Fair Work Commission appointments ‘death knell’ warning

New Fair Work Commission appointments could ‘sound the death knell’ for the tribunal in its current form, a law expert says.

Kelly O’Dwyer has appointed six new members to the Fair Work Commission rather than just one as recommended by the president of the commission, Iain Ross. Picture: Gary Ramage

The latest Fair Work Commission appointments could “sound the death knell” for the tribunal in its current form, with the Coalition treating the concept of an independent umpire with contempt, a workplace law expert says.

University of Adelaide law profess­or Andrew Stewart said the appointments of six new members by Industrial Relations Minister Kelly O’Dwyer last week would make it difficult for a Labor government to work with the tribunal.

Four of the six have worked direct­ly for employer groups. Most of the tribunal members are now Coalition appointments, with backgrounds either working for employer groups or as lawyers generally representing employers.

The Coalition ignored a recom­mendation by the president of the commission, Iain Ross, who said the tribunal needed only one additio­nal appointment to replace commissioner Anna Cribb, who is retiring next month.

“I’m a great supporter of the Fair Work Commission, but I fear this move may sound the death knell for the commission in its current form,” Professor Stewart said.

“By appointing or promoting exclusively from one side of the IR divide, and ignoring the president’s views as to the agency’s staffing needs, the Coalition has treated the concept of an independent umpire with contempt.

“It’s also grossly unfair on the individual appointees themselves, both past and present, as it will be widely assumed that their selection was a matter of partisan connect­ions, not individual merits.

“Before this latest set of appointm­ents, I would have hoped that an incoming Labor government — if that’s what we have — would have been prepared to work with the commission it inherited. But that will now be a very hard line to maintain.”

Josh Bornstein, a principal­ lawyer with Maurice Blackburn, said the commission had been “stacked beyond repair”. “This extremism by O’Dwyer means that when a new federal government is elected, it will need to abolish the FWC and reconstitute it,’’ he said on social media. Mr Bornstein said a new government should merge the Fair Work Commission with the Australian Human Rights Commission to create a new Human Rights and Fair Work Tribunal.

Asked if a Labor government would consider spilling all commiss­ion positions, opposition workplace relations spokesman Brendan O’Connor said: “If elect­ed, a Labor government will be responsible for ensuring the inde­pendent umpire acts impartially and is seen to act impartially.”

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said the new appointments were warrant­ed, given the decrease in members over recent years.

“For the past two years, Ai Group has been expressing concern about the apparent transfer of work from appointed commission members to employed staff, particula­rly in relation to the assessment of enterprise agreements lodged for approval,’’ he said.

“Enterprise agreements should be assessed by commission member­s drawing on the extensive experience that led to their appointme­nt. The assessment of agreements has become far too much of a spreadsheet exercise, rather than judgments by exper­ienced commission members.”