Australian Hotels Association (NSW) [2013] NSWIRComm 54

DECISION 1By application made by a Statutory Declaration dated 9 April 2013, Colin Waller sought the consent of the Industrial Registrar to alter the Rules of the Australian Hotels Association (NSW) ('the AHA' or 'the applicant') pursuant to s 245 of the Industrial Relations Act 1996 ('the Act'). Mr Waller is the Secretary/Treasurer of the AHA. 2The AHA is an industrial organisation of employers registered under the the Act in the category of a 'State organisation'. The AHA was originally registered as an industrial union of employers under the Industrial Arbitration Act 1940, subsequently became registered under the Industrial Relations Act 1991 ('the 1991 Act') and thereafter had its registration under the Act preserved and continued pursuant to s 223(1) of the Act. 3The matter falls to be determined by the Commission as presently constituted in consequence of a reference of the matter by the Industrial Registrar on 26 April 2013. 4It should be noted at the outset that this application was originally listed concurrently with two earlier applications of the AHA in matter numbers R170 and R209 of 2012. These matters were the subject of objections by the Motor Inn, Motel and Accommodation Association of New South Wales and the Restaurant and Catering Industry Association of New South Wales but were discontinued with consent. No objection is taken to the present application. 5Upon the completion of submissions by Mr R S Warren of counsel, who appeared for the AHA, the Commission determined to make orders in favour of the applicant and publish reasons for its decision and orders at a slightly later date. The orders so made are confirmed at the conclusion of this decision. The reasons for decision appear below. 6The application has its genesis in the Annual General Meeting of the AHA held on 9 April 2013. Putting aside minor miscellaneous changes, the alterations which the AHA sought to be approved fell within four broad categories: (i) An extension of the eligibility rule (Rule 5) to embrace unlicensed accommodation establishments; (ii) Alterations to other rules consequent on the extension of the eligibility rule, namely, variations to Rules 4 (the addition of a definition of 'venue') and 18.3 (the establishment of a new criteria for membership of the Accommodation Division); (iii) 'updating' alterations; and (iv) alterations of a formal nature (e.g. the correction of typographical errors). 7The application, so framed, was supported by the aforementioned Statutory Declaration of Mr Waller, an affidavit of Phillip John Ryan sworn on 14 June 2013, a copy of the Rules of the AHA operative as at 29 July 2010 and written and oral submissions for the applicant. 8No other interest opposed the application. 9A detailed and extensive description of the Rule changes was provided in the documents accompanying Mr Waller's Statutory Declaration and Mr Ryan's affidavit. Save for a discussion of the application to extend the eligibility Rule of the AHA and consequential variations to the Rules, I do not propose to more fully describe the alterations proposed beyond that which appears in paragraph [6] above. 10The most significant variation concerned the extension to the eligibility rule of the AHA. Rule 5(a) of the Rules of the AHA, prior to the present application, was in the following terms: Every person, partnership or corporation who or which is an Employer of Labour in an establishment licensed under the Licensing Legislation shall be eligible to be a Member of the Organisation. 11That sub-Rule was proposed to be varied so as to read as follows: Every person, partnership or corporation who or which employs or usually employs labour in the State of New South Wales shall be eligible for membership of the State Organisation provided that:- (i) The labour is employed in a licensed establishment; or (ii) The employer is engaged in the hospitality industry carrying on a business that provides accommodation including (without limitation):- (A) An accommodation hotel; or (B) A guest house; or (C) A motel; or (D) Serviced apartments. 12The effect of the variation sought to the eligibility Rule was that the existing terms of the sub-Rule were preserved as paragraph (i), whilst a new paragraph (ii) was added to embrace unlicensed accommodation establishments of the type specified therein. The alteration sought to Rule 5(a) is coupled with consequential variations to Rules 4 and 18. The written submissions of the AHA described the variation to Rule 18 thus: The principal alteration to Rule 18 is the replacement of existing Sub Rule (3) with a new Sub Rule to broaden the coverage of the Accommodation Division bearing in mind the extension to the eligibility rule to embrace certain types of unlicensed accommodation establishments. 13Section 245 of the Act is in the following terms: Alteration of rules of State organisation (1) An alteration of the rules of a State organisation does not take effect unless the Industrial Registrar consents to the alteration. (2) The Industrial Registrar may consent to an alteration of the rules in whole or part, but must not consent to an alteration unless satisfied that the alteration: (a) complies with, and is not contrary to, this Act and relevant awards or orders of the Commission made under this Act, and (b) is not otherwise contrary to law, and (c) has been made under the rules of the organisation. (3) The Industrial Registrar must not consent to an alteration of the rules of an industrial organisation of employees relating to eligibility for membership of the organisation if, in relation to persons who would be eligible for membership because of the alteration, there is, in the opinion of the Industrial Registrar, another industrial organisation of employees to which those persons might conveniently belong. (3A) The Industrial Registrar must not consent to an alteration of the rules of an industrial organisation of employees to which Schedule 5 applies relating to eligibility for membership of the organisation (being an application for consent made before, or within 12 months after, the date of assent to the Industrial Relations Amendment (Industrial Representation) Act 2012 ) if, in relation to persons who would be eligible for membership because of the alteration there is, in the opinion of the Industrial Registrar, another organisation: (a) to which those persons could more conveniently belong, and (b) that would more effectively represent those persons. (3B) However, subsection (3A) does not apply if the Industrial Registrar accepts an undertaking from the organisation that the Industrial Registrar considers appropriate to avoid disputes as to the demarcation of the industrial interests of the organisation and any other organisation that might otherwise arise from an overlap between eligibility for membership of the organisation and membership of the other organisation. (3C) In determining under subsection (3A) whether an existing organisation would more effectively represent members than the applicant organisation, the Industrial Registrar must have regard to the resources and representative infrastructure of the applicant. (3D) The Industrial Registrar may refuse to consent to an application referred to in subsection (3A) for consent to an alteration of the rules of an industrial organisation of employees if satisfied that the alteration would contravene an agreement or understanding to which the organisation is a party and that deals with the organisation's right to represent under this Act the industrial interests of a particular class or group of employees. (4) If particulars of an alteration of the rules of a State organisation have been lodged with or recorded by the Industrial Registrar, the Industrial Registrar may, with the consent of the organisation, amend the alteration for the purpose of correcting a typographical, clerical or formal error. (5) If the Industrial Registrar consents under this section to an alteration, the alteration takes effect on the recording of the change by the Industrial Registrar. (6) This section does not apply in relation to an alteration of the rules of a State organisation that is: (a) determined by the Industrial Registrar under section 244, 244A or 247, or (b) proposed to be made for the purpose of an amalgamation under this Part. 14The applicant made a submission, with which I agree, that the provisions of s 245 (namely, sub-sections (3), (3A), (3B), (3C) and (3D)),which constrain the rule making power of the Industrial Registrar in relation to 'conveniently belong' considerations, have no application in the present proceedings because the AHA is an industrial organisation of employers. That conclusion must follow from the plain words of the aforementioned sub-sections of s 245 and the absence of any equivalent provisions in the Act concerning industrial organisations of employers. Whilst there are differences between the statutory schemes for alteration to the rules of organisations between the 1991 Act and the Act, nonetheless, I consider that the decision of Cahill J, then Vice-President, in Re: The Australian Chamber of Manufactures, New South Wales (1993) 50 IR 87 at 97 provides support for this conclusion. 15I turn then to the particular conditions attaching to the alteration of the rules of industrial organisations of employers in s 245 in order to consider whether the alterations sought should be approved.