128Appeals

128  Appeals  (1) A person seeking to institute an appeal under section 604 of the Act against a decision of:  (a) a single FWC Member; or  (b) the General Manager; or  (c) a person exercising a delegation from the President or the General Manager; must do so by lodging a notice of appeal. Note 1: The notice of appeal must be in the approved form: see rule 9. Note 2: Section 604 of the Act allows a person aggrieved by a decision of the FWC (other than a decision of a Full Bench or an Expert Panel), or of the General Manager (including a delegate of the General Manager) under the Registered Organisations Act, to appeal the decision, with the permission of the FWC.  (2) The notice of appeal must be lodged:  (a) within 21 days after the date of the decision being appealed against; or  (b) if the decision was issued in the form of an order—within 21 days after the date of the order; or  (c) within such further time allowed by the FWC on application by the appellant. Note: Subsection 598(4) of the Act provides that a decision may be made as an order.  (3) The appellant must, within 7 days after the day on which the appellant lodged the notice of appeal, lodge with the FWC:  (a) one copy of an appeal book, electronically in PDF format; or  (b) if the appellant is unable to lodge electronically—3 copies of an appeal book in hard copy form.  (4) The appeal book must contain:  (a) any order made by the FWC to which the appeal relates; and  (b) the statement of the reasons for the decision being appealed against; and  (c) if a copy of the transcript of the evidence and argument in the matter from which the appeal is brought is available from the FWC’s transcription service provider and the FWC has not exempted the appellant under subrule (7)—a copy of the transcript or the relevant extract from the transcript; and  (d) a copy of each document that was an exhibit or written submission in the matter from which the appeal is brought that relates to the grounds of appeal set out in the notice of appeal.  (5) The appeal book must be paginated in continuous Arabic numerals, starting with “1” on the first page of the document (reckoned inclusive of all pages of the document, including any title pages or tables of contents).  (6) As soon as practicable after lodging the appeal book, the appellant must serve a copy of the appeal book on each other party to the matter from which the appeal is brought.  (7) For the purposes of paragraph (4)(c), the FWC may exempt an appellant from the requirement to provide a copy of the transcript, or the relevant extract of a transcript, if:  (a) the FWC has not given the appellant a copy of the transcript; and  (b) the appellant has not purchased a copy of the transcript from the FWC’s transcription service provider; and  (c) the FWC has given the appellant access to the audio recording of the evidence and argument in the matter; and  (d) the FWC is satisfied that it is appropriate to do so, taking into account the subject matter of the appeal. Note 1: If the FWC orders a transcript of the evidence and argument in the matter from which the appeal is brought, the FWC will usually give a copy free of charge to each party to the matter. A copy of the transcript may also be purchased from the FWC’s transcription service provider. Note 2: A party to a matter may apply for access to the FWC’s audio recording of a proceeding by submitting an audio request form. In 2024, this form was available on the FWC’s website (http://www.fwc.gov.au).