State and Territory Service Teams;
	Statutory Services (Research, Information and Advice) Teams; and
	the Information Management and Technology Team.

State and Territory Service Teams

Registry Service Teams provide comprehensive administrative support for all locally resident and visiting Members of the Commission. Service Team operations and functions include:

	day-to-day management and administration of the Service Team and Registry;
	contacting, notifying and liaising with parties about applications and proceedings, and making arrangements for hearing rooms, court reporting services, interpreter services, messenger, delivery and secretarial services as required;
	contact with industrial parties—receiving notification of disputes, the filing of other matters and the provision of procedural advice and information;
	processing matters concerning financial returns and elections for registered organisations; and
	determining applications for certificates of conscientious objection, waiver of unfair dismissal/unlawful termination lodgment fee.

Summary of workload indicators and outcomes

Table 2: Overall workload

Table 3: Lodgments of all Commission matters by location

Table 4: Percentage of total lodgments by location

Table 5: Lodgments of Commission matters (other than termination of employment) by location

Table 6: Break up of Commission matters (other than termination of employment) by location

Table 7: Number of termination of employment matters lodged by location

Table 8: Number of Registry matters lodged by location

Table 9: Number of hearings by location

The following map is a graphical presentation of the locations of Commission proceedings (including Registry employees and contractors undertaking conferences on termination of employment matters on behalf of the Commission) conducted throughout Australia during 2001–02. Locations of proceedings are represented on the map by a bullet mark.

Chart 6: Geographic location of proceedings conducted throughout Australia

Research, Information and Advice Teams

The Research, Information and Advice Teams (RIAT) are responsible for:

	the provision of quality professional assistance in meeting Commission and Registry information and research requirements, achieved through:
	- providing, on request, timely and accurate research in areas of labour law, economics and workplace relations for Members of the Commission and Registry employees; - provision of current awareness services; - maintenance of a loose-leaf legislation service for Members of the Commission and Registry employees; and - maintenance of the 'Register of Dispute Findings';

performing statutory functions and to exercise the statutory powers arising under Part IX of the Act in relation to registered organisations in a manner which serves to support the objects of that Part (to encourage the democratic control of organisations; to encourage members of organisations to participate in the organisations' affairs; and to encourage the efficient management of organisations) achieved by:

- providing administrative and technical support to Members of the Organisations Panel of the Commission; - provision of timely and accurate information to organisations on the requirements of the Act and on their obligations arising under Part IX of the Act; and - providing facilities to enable public inspection in all Registries of organisations' files and rules; and

	undertaking an advisory role to parties and practitioners who require information on practices and procedures of the Commission achieved by:
	- production of general information booklets and procedural guidelines for parties; - operation of a telephone inquiry service; and - conducting talks and tours of the Commission for interested parties.

Outcomes

Each of the five teams, which are located in Melbourne and Sydney, has responsibility for all aspects of Part IX requirements in relation to a portfolio of registered organisations and undertakes research and meets other information requirements of Members of the Commission and the Registry. This enables considerable flexibility within the team to meet the needs of its full range of clients.

During the year the teams produced 51 issues of the Decisions Summary (which are published in the weekly AIR Bulletin) comprising 1402 decisions, providing Members of the Commission, Registry staff, parties, practitioners and the general public with brief summaries of industrial judgments of the High Court, Federal Court of Australia and federal and State jurisdictions.

As at 30 June 2002 there were 69 employer and 46 employee organisations. The following table sets out (in relation to a selection of matters arising under Part IX of the Act) the number of matters that were finalised within the reporting period and the percentage finalised within 28 days of lodgment in the Registry.

Table 10: Selection of matters finalised under Part IX of the Workplace Relations Act 1996

Information Management and Technology Team

The Information Management and Technology Team (IMTT) is primarily responsible for the management of services and facilities in the areas of information/data management, communications and technology. The team's specific functions include:

	providing advice, support and assistance to Members of the Commission, Associates and other Registry employees in making effective use of existing and new technology applications (including web-based communications) to enhance service delivery with respect to the publication of Commission documents and other Commission/Registry information;
	assisting in the maintenance and development of information technology infrastructure across the Commission and Registry and providing support services to Members of the Commission and Registry employees;
	providing access to all public Commission documents through use of internal databases, the intranet and Internet to internal and external clients;
	providing information to external clients, including publishing Commission documents on the Internet, the provision/conduct of information sessions and access to specialist library services; and
	the effective management of Commission and Registry records, including files and mail.

Outcomes

A summary of developments, initiatives and outcomes for IMTT appears in the Industrial Registrar's Overview. Other major developments during the reporting period included:

	implementation of electronic transfers of Commission and Registry documents, using Adobe Acrobat and email, to external printers for copying (in lieu of forwarding traditional paper copies);
	development of the wide area network (WAN) and Windows 2000 projects;
	roll-out of Internet Explorer 6; and
	development of macros for the extraction of data from CMS.

A recent survey of key external clients indicated that 88 per cent of clients are satisfied with the timeliness of the availability of electronic transcript on the home page, 54 per cent had accessed transcript through the home page, 100 per cent thought this improved the service and 100 per cent were satisfied with the standard of the transcripts provided.

The survey included questions about the use of e-court facilities 69 per cent of clients indicated they would be interested in accessing the Internet in the courtroom, 26 per cent used the Safety Net Review 2002 web site with 91 per cent finding it useful and 90 per cent would like to see more sites like this developed.

Other outcomes for activities undertaken by IMTT during 2001–02 are:

	during the reporting period the team processed 11 882 Commission documents, representing a decrease of 1.4 per cent on the number of documents processed during 2000–01; and
	the Commission issued 5144 awards, orders and decisions during the year. The team also processed 6738 agreements that were certified by the Commission.

Each published Commission document (excluding certified agreements) is now accessible electronically via the Commission's home page, generally within two to 24 hours of receipt in the Registry.

Chart 7 indicates the publishing workload over the last five years:

Chart 7: Number of Commission documents processed

At 30 June 2002, IMTT was maintaining 2177 current awards in consolidated form on the Registry's database. This database was amended on 2207 occasions during the year.

Copies of consolidated awards are now also accessible electronically via the Commission's web site, within one to five days of being updated and loaded onto the Registry's database. Electronic copies of consolidated awards are prepared in Adobe Acrobat, so as to mirror the hardcopy version, and are available through this medium free of charge.