Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

FAIR WORK (REGISTERED ORGANISATIONS) ACT 2009 - SECT 20

             (1)  FWA must grant an application for registration made by an enterprise association that, under section 18, may apply for registration as an organisation if, and only if:

                     (a)  the association:

                              (i)  is a genuine association of a kind referred to in paragraph 18(c); and

                             (ii)  is an association for furthering or protecting the interests of its members; and

                     (b)  the association is free from control by, or improper influence from:

                              (i)  any employer, whether at the enterprise in question or otherwise; or

                             (ii)  any person or body with an interest in that enterprise; or

                            (iii)  any organisation, or any other association of employers or employees; and

                     (c)  the association has at least 20 members who are employees; and

                     (d)  FWA is satisfied that the association would conduct its affairs in a way that meets the obligations of an organisation under this Act and the Fair Work Act; and

                     (e)  the rules of the association make provision as required by this Act to be made by the rules of organisations; and

                      (f)  the association does not have the same name as that of an organisation or a name that is so similar to the name of an organisation as to be likely to cause confusion; and

                     (g)  FWA is satisfied that a majority of the persons eligible to be members of the association support its registration as an organisation; and

                     (h)  a majority of the members present at a general meeting of the association, or an absolute majority of the committee of management of the association, have passed, under the rules of the association, a resolution in favour of registration of the association as an organisation; and

                      (i)  the registration of the association would further Parliament's intention in enacting this Act (see section 5) and the object set out in section 3 of the Fair Work Act.

          (1A)  For the purposes of paragraph (1)(b), if a person or body has an interest in the enterprise in question, FWA may decide that, despite the interest, the association is free from control by, or improper influence from, the person or body.

Note:          FWA could conclude that the association was free from control etc. by the person if, for example, the nature of the person's interest was not such as to give the person a major say in the conduct of the enterprise or if the person did not have a significant management role in the association.

             (2)  In applying paragraph (1)(d), FWA must have regard to whether any recent conduct by the association or its members would have provided grounds for an application under section 28 had the association been registered when the conduct occurred.