Commonwealth Coat of Arms of Australia

Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment (Withdrawal from Amalgamation) Act 2024

No. 69, 2024

An Act to permit certain members of the CFMEU to withdraw from that organisation

[Assented to 9 July 2024]

The Parliament of Australia enacts:

This Act is the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment (Withdrawal from Amalgamation) Act 2024.

(1) Each provision of this Act specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.

Commencement information
Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
Provisions	Commencement	Date/Details
1. The whole of this Act	The day after this Act receives the Royal Assent.	10 July 2024

Note: This table relates only to the provisions of this Act as originally enacted. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this Act.

(2) Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this Act. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this Act.

3 Schedules

Legislation that is specified in a Schedule to this Act is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned, and any other item in a Schedule to this Act has effect according to its terms.

Schedule 1—Amendments

Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009

1 After section 5C

Insert:

5D Schedule 3 has effect

Schedule 3 has effect.

Note: Schedule 3 is about applications for withdrawal from the CFMEU.

2 At the end of the Act

Add:

Schedule 3—Applications for withdrawal from the CFMEU

Note: See section 5D

1 Definitions

In this Schedule:

CFMEU means:

(a) the registered organisation named, as at 2 December 2023, as the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union; or

(b) if the organisation (the old organisation) mentioned in paragraph (a) changes its name, or amalgamates with any other registered organisation of which the old organisation becomes a part under Part 2 of Chapter 3 of this Act—the old organisation under its new name or the other organisation (as the case requires).

Manufacturing Division means the Manufacturing Division as defined in the rules of the CFMEU at the commencement of this clause.

new organisation means the organisation that is registered pursuant to section 110 of the old Act as a result of the withdrawal of the Manufacturing Division from the CFMEU.

old Act means this Act as in force immediately before the commencement of Part 13 of Schedule 1 to the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes No. 2) Act 2024.

Note: Part 13 of Schedule 1 to the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes No. 2) Act 2024 commenced on 27 February 2024. The old Act means this Act as in force on 26 February 2024.

old Regulations means the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Regulations 2009 as in force immediately before the commencement of Part 13 of Schedule 1 to the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes No. 2) Act 2024.

Note: Part 13 of Schedule 1 to the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes No. 2) Act 2024 commenced on 27 February 2024. The old Regulations means the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Regulations 2009 as in force on 26 February 2024.

2 Joint written notice

(1) This clause applies if the Manufacturing Division is proposing to withdraw from the CFMEU.

(2) The CFMEU and the committee of management of the Manufacturing Division may give the Minister a notice, made jointly in writing, containing the following:

(a) a statement of the name, and a copy of the rules, proposed for the organisation (the new organisation) that the Manufacturing Division is to be registered as when the withdrawal from amalgamation takes effect;

(b) a statement of the name, and a copy of the alterations of the rules, proposed for the CFMEU when the withdrawal from amalgamation takes effect;

(c) if there is any overlap between the eligibility rules proposed for the new organisation and the eligibility rules for the CFMEU as proposed to be altered—details of the overlap, along with undertakings from the committee of management of the Manufacturing Division and the CFMEU about how the Manufacturing Division and the CFMEU will avoid demarcation disputes that might otherwise arise from the overlap.

(3) A joint written notice under subclause (2) must:

(a) state that the committee of management of the Manufacturing Division and the CFMEU have reached agreement on the following matters:

(i) the name of the CFMEU when the withdrawal from amalgamation takes effect;

(ii) the eligibility rules included in the copy of the rules proposed for the new organisation when the withdrawal from amalgamation takes effect;

(iii) the eligibility rules for the CFMEU as proposed to be altered when the withdrawal from amalgamation takes effect; and

(b) be signed by:

(i) a person authorised by the committee of management of the CFMEU to sign the notice; and

(ii) a person authorised by the committee of management of the Manufacturing Division to sign the notice.

(4) A reference to a committee of management in subclause (2) or (3) is taken to be a reference to the committee of management as constituted at the time the joint written notice is signed.

3 Application to withdraw from the CFMEU

(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, an application may be made to the FWC for a secret ballot to be held to decide whether the Manufacturing Division should withdraw from the CFMEU.

(2) Part 3 of Chapter 3 of the old Act, and the old Regulations, apply (subject to this Schedule) in relation to the application and anything done in relation to the application (whether before or after the commencement of this clause).

(3) An application under subclause (1) cannot be made after 31 October 2024.

(4) If an application is made under subclause (1), the application is to be treated (subject to this Schedule) for all purposes as though the application were made pursuant to section 94 of the old Act.

4 Operation of old Act and old Regulations if joint written notice is given by deadline

(1) If a joint written notice is given to the Minister under subclause 2(2) on or before 30 August 2024, the Minister may, by legislative instrument, make a determination:

(a) specifying that, if an application under subclause 3(1) is made, Part 3 of Chapter 3 of the old Act, and the old Regulations, apply, subject to the determination, in relation to the application and anything done in relation to the application (whether before or after the commencement of this clause); and

(b) modifying the operation of provisions of the old Act, or provisions of the old Regulations:

(i) to deal with matters relating to the application or anything that is connected with or arises from the application; or

(ii) to facilitate or give effect to the withdrawal from amalgamation or anything that is connected with or arises from the withdrawal.

(2) Without limiting subclause (1), a determination may make provision in relation to the matters dealt with in clause 5.

(3) A determination under subclause (1) cannot be made after 31 October 2024.

5 Operation of old Act and Regulations if joint written notice not given by deadline

(1) If a joint written notice is not given to the Minister under subclause 2(2) on or before 30 August 2024, the provisions of this clause have effect.

(2) The following provisions of the old Act do not apply in respect of an application made under subclause 3(1):

(a) subsections 94(1) and (2);

(b) section 94A;

(3) An application made under subclause 3(1) is not required to comply with the following provisions of the old Regulations:

(a) paragraph 83(a);

(b) paragraph 83(c);

(d) paragraph 83(f);

(e) particulars 2, 3 and 4 of Form 2 in Schedule 3.

(4) Paragraph 83(b) of the old Regulations has effect as if a reference to the eligibility rules of the amalgamated organisation immediately before the application for a ballot is made were a reference to the eligibility rules of the amalgamated organisation as at 2 December 2023.

(5) A reference in the old Act or the old Regulations to:

(a) amalgamated organisation is taken to be a reference to the CFMEU; and

(b) constituent part or separately identifiable constituent part is taken to be a reference to the Manufacturing Division.

Note 1: It follows that, for example, for the purposes of the following provisions of the old Act, the Manufacturing Division is taken to be the relevant separately identifiable constituent part:

(a) the definitions of constituent member and proposed withdrawal from amalgamation in subsection 93(1);

(b) paragraph 94(3)(c);

(d) paragraph 109(3)(d);

(e) section 111.

Note 2: For the purposes of paragraph (e) of Note 1, section 111 does not apply to all persons eligible to be members of the Manufacturing Division (see subclause (9)).

(6) If an application is made under subclause 3(1) or subsection 109(1) of the old Act, a reference to a committee of management in the following provisions of the old Act is taken to be a reference to the committee of management as constituted at the time the application is made:

(a) subsection 94(3);

(b) subsection 109(3).

Eligibility rules of new organisation and CFMEU

(7) Section 95A of the old Act has effect as if subsections (4) and (5) of that section were omitted and the following subsections were substituted:

“(4) The eligibility rules of the new organisation must reflect the following rules of the CFMEU as at 2 December 2023:

(a) 2(C);

(b) 2(F), but must exclude:

(i) persons who are engaged in Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory or the Northern Territory; and

(ii) floor covering layers in Queensland or Western Australia; and

(iii) persons who are engaged in the plate, sheet or ornamental glass industry in New South Wales or Western Australia and persons engaged in or in connection with the following industries or trades in New South Wales or Western Australia: plate and sheet glass in warehouses, shops, factories or stores, glass bevellers, glass benders, glass workers (excepting those on spectacles, lenses or frames and employees in firms where such employees are engaged on work connected with the manufacture or repair of scientific, precision or other instruments such as binoculars, microscopes, military, aircraft and naval instruments), glass lampshade workers, safety glass workers, glaziers, glass polishing, cutting, painting, cementing, leadlight glaziers and cutters and plate‑glass factories and luxfer glazing;

(d) 2(P)(G);

(e) 2(R).

(5) The eligibility rules of the CFMEU, as proposed to be altered, must not overlap with the eligibility rules of the new organisation when the withdrawal from amalgamation takes effect.”.

(8) Subsection 95A(11) of the old Act has effect as if the words “or (3)” were omitted.

(9) Notwithstanding the definition of Manufacturing Division in clause 1, and paragraph (5)(b) of this clause, section 111 of the old Act (which deals with transfers of membership following withdrawal) does not apply in relation to persons not eligible to be members of the new organisation.

Orders for ballots

(10) Notwithstanding the old Act and the old Regulations, if the application seeks, pursuant to subsection 100(3) of the old Act, that the FWC make orders that the vote of the constituent members be done in whole or in part by attendance ballot, the FWC must make the orders.

6 Alteration of eligibility rules of new organisation and CFMEU under this Act after withdrawal

(1) This clause applies if the Manufacturing Division withdraws from the CFMEU.

(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the FWC or the General Manager must not, after the withdrawal from amalgamation takes effect and before 1 January 2034, consent to an alteration of the eligibility rules of the CFMEU if the FWC or the General Manager (as the case requires) is satisfied that:

(a) the alteration to the eligibility rules would result in an overlap between the eligibility rules of the CFMEU and the new organisation; and

(b) the new organisation has raised an objection to the alteration with the FWC or the General Manager (as the case requires).