The Commission, of its own motion, initiated proceedings to vary the Performers Live Award (WA) 1993 pursuant to s 40B of the Industrial Relations Act 1979 (IR Act). The proceedings were initiated to ensure that the award does not contain wages that are less than statutory minimum wages, to remove obsolete, out of date and discriminatory provisions, and to ensure the award did not contain provisions less favourable than the Minimum Conditions of Employment Act 1993 (MCE Act).

The award had not been varied since at least 1999 and contained a number of outdated and obsolete provisions. The Commission provided notice of its intention to vary the award to UnionsWA, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA, the Australian Resources and Energy Employers Association, the Minister for Industrial Relations, the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance of Western Australia (Union of Employees) (MEAA) and the employer respondents named in the award. The Commission sought input from interested parties and were provided feedback by a representative of the Minister.

Through proceedings, an issue arose regarding whether rates of pay in the Award that were below the statutory minimum rate should be corrected by a variation only to the rate of pay that was below the statutory minimum by increasing it to the minimum, or by a variation to reduce the ordinary hours of work from 40 hours per week to 38 hours per week, which would have the effect that most rates would be increased by 5%. The Minister and MEAA each submitted that the latter variation be made, to which no parties object. Senior Commissioner Cosentino determined that the variation to ordinary hours should be made and made orders accordingly.

Further variations to the award included changes to clauses for bereavement and personal leave that may have been discriminatory, the addition of new clauses for family and domestic violence leave and parental leave, updates to clauses pertaining to the manner of payment, casual loading, and other matter relating to rates of pay, and updates to various clauses for clarity, consistency with contemporary standards, and alignment with the IR Act and MCE Act. The Senior Commissioner ordered that the variations be made and take effect on 1 January 2025.

 The decision can be read here.