In January this year, our President Justice Hatcher established the Paid Agents Working Group to review the procedures applicable to the participation of paid agents in proceedings.
The group released its report and recommendations in September following a written submissions process and several public consultations. Justice Hatcher accepted the working groups recommendations in a Statement accompanying the report.
Justice Hatcher is leading the implementation of the recommendations together with Commissioner Johns, the National Practice Lead for unfair dismissal and general protections cases.
Consultation on implementation of the recommendations
We are consulting further on the implementation of the recommendations from the report. In particular, the implementation of recommendation 1.
Recommendation 1: Members and conciliators (where applicable under the delegation of general protection conciliation powers to staff members) will determine applications under s 596 of the Fair Work Act 2009 for representation by a paid agent prior to any conciliation, conference or hearing.
A public consultation will take place on 6 November 2024 in Melbourne. Commissioner Johns will discuss his general views about s.596 and our approach to representation. He will also explain a new pre-allocation pilot and how it will be conducted.
Attending the consultation
We invite interested parties to attend the in-person consultation. The consultation will take place on 6 November 2024 from 1:00pm to 4:00pm (AEST) in Melbourne hearing room 6.1.
