Yes, but it bears noting that the "independent" FWC presidents are appointed by the government of the day.

It's why under the Liberals they reduced Sunday penalty rates to Saturday rates for hospo workers.

It's not independent, really, and it's kinda annoying that they keep hyping it up to be.

It's pretty shoddy as a regulator, considering my award literally says (paraphrased) "refer to section 62 of the act" under what counts as a reasonable request for overtime.

And so, we all work "reasonable hours of overtime" every single week.

Like, THAT WAS YOUR JOB FWC, ffs.

Labor put through a pretty milquetoast bill (Protecting Penalty and Overtime Rates Bill 2025) that will fix this eventually, but it only kicks in whenever the FWC get around to updating your award (which is on a 3 year cycle, I believe).

Kinda annoying, because they cited the "independent" nature of the FWC when justifying their approach, and they could have just legislated it pretty easily.

That, and thanks to Labor and the Accords, it has the power to rule your strike illegal.

Anyway, thanks for reading my rant - the FWC is only sort of independent.