Sound from hearing room:
“Silence please, all stand.”
Narrator:
Mock hearings throw open the doors of the Fair Work Commission to the community.
Sound from hearing room:
“The Fair Work Commission is in session. Please be seated.”
Narrator:
They allow the public, new practitioners and students to see how a hearing is conducted and help to make our processes more transparent and accessible.
Sound from hearing room:
“… my name is Harding and I seek permission to appear on behalf of the applicant, Doctor Terry Silver, and to address you seated. Good afternoon Commissioner. My name is Bingham, initials S.L., I seek permission to appear on behalf of the respondent in these proceedings. Thankyou, and I’d just remind parties…..”
Narrator:
For the past two years the mock hearings have illustrated processes relating to an unfair dismissal case. These matters involve a high volume of unrepresented and infrequent users of the Commission.
Sound from hearing room:
“Thankyou, I will grant permission for representation of both parties. I do consider it ….”
Narrator:
The scenarios are meticulously prepared to mimic a real life case. A Member of the Commission conducts the hearing, while the merits of the cases are argued by leading workplace relations practitioners. The mock hearings cover a lot of ground in a condensed time. Where in ‘real-life’ a matter could take a number of days to be heard, a mock hearing lasts a little over an hour.
Mock hearings are an important learning tool, with videos put on the Commission’s YouTube channel so they can be watched by anyone at any time. They help demystify the process for people who might be facing a real hearing but are unfamiliar with what will take place.
Sound from hearing room:
“… the general good of so many other people is probably more important at any given time ….”
Narrator:
And people get to see both ‘best practice’ and some common mistakes.
Sound from hearing room:
“I thank the parties for their submissions. Normally at this point, of course, the matter would adjourn because I would need to consider what was put to me and so what I thought we might do at this point is see what you think the outcome of this case should have been….”
Narrator:
There is a question and answer session at the end of each hearing.
Sound from hearing room:
“Do you have any questions of either counsel or myself in relation to the procedures of the Commission or how the case was run? ... An employer doing any performance management may put in a process to measure someone…”
Narrator:
The mock hearings began in Melbourne in 2013, with full houses and an overwhelmingly positive response. In 2014 the program has been expanded across the country with mock hearings held in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Canberra and Hobart.
Sound from lecture:
“… and they were getting information out to the employees before we got the information – how dare they do this?”
Narrator:
The workplace relations lecture program is another important element of the Commission’s community engagement strategy.
Sound from lecture:
“They were saying to their members, ‘Have a look at these two organisations. These are companies with whom we have had good collaboration ….’”
Narrator:
A range of topics is addressed by local and international experts in workplace relations. The lectures are very popular with practitioners and students. Videos of the presentations are made available on the Commission’s YouTube channel as an ongoing resource.
Sound from lecture:
“Where they’re not necessarily in the old industrial relations paradigm ….”
Narrator:
From its beginnings in Melbourne in 2013 the popularity of the lecture series has seen it expanded across the country in 2014.
