From page 679 of the Fair Work Act 2009:
Division 7—Ministerial declarations
431 Ministerial declaration terminating industrial action
(1) The Minister may make a declaration, in writing, terminating
protected industrial action for a proposed enterprise agreement if
the Minister is satisfied that:
(a) the industrial action is being engaged in, or is threatened,
impending or probable; and
(b) the industrial action is threatening, or would threaten:
(i) to endanger the life, the personal safety or health, or the
welfare, of the population or a part of it; or
(ii) to cause significant damage to the Australian economy
or an important part of it.
(2) The declaration comes into operation on the day that it is made.
(3) A declaration under subsection (1) is not a legislative instrument.
I fail to see why this wasn't invoked prior to Joyce announcing the lockout and grounding! The only possible reason, that I can see, is Julia wanted her pet (FWA) to sort the matter out and therefore show how good a system it is. If that is the case why didn't they make the application to FWA prior to the 5pm deadline?
Julia's reasoning that 431, if invoked, could be open to judicial review is a bull
t excuse! Who cares if it was contested judicially, at least she would have stopped the grounding of an airline! As it is 424 maybe contested by the TWU, so what is the difference? The only difference, that I can see, is that the 431 clause was carried over from the previous legislation (Work Choices) and Julia wanted to get kudos for her own legislation ie 424!
As a side note, the Fair Work Act is 670 pages long. No wonder each side has a team of lawyers just to decipher the legislation!
