[1] Rintoul Pty Ltd. (the Employer) has made an application for approval of an enterprise agreement known as the Rintoul Pty Ltd (Site) Enterprise Agreement 2023-2027 (the Agreement) pursuant to s.185 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act). The Agreement is a single enterprise agreement.

Transitional arrangements under the Secure Jobs, Better Pay amendment

[2] The Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Act 2022 (Cth) (Amending Act) made a number of changes to enterprise agreement approval processes in Part 2-4 of the Act, that commenced operation on 6 June 2023. The notification time for the Agreement under s.173(2) was 12 February 2024 and the Agreement was made on 21 February 2025. Accordingly, both the genuine agreement and the better off overall test requirements are those applying on and from 6 June 2023.

[3] It was identified that the notification time provided on the Employer's Form F17 was referred to as both 12 February 2024 and 12 February 2025.

[4] On 1 April 2025, the Employer submitted that the correct notification time was 12 February 2024 and the alternate date had been a typographical error. Accordingly, I allow for a correction to be made to the erroneous date on the Form F17 pursuant to s.586(a) of the Act.

Notification of time, place and method of vote and Consideration of Genuine Agreement

[5] The notification of time, place and method of vote occurred on 14 February 2025. Voting for the Agreement commenced on 21 February 2025. This was only 6 clear days prior to the commencement of voting, rather than 7 full calendar days as the period referred to by the Fair Work (Statement of Principles on Genuine Agreement) Instrument 2023 (Statement of Principles) at [15] to [16].

[6] Section 188(1) of the Act provides that the Statement of Principles must be taken into account in determining whether an Agreement has been genuinely agreed to by the employees who are to be covered by that Agreement.

[7] The Employer provided submissions that the Commission could be satisfied that the Agreement had been genuinely agreed to, notwithstanding that the notification of the vote had been provided less than 7 calendar days prior to its commencement. The Employer referred to the votes' high participation and approval rate and the fact that the Agreement is a 'roll-over' Agreement which is similar in content and form to the Agreement previously covering the employees. The Employer's submissions also noted that there had been a small number of employees who had been absent on the day of the vote. The Employer submitted that if these employees had participated in the vote and had voted against the approval of the Agreement, this would not have affected the majority vote which had been received. Further, the Employer submitted that based on the discussions conducted throughout the bargaining process, it had no reason to believe that the absent employees would have voted against the approval of the Agreement.

[8] I am satisfied having regard to those submissions, the Statement of Principles and the material before the Commission that employees were provided with a reasonable opportunity to vote on the proposed agreement. I consider, having had regard to this and the other material and submissions made regarding the agreement making process that the Agreement has been genuinely agreed to by employees.

Notice of Employee Representational Rights (NERR)

[9] The NERR was erroneous in that the name of the proposed enterprise agreement was incorrect, reading 'Rintoul Pty Ltd (Site) Enterprise Agreement 2019-2023' [emphasis added]. Per the title clause of the Agreement, the Agreement is known as 'Rintoul Pty Ltd (Site) Enterprise Agreement 2023-2027' [emphasis added]. The Employer provided submissions that this matter constituted a minor technical error.

[10] I am satisfied having regard to those submissions and the decision of the Full Bench in Huntsman Chemical Company Australia Pty Limited T/A RMAX Rigid Cellular Plastics & Others,[1] that these matters constituted minor technical or procedural errors for the purposes of s.188(5) of the Act, and that the employees covered by the Agreement were not likely to have been disadvantaged by the errors.

[11] The employer provided written undertakings. A copy of the undertakings is attached in Annexure A. I am satisfied that the undertakings will not cause financial detriment to any employee covered by the Agreement and that the undertakings will not result in substantial changes to the Agreement. The undertakings are taken to be a term of the Agreement.

[12] Subject to the undertakings referred to above, and having had regard to the Statement of Principles on Genuine Agreement, I am satisfied that each of the requirements of ss.186, 187, 188 and 190 as are relevant to this application for approval have been met.

[13] The Agreement is approved and, in accordance with s.54 of the Act, will operate from 10 April 2025. The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 3 April 2029.

[1] [2019] FWCFB 318.

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