NEW SOUTH WALES COURT ISSUES JUDGEMENT FOR INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS SECRETARY V/S THE AUSTRALIAN WORKERS' UNION, NEW SOUTH WALES CASE

Australia, Aug. 4 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on July 4:

1. This decision concerns an application, filed on 4 June 2025, pursuant to s 17 of the Industrial Relations Act 1996 (IR Act), to vary the rates of pay of employees in certain classifications under the Crown Employees (Department of Planning and Environment) Sydney Olympic Park Authority Managed Sports Venues Award 2022 (SOPA Award). The parties to the SOPA Award, as identified in cl 2.1 of the Award, are the Industrial Relations Secretary, the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure and The Australian Workers' Union, New South Wales (AWU).

2. The SOPA Award covers certain persons employed in the public service under the Government Sector Employment Act 2013 (GSE Act), in venues run by the Sydney Olympic Park Authority, including the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic, Athletic and Archery Centres, Quaycentre and associated facilities and Satellite Sports Venues.

3. The Sydney Olympic Park Authority is a statutory authority constituted under the Sydney Olympic Park Authority Act 2001 and is subject to the control and direction of the Minister for Planning. Pursuant to s 64 of the Sydney Olympic Park Authority Act persons may be employed in the public service under the GSE Act to enable the Authority to exercise its functions. Pursuant to s 50 of the GSE Act, the Industrial Relations Secretary is, for the purposes of any proceedings relating to public service employees held before a competent tribunal having jurisdiction to deal with industrial matters, taken to be the employer of public service employees. Consequently, the Industrial Relations Secretary is properly named as the Applicant in the application for variation of the SOPA Award (Application).

4. The AWU is named as the Respondent to the Application, but has not filed a Notice of Appearance. The Application, signed by an unnamed solicitor in the employ of Karen Smith, the Crown Solicitor, states that the application for variation "is made with the consent of the parties to provide for the restoration of the relativities between the classifications levels under the Award." Filed with the Application was a draft consent order, apparently signed by another unnamed solicitor in the employ of Karen Smith, Crown Solicitor and by an unidentified person on behalf of the Respondent.

5. The party card for the SOPA Award (maintained by the Registrar pursuant to r 6.7 of the Industrial Relations Commission Rules 2022) records that the persons affected by the Award are the Industrial Relations Secretary, the Office of Sport and the AWU. Following an enquiry made by the Commission as to whether the Office of Sport is an interested party to the Award, the Crown Solicitor advised, by correspondence received by the Commission on 3 July 2025, that:

"The Office of Sport is a separate, Executive Agency which exists under the Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport. It is intended that OOS will become the agency responsible for the management of employees covered by the SOPA Award. However, at present, the Department of Housing, Planning and Infrastructure (sic) is the responsible agency. For these reasons, the Office of Sport could be recognised as a party to the Award and on the party card."

6. As I explain later in this decision, I understand that it is proposed that a new SOPA Award will shortly be made by consent. If the parties consider that the Office of Sport should be a party to the SOPA Award, either in lieu of, or in addition to, the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, it should make that application when applying for the new consent Award. For present purposes I do not propose to make that change, particularly in circumstances where it is not clear whether the listing of the Office of Sport as a party to the SOPA Award is agreed to by the AWU, however on the basis of the above information I consider that the Office of Sport has a sufficient interest in the SOPA Award to remain on the party card so as to ensure that it is served with any subsequent process relating to the SOPA Award. I also consider that as a party to the SOPA Award the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure should also be listed on the party card and will direct the Registrar to ensure that it is.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/197d30dd7166106b4f8de8de)

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