The office of President of the Fair Work Commission has been held by Justice Adam Hatcher since 19 February 2023.[4]
As of 29 May 2019[update], it operates under the portfolio of the Australian Attorney-General, the Hon Mark Dreyfus MP.[5] The general manager of the FWC is Murray Furlong, who was appointed in October of 2021.[6]
FWC's functions include the setting and varying industrial awards, minimum wage fixation, dispute resolution, the approval of enterprise agreements, and handling claims for unfair dismissal.
FWC is an independent workplace relations tribunal with the power and authority to regulate and enforce provisions relating to minimum wages and employment conditions, enterprise bargaining, industrial action, dispute resolution, and termination of employment.[7]
The Fair Work Act is an attempt to create a more national system for regulating industrial relations in Australia. Each state has the discretion to hand over some or all of their industrial relations powers to the Commonwealth, and should a state decide to refer their powers to a centralized and national industrial relations system, all the employees of that state would effectively be covered by the national Fair Work Act. The FWC has taken over the roles of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) in matters of workplace disputes and industrial actions. It is also involved in the process of determining national industrial relations policies, including setting minimum wages and regulating the award system. Since the introduction of the Fair Work Act, all states except Western Australia have referred their powers to the Commonwealth.[8]
When originally founded, all FWC members were previously members of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. The FWC has a President, two Vice Presidents, a number of Deputy Presidents and Commissioners. The General Manager reports to the President and is responsible for administration. This position replaced the Industrial Registrar. The inaugural President was Justice Giudice. He retired from this position in February 2012, and was succeeded by former Victorian Supreme Court judge Iain Ross who served from 2012 to 2022.[9]
FWC has members based in Melbourne (M), Sydney (S), Brisbane (B), Newcastle (N), Perth (P), Adelaide (A) and Canberra (C). The members of the FWC, as at September 2023, are:[10]
