Regional Publishers (Western Victoria) Pty Limited

AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY MEDIA JOURNALISTS' VIC ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT 2025

Application for approval of the Australian Community Media Journalists' VIC Enterprise Agreement 2025

[1] Regional Publishers (Western Victoria) Pty Limited has applied for approval of a single enterprise agreement known as the Australian Community Media Journalists' VIC Enterprise Agreement 2025 (Agreement). The application is made under section 185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Act).

[2] Clause 11.3 of the Agreement is titled "Redundancy". Clause 11.3(f) provides that "where the Employer or any other Related Body Corporate of the Employer obtains for an Employee an offer of acceptable alternative employment, the Employer will not be required to make any redundancy payment to that Employee". However, an employer is obliged to pay an employee the redundancy pay prescribed by section 119 of the Act unless the Commission determines under section 120 that it can pay a lesser amount.

[3] Having noted that, clause 1.4(a) of the Agreement provides that no term of the Agreement "will operate to exclude" the National Employment Standards. On that basis, I am satisfied that clause 11.3(f) will not be applied in practice to deny an employee redundancy pay to which they are entitled under the NES, and that the apparent inconsistency between the clause and the NES does not prevent the approval of the Agreement.

[4] Having regard to the material in the application and accompanying declaration, I am satisfied that each of the requirements of sections 186, 187 and 188 of the Act as are relevant to the application have been met.

[5] The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) was a bargaining representative for the Agreement. It supports approval of the Agreement. It has given notice under section 183 of the Act that it wants the Agreement to cover it. As required by section 201(2) of the Act, I note that the Agreement covers the MEAA.

[6] The Agreement is approved. In accordance with section 54 of the Act, the Agreement will operate from 14 April 2026. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 14 April 2029.

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