulation 4 is designed to amend regulation 146C (which sets out requirements for applications pursuant to section 158F) to impose certain further requirements where an application relates to a proposed amalgamation which contains an alternative provision;
• Regulation 5 inserts new regulation 146CA which provides for applications under section 158FA and new regulation 146CB which requires the publication of a notice where the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission has declared that an amalgamation is in the public interest;
• Regulation 6 is designed to amend regulation 146D which sets out requirements for notices published in the Gazette pursuant to section 158G to provide for applications pursuant to section 158FA.
Regulation 7, which does not fall into either category, amends regulation 146E (which sets out the requirements for making an objection pursuant to section 158H) to correct an error in the terminology of the regulation.
As a consequence of the abolition of the Industrial Relations Bureau an amendment to regulation 162A of the Conciliation and Arbitration Regulations is necessary. Regulation 162A provides:
“An employer who desires to pay an amount of money to the Commonwealth in accordance with section 124 of the Act may pay the amount to a member of the staff of the Bureau who is a Collector of Public Moneys.”
Sub-section 124(1) of the Act provides:
“Where
(a) an employee has left the employment of an employer without having been paid an amount to which he is entitled under an order or award; and
(b) the employer is unable to make payment of that amount because the whereabouts of the employee are unknown to him,
the employer may pay that amount to the Commonwealth.”
Regulation 9 amends regulation 162A by deleting the reference to the Bureau and substituting the term “an officer of the Department”.