South Australian Consolidated Acts

FAIR WORK ACT 1994 - SECT 155B

155B—Conciliation conference

        (1)         Before the Court or the Commission hears proceedings to which this Division applies, a conference of the parties must be held for the purpose of exploring—

            (a)         the possibility of resolving the matters at issue by conciliation and ensuring that the parties are fully informed of the possible consequences of taking the proceedings further; and

            (b)         if the proceedings are to progress further and the parties are involved in 2 or more sets of proceedings under this Act—the possibility of hearing and determining some or all of the proceedings concurrently.

        (2)         Any member of the Court or Commission may preside at a conference under subsection (1) unless the parties are in a remote part of the State, in which case the President may authorise a stipendiary magistrate to call and preside at the conference.

        (3)         The person presiding at the conference (the presiding officer) must, not more than 3 business days after the conclusion of the conference—

            (a)         give the parties a preliminary assessment of the merits of the claim (or, if there is more than 1 claim, of each claim) and any defence to the claim (or claims); and

            (b)         recommend to the parties how best to proceed to resolution of the questions in issue between them (or, if in the presiding officer's opinion the application patently lacks merit, recommend that the claim be withdrawn).

        (4)         If a claim is not resolved by conciliation or withdrawn, it will be set down for hearing before the Court or Commission (as the case requires).