ENTERPRISE BARGAINING – bargaining representative – privacy – s.185 Fair Work Act 2009 – application for approval of the Ron Southon P/L Enterprise Agreement 2016-2020 – CFMEU was not a party to the agreement – CFMEU sought access to Forms F16 and F17 lodged by employer – prior approval for enterprise agreement had been appealed by CFMEU [[2016] FWCFB 8413] (the Appeal) – Appeal had been allowed on the grounds that the agreement contravened s.55 of FW Act – employer submitted that access to the documents should be balanced with the need to protect the privacy of the individual bargaining agents – further submitted that the comments of the Full Bench in the Appeal relating to access to the documents were obiter – Full Bench had said that the Forms F16 and F17 should be ‘freely available to any member of the public’ unless exceptional circumstances ‘justify an order of confidentiality’ – CFMEU submitted that employer had not identified any exceptional circumstances that would prevent their access to the documents – Commission found that employer had provided no basis for conclusion of exceptional circumstances, and concluded that the Full Bench had considered the issue of access to the forms which was fully argued – Commission held that the finding of the Full Bench could not be considered obiter and was bound by the decision of the Full Bench – copies of the forms to be forwarded to the CFMEU. Construction, Forestry Mining and Energy Union v Ron Southon P/L
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