What it does
This Act is the bridge between two federal workplace systems. It repeals the operative parts of the Workplace Relations Act 1996 and stitches the surviving instruments, entitlements, agreements, awards, applications, appointments and proceedings into the Fair Work Act 2009 framework. Schedule 1 repeals sections 3 to 18, Parts 2 to 23, and Schedules 2 to 9 of the Workplace Relations Act 1996. Sections 1 to 4 commenced on Royal Assent, 25 June 2009. Schedules 1 to 5, 6 (Parts 1 and 2), 6A, 7 to 21 and Schedule 22 items 1 to 90 commenced on 1 July 2009 (the day Part 2-4 of the Fair Work Act commenced). Schedule 6 Part 3 commenced on 1 January 2010 immediately after Part 2-3 of the Fair Work Act commenced.
The Act runs by Schedules. Each Schedule attacks one transition problem: existing instruments (Schedules 3 and 3A), the National Employment Standards bridging period (Schedule 4), award modernisation (Schedules 5, 6, 6A), enterprise agreements made under the new and old Acts (Schedules 7 and 8), minimum wages (Schedule 9), equal remuneration (Schedule 10), transfer of business pre-repeal (Schedule 11), general protections (Schedule 12), unfair dismissal (Schedule 12A), bargaining and industrial action (Schedule 13), right of entry (Schedule 14), stand down (Schedule 15), compliance (Schedule 16), Federal Court and Federal Magistrates Court Fair Work Divisions (Schedule 17), institutional appointments (Schedule 18), dispute settlement (Schedule 19), continued WR Act Schedule 6 (Schedule 20), the Clothing Trades Award (Schedule 21), and registered organisations (Schedule 22, which renames Schedule 1 of the WR Act as the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009). Schedule 23 catches further consequential amendments to the Fair Work Act itself.