Fair Work Commission

Through its role as Australia’s national workplace tribunal, the Fair Work Commission (Commission) supports simple, fair and flexible workplace relations for employees and employers.

The Commission’s primary purpose is to exercise its functions and powers in accordance with the Fair Work Act 2009 (Fair Work Act) including: 

• dealing with unfair dismissal claims
• dealing with anti-bullying claims
• dealing with general protections and unlawful termination claims
• setting the national minimum wage and minimum wages in modern awards
• making, reviewing and varying modern awards
• assisting the bargaining process for enterprise agreements
• approving, varying and terminating enterprise agreements
• making orders to stop or suspend industrial action
• dealing with disputes brought to the Commission under the dispute resolution procedures of modern awards and enterprise agreements
• determining applications for right of entry permits
• promoting cooperative and productive workplace relations and preventing disputes.

How the elements of our plan integrate

Portfolio Budget Statements

The Commission is responsible for delivering a single planned outcome as set out in the Portfolio Budget Statements 2019–20:

Simple, fair and flexible workplace relations for employees and employers through the exercise of powers to set and vary minimum wages and modern awards, facilitate collective bargaining, approve agreements and deal with disputes.

The Commission delivers a single program of dispute resolution, minimum wage setting, orders and approval of agreements.

The Commission’s major priorities for 2019–20 include:

• ensuring that the community understands the role of the Commission and recognises it as an independent and expert workplace relations tribunal
• ensuring that the Commission is accessible to all Australians, recognising the community’s diverse needs and expectations
• ensuring that the Commission is efficient, accountable and transparent
• ensuring that the Commission is a highly skilled and agile organisation in which its people, processes, systems and technology are aligned to deliver high quality, efficient and effective services to the community.