C2001/5617, Transcript of Proceedings [2001] AIRCTrans 3223 (26 November 2001)

AUSCRIPT PTY LTD
ABN 76 082 664 220

Level 10, MLC Court 15 Adelaide St BRISBANE Qld 4000
(PO Box 38 Roma St Brisbane Qld 4003) Tel:[phone] Fax:[phone]

TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL

RELATIONS COMMISSION

COMMISSIONER SPENCER

C2001/5617

AUSTRALIAN MUNICIPAL, ADMINISTRATIVE,
CLERICAL AND SERVICES UNION

and

MOUNT ISA CITY COUNCIL

Application under Section 170LW of the Act
for settlement of dispute re restructuring
of members' duties and responsibilities

BRISBANE

1.15 PM, FRIDAY, 9 NOVEMBER 2001

PN1

THE COMMISSIONER: Thank you. We'll take appearances please.

PN2

MS M. ROBERTSON: I appear on behalf of the Australian Services Union, and with me is Ms K. NELSON.

PN3

THE COMMISSIONER: Mr Beer?

PN4

MR R. BEER: I appear for the Local Government Association and on behalf of the Mount Isa City Council. On the other end of the telephone in Mount Isa you have MR A. O'BRIEN, who is the CEO of the Council, MR D. AHNFELDT, Manager Human Resources, and MR K. MONDAL, who is General Manager, Council Services.

PN5

THE COMMISSIONER: Thank you. Good afternoon, thank you for joining us. Now, I understand, Ms Robertson, the other parties have a copy of your notification?

PN6

MS ROBERTSON: That's correct, Commissioner, that was faxed to them on 1 November.

PN7

THE COMMISSIONER: All right. I'll hear from your first, Ms Robertson.

PN8

MS ROBERTSON: Thank you. Commissioner, this dispute is really about two issues. One is the restructuring of the position of the City Librarian. The other issue where the grievance procedures that are contained in the certified agreement and the parent award have been ignored by the officers of Mount Isa City Council. Obviously those issues are related; one has led to the other. So what we are seeking today is to have your assistance in conciliating or helping to resolve this dispute.

PN9

THE COMMISSIONER: Ms Robertson, if I just stop you there. They are - the grievance procedures are as attached to your application?

PN10

MS ROBERTSON: That's correct. It's attachment 1 of the application. They're from the certified agreement. I believe it's appendix A of the certified agreement.

PN11

THE COMMISSIONER: Thank you.

PN12

MS ROBERTSON: Similarly, Commissioner, they reflect the provisions of the - - -

PN13

THE COMMISSIONER: Parent award, yes.

PN14

MS ROBERTSON: - - - parent award. So there's really two issues that we're seeking you assistance on today, Commissioner. Just to give you some of the facts of the case, our member, Mrs Zussino, has been employed as the City Librarian and she's held that position - at the Mount Isa City Council, and she's held that position for some years. Indeed, she's been employed by the Council since 1971, making her a very long term employee. Now, apparently she was told on 26 September that Council considered that a new position description was appropriate. Mrs Zussino didn't consider it to be appropriate but informed the general manager that that would be something that they could draft and that she would have a look at it and consider it.

PN15

She was e-mailed a copy of that position description on 4 October, and I believe that that was fairly late in the afternoon, although I don't have specific information on that. On 5 October Mrs Zussino replied that, while she didn't agree with the job description, it would be a disservice to the Council and to the clients of the Mount Isa Council Library if it was just brought in without, you know, seeking further advice, seeking further amendments. She replied and that afternoon she also met with the Chief Executive Officer and the General Manager of the Council and informed them of her view.

PN16

THE COMMISSIONER: That's Mr O'Brien who's on the phone with us today; is that right?

PN17

MS ROBERTSON: That's correct, Commissioner. About quarter to five on that day Mrs Zussino was told to sign the position description, that she had until 12 o'clock the next working day, which was 8 October, to return it to them and to accept it. Certainly Mrs Zussino sought advice at that stage because she'd been seeking to negotiate with them and she didn't consider the position description to be an appropriate one but was seeking discussions. Mrs Zussino also at that stage didn't have any hard copy of the position description either. That wasn't provided to her until Monday 8 October.

PN18

That was provided to her and she was informed that the restructure would take place on 15 October the following Monday. Throughout this process she sought our advice. We said that, you know, we'd seek to have discussions with Council to see if we could resolve this, and we faxed a letter to Mr O'Brien the following morning seeking a meeting with him and that meeting took place on 11 October. That meeting was attended by our north Queensland organiser, a Mr Besley.

PN19

At that meeting there were discussions about the process that had taken place as well as the position description and it was made clear at that meeting that the union's position and that of Mrs Zussino was that we wanted further discussions on this. We didn't see that it was - that there had been any appropriate consultation that had taken place about the restructuring or the implementation of the new position description. There was a refusal by the CEO at that meeting to go into discussion with Mrs Zussino about the job description and we were informed that the restructure would take place - again we were informed that it would take place from 15 October.

PN20

We requested that the status quo remains in accordance with the grievance procedures which very clearly state that where there is an issue work should continue as normal until some resolution takes place and that's - certainly if we look at the dispute settling procedure that's very clearly stated there in the second paragraph. That request to continue the status quo was refused and at that stage we informed the Council that we would be taking this further.

PN21

THE COMMISSIONER: Just to stop you there, Ms Robertson, you are saying that that was refused. How was that communicated to you?

PN22

MS ROBERTSON: That was communicated verbally to Mr Besley.

PN23

THE COMMISSIONER: At that meeting on the 11th?

PN24

MS ROBERTSON: At that meeting on the 11th.

PN25

THE COMMISSIONER: And was your member present at that meeting?

PN26

MS ROBERTSON: She was. What happened after that is that Mrs Zussino was suspended from duty. I should state Mrs Zussino was quite distressed at this time and was, you know, very shocked at what had happened and at her treatment and she received a letter on 15 October informing her that she'd be directed to take leave. It would be on full pay. It wasn't specific what that - it wasn't specifically stated that that was a suspension of duty, but it was a direction to take leave. She wasn't required to take her annual leave or any other leave, so it was effectively a suspension from duty.

PN27

And the reason for that was that she had refused to accept the new position description even though she'd made several attempts to try and remedy the situation through consultation. They're the bare facts, and I have letters here and faxes and so on which I'm happy to hand up if you need that. We then sought the assistance of this Commission originally via Section 99, and we lodged that on 11 October in an attempt to try and get some resolution for Mrs Zussino. We also faxed a copy of that through to Mount Isa Council and we're aware that they received that. We've subsequently been informed, Commissioner, that Section 170LW of the Act is possibly a more appropriate provision to come to this Commission on this issue on, and that's particularly because it's a provision about status of certified agreements and the ability of the Commission to conciliate those.

PN28

This issue has had a pretty serious impact on Mrs Zussino's health. She's been an employee of the Council, as I stated earlier, for just over 30 years and certainly had an expectation that her employment would continue there. She's always had satisfactory performance appraisals. There haven't been issues in terms of unsatisfactory performance. Those performance appraisals in recent years at least have taken place on an annual basis. So clearly there's been opportunities in the past for - if there were any concerns that they could have been addressed in an appropriate manner rather than the restructuring of a position without any consultation.

PN29

What we're seeking here today, Commissioner, is that Mrs Zussino be given the opportunity to return to her position, the position that she was undertaking prior to her suspension from duty, and that if there is a necessity for reviewing the position descriptions that that takes place with full consultation with Mrs Zussino and the Council and that it's done in a manner that's not wasteful of their resources and detrimental to Mrs Zussino's health. If it pleases, I'll leave my submissions there.

PN30

THE COMMISSIONER: Ms Robertson, just before you finish - and I may ask Mr Beer to address me on the same points - you haven't given me any information about the implications of the restructure, the implications in relation to how you see that that may amend your member's duties, and I'd like Mr Beer to address me on that as well, and I understand that this was - as you've said, this matter was before the Commission previously on Section 99. So I would be asking the parties what they would be seeking.

PN31

I know you have addressed me on that, but specifically what they would be seeking from the Commission in terms of the usage of the Commission's powers to assist the parties this afternoon. And also two other points, and you may want to come back to me on these, but you had talked to me about the agreement. The status of that agreement currently, as I understand - that agreement is expired. Is that correct?

PN32

MS ROBERTSON: If I can just answer that question first, Commissioner, the agreement is past its nominal expiry date.

PN33

THE COMMISSIONER: Right.

PN34

MS ROBERTSON: But there have been no moves by either the union or by the Council to rescind that agreement, so effectively it's still in operation. I understand that there are negotiations under way at this time at the Council in terms of a new certified agreement.

PN35

THE COMMISSIONER: So are these discussions with your member part of the wider discussions that are occurring in terms of the negotiation of that agreement?

PN36

MS ROBERTSON: Not directly, Commissioner, although since members have become aware of what's happened to Mrs Zussino certainly the affectivity of the grievance procedures contained in the current certified agreement and the parent award are certainly issues that are uppermost in the minds of members of the enterprise bargaining team. Of course, dispute settling procedure is something that's integral to a certified agreement and when it's not followed by one of the parties that's caused serious concern amongst those enterprise team members.

PN37

THE COMMISSIONER: Specifically whether your other members - whether there was review of some other job with classifications. Is that occurring or is it just this is just in relation to Mrs Zussino's position?

PN38

MS ROBERTSON: I understand that there is a general review of job descriptions occurring at the council. I'm not aware of how far progressed - - -

PN39

THE COMMISSIONER: I understand.

PN40

MS ROBERTSON: - - - that is. This is the only incidence that we have of a member being aggrieved in this way.

PN41

THE COMMISSIONER: And just in relation to how you're seeking the Commission to process this matter or assist the parties this afternoon, did you have any thoughts in particular in terms of the discharge of our powers under section 170LW?

PN42

MS ROBERTSON: Commissioner, we'd at first instance be seeking that we could resolve this through conciliation and through agreement. Failing that we would be in a situation where we may be requesting a recommendation.

PN43

THE COMMISSIONER: Very well. Thank you, Ms Robertson. Mr Beer?

PN44

MR BEER: Thank you, Commissioner. I guess from where the council stands I should start at the beginning in the sense that in July of this year, there was an appointment made to general manager council services of a Mr Glen Mondal who is on the phone this afternoon. And as general manager of council services he was in charge of - as well as being deputy CEO of the council in charge of a number of council services and activities and amongst those was the responsibility for management of the library service, the library in Mount Isa. I think it's probably fair to say that one of his briefs in assuming that position was to make some changes across the areas of his responsibility to improve management of council's staff and delivery of the services those staff were responsible for.

PN45

And in that respect the number of changes have been made to those areas under Mr Mondal's control and this dispute concerns principally the changes that were made in the library area which, from what I can understand, in terms of impact on staff were not that great but there was a change made to the way in which the library service was to be delivered by virtue of the establishment of a library committee which hadn't previously existed. This committee was made up of three councillors, the general manager of council services and the librarian in charge, the city librarian, which at that time was Mrs Zussino.

PN46

From there the situation becomes a little bit more complicated in terms of the changes that Mr Mondal saw necessary to be made to the operation of the library and the delivery of library services. I guess I should go forward to 18 September where Mr Mondal convened a management team meeting to include a range of co-ordinators and managers under his control not just in the library service but across all areas of his control. The objective of which I think was to indicate to them that there were going to be some changes made in reporting structures and generally the way work was assigned and carried out.

PN47

Mrs Zussino attended that meeting on 18 September but according to the briefing I've had she didn't remain for all of that meeting. In fact, one of the issues of complaint that the council has with her is that she walked out of that managers and co-ordinators meeting on that date before it finished which was an issue they later took up with Mrs Zussino. When queried about why she'd walked out of that meeting on the 18th, there was an e-mail sent by her to the manager indicating that she thought the meeting was a waste of time, that it was derogatory to her personally I guess and that she was offended and resented being mixed in with other manager level or co-ordinator type people and that was the reason she gave for having walked out of that meeting.

PN48

Mr Mondal replied that he thought that sort of behaviour and attitude was unprofessional on her part. And as a result of that, on 26 September called her into a meeting to sit down with her and sort out what her role might be in the future, and took the opportunity at that time to raise a number of management type issues with Mrs Zussino. I should read from the record of that meeting which has been given to me in briefing and I'll do that:

PN49

At the start of the meeting, I explained to Trudy the purpose of the meeting which was to sort out the ...(reads)... give it to her for implementation. Trudy then left the meeting in a huff.

PN50

THE COMMISSIONER: Mr Beer, just if I stop you there: that particular meeting was on what date?

PN51

MR BEER: The 26th.

PN52

THE COMMISSIONER: Of September?

PN53

MR BEER: Of september.

PN54

THE COMMISSIONER: All right. Sorry, to interrupt you.

PN55

MR BEER: That's right. Following that meeting and her refusal to become involved in redrafting or a draft of her position description, the general manager council services proceeded to draft the PD. And I guess in essence it's fair to say that the change in duties encompassed in the PD were basically and very simply to remove from her managerial coverage in that PD to areas of council's operations: firstly, in the library her control or management of staff and, secondly, her control or management of the computer system.

PN56

At that time, as I understand it, the computer system in the library was of a stand alone nature and the objective was to implement an integration of the computer system in the library with the main network operated by the council, and this would mean - pretty much controlled the computer system would come under the control of those people in council who look after the main network and server as opposed to allowing the library computer system to remain a stand alone.

PN57

On 4 October, there was a new position description prepared and e-mailed to Mrs Zussino. In addition, there was a further position description developed for Stephanie McDonald who was, from 15 October, to be appointed as the library co-ordinator, that is, to take over those administrative functions that had been taken out of Mrs Zussino's purview.

PN58

THE COMMISSIONER: That's a new position, Mr Beer?

PN59

MR BEER: Well, I think it's probably an upgraded position in terms of a net addition to establishment numbers. I don't think there was a net increase, but certainly the position of library co-ordinator was remodelled to include these administrative functions for an existing staff member. Both staff members, Ms McDonald and Ms Zussino, were invited to respond via e-mail or any other way they chose to the PDs. Stephanie McDonald came back and said hers was okay. Mrs Zussino refused to accept the PD as it was supplied to her.

PN60

Her response to the new PD on the 4th and 5 October jointly was basically that nothing has changed and that she would propose from this point forward to take no further instructions from management. She in fact made a comment to management that she would only take instructions from this point forward from the ASU which was a situation unacceptable to the council. Following that, there was a letter from management which I think the union has referred to in their submissions, the effect of which was that if she didn't sign the PD by Monday, 8 October, certainly that was council's expectation, there may be some other action taken against her.

PN61

The 9 October, council I think realised that Mrs Zussino was not going to sign the PD and they were resolved upon implementing the restructure such as it was in terms of simply moving administrative functions from one staff member to another and that I guess was the full extent of the restructure that is complained about here this afternoon. Wrote to Mrs Zussino on 9 October indicating that the restructure would go ahead, and effectively removed any obligation on Mrs Zussino to respond or to sign the PD. I think they realised that there was no point in insisting that she sign the PD if she manifestly wasn't going to, in the circumstances.

PN62

There was a meeting with, as indicated by the union in their submissions, on 11 October with the union which, in effect, came to nothing in terms of a practical resolution. The council simply indicated to the union that through the difficult times they'd had with this particular employee, they were taking the view that the only way they were going to make any sort of change and improvement was simply to introduce the change, and they felt it was their right and prerogative to do that. Certainly that didn't satisfy the union and prompted the notification before you this afternoon.

PN63

On 12 October, Mrs Zussino applied for long service leave to commence on 29 October. She had something like 26 weeks long service leave and at that time, it appeared that it was her intention to take somewhere in the order of six months leave from 29 October and that was duly approved by council. On 15 October, the council approached Mrs Zussino on that day, it was a Monday, to request or ask if she was prepared to work in with the changed arrangements in terms of management and staff and the computer system under the new position descriptions which she'd received a copy of.

PN64

Her response to that was that she certainly didn't accept the changed arrangements and she refused. The CEO, on the same day, wrote to Mrs Zussino and I guess it gets a bit vague here, Commissioner. I don't resile from that. Whether or not she was suspended with pay or stood down or what exactly happened to her, the net effect of it was she was told that she could go home on full pay until 29 October when her leave would kick in and council's preference was that she do that to allow for the ease of introduction of the restructure such as it was.

PN65

THE COMMISSIONER: Mr Beer, did you say a letter was sent to that effect?

PN66

MR BEER: That's correct, Commissioner.

PN67

THE COMMISSIONER: Do you have a copy of that, Mr Beer?

PN68

MR BEER: I don't. In my briefing this morning, I had asked the council for a copy . It hadn't arrived by e-mail by the time - - -

PN69

THE COMMISSIONER: That's fine.

PN70

MR BEER: - - - I'd left but that could be made available at some later point.

PN71

THE COMMISSIONER: Yes, I understand.

PN72

MS ROBERTSON: Commissioner, if it assists, I have a copy of that letter.

PN73

THE COMMISSIONER: It's up to Mr Beer.

PN74

MR BEER: I might finish my comments, Commissioner.

PN75

THE COMMISSIONER: Yes.

PN76

MR BEER: On 24 October, Mrs Zussino writes to the council and cancels her long service leave to take effect from 29 October and encloses a medical certificate. The medical certificate takes effect from 29 October through to 12 November and cites work-related stress as being the reason for her now claiming sick leave. Mrs Zussino has somewhere in the order of 32 weeks accrued sick leave owing to her, and on 8 November, yesterday, council received a further certificate for the period 12 November to 26 November indicating medical condition.

PN77

So it's apparent to the council that Mrs Zussino intends to use some of her sick leave entitlement on the basis of some sort of work-related stress associated with changes in her workplace. I have probably missed out some of the detail as the gentlemen on the other end of the phone might point out to me later. There is a fair bit of detail in this issue but I think I've covered most of the main points that need to be covered from council's point of view. I should indicate that council has a view about Mrs Zussino which I suspect might be borne out by further investigation, and that is that - and it's been explained to me in these terms, that Mrs Zussino is what you'd call an old-fashioned librarian, a keeper and hoarder of books in those sorts of terms.

PN78

The plans and the proposals for the library service in Mount Isa to combine it with the civic centre, the museum, and the theatre up there, in order to provide to the community, a combined service and a fully integrated service to the residents of Mount Isa in doing that, is going to involve some changes to the way staff view how they provide services to the residents of Mount Isa, in particular, the person in charge of the library, and I think it's fair to say that it's the council's view that Mrs Zussino is not the type of person in her management skills, probably her personality, her outlook, her background, and her history, to provide those types of integrated services into the future as envisaged by the general manager of council's services.

PN79

And I think that has been amply demonstrated in the two library committee meetings that have occurred since July where it has become quite apparent that Mrs Zussino sees her role and the future of the library in very static terms that there is to be no change to the way in which the library is to operate, or the services of the library are to be provided.

PN80

THE COMMISSIONER: Mr Beer, just on that, you did refer to one management team meeting on 18 September; I thought you just said there were two meetings where this - - -

PN81

MR BEER: Yes, that's a team meeting.

PN82

THE COMMISSIONER: Right.

PN83

MR BEER: The other meetings I'm talking about are library committee meetings which is - the library committee is made up of three councillors who are elected people off the Mount Isa City Council, the general manager of community - of council services and the librarian. The idea of that committee is to look at and consider and make decisions about how the service is going to change, evolve, improve, combine into the future.

PN84

THE COMMISSIONER: Right. You say there's been two of those meetings in addition to this team meeting since July.

PN85

MR BEER: That's right.

PN86

THE COMMISSIONER: And when did they occur?

PN87

MR BEER: The first one - - -

PN88

THE COMMISSIONER: After this 18 September or - - -

PN89

MR BEER: May I ask one of the gentlemen on the phone to assist?

PN90

MR..........: Yes, Roger, the first one was in August.

PN91

MR BEER: August, and the second one?

PN92

MR MONDAL: On 19 October.

PN93

MR BEER: August and October.

PN94

MR MONDAL: September, 19 September, sorry. 19 September.

PN95

MR BEER: Of September. I think it's fair to say that both of those meetings, there's been some degree of conflict between the views and the attitudes and the direction that management wants the library to take through that committee and Mrs Zussino and that would be a matter of record of that particular committee. I don't - Commissioner, I would make the comment that I don't see that establishment, that library committee which hasn't previously existed, as being something that necessarily affects staff structures.

PN96

It is something that the council has done in order to manage the direction of the library generally and it appears to be a case where the new direction set for the library is certainly on a collision course with the views held by Mrs Zussino as to how she sees the library service operating which I think might very well be at the heart of the issues that are in dispute at the moment. I think having said all that, Commissioner, I probably won't say too much more.

PN97

THE COMMISSIONER: Mr Beer, just before you sit down, I did ask Ms Robertson what she was or what process the parties were seeking from the Commission; I'd like to hear the same from you, just in terms of the processing of our power under section 170LW. I understand Ms Robertson has indicated that she would prefer in the initial part that the Commission assist by conciliation this afternoon, and if necessary a recommendation. I would ask both parties, firstly, if that's the intention, the council's view, that you'd like to move in that direction and also I ask Ms Robertson to respond if, failing that conciliation process, whether you are providing the authority for this Commission to arbitrate if necessary, so that I have a view to how to process this matter this afternoon.

PN98

MR BEER: Certainly, Commissioner. I think the council's view on this is that it is certainly a problem. It needs resolving and we would be happy to sit down and participate in a conciliation conference to resolve it, certainly no problem with that. I haven't raised the prospect of the Commission exercising any arbitral powers with respect to this issue with the council and I'd reserve my right to do that, and to get their views on whether that's an appropriate way to deal with this particular issue and it may be if conciliation takes us nowhere, I need to do that.

PN99

THE COMMISSIONER: I understand.

PN100

MR BEER: That's about as much as I can say on that, at this point.

PN101

THE COMMISSIONER: Well, if the parties are in agreement, unless, Ms Robertson, you have some response you'd like to place on the record to Mr Beer's submissions. Alternatively, if the parties are in agreement, we may move into private conference based on your suggestion that we conciliate this matter and I understand that's an agreed position, Mr Beer.

PN102

MR BEER: Yes, Commissioner.

PN103

MS ROBERTSON: Commissioner, I'd just like to respond to one or two things that Mr Beer has said. I mean, the - even throughout his submissions, it remains very clear that - yes, Mrs Zussino didn't accept the changes to her job and made it clear that she wanted to have her concerns about that dealt with. We invoked the grievance procedures as part - as contained in the certified agreement and that has been completely ignored by council. Now, that's an issue that is of concern, not just to Mrs Zussino but also has implications for the rest of the employees up there.

PN104

I probably just want to put that on record and also that Mr Beer has made comments about Mrs Zussino's criticisms of changes or being unwilling to change, referred to her as an old-fashioned librarian, a keeper and hoarder of books. I think that those are statements which don't go towards any sort of productive resolution but certainly as the librarian participating in those meetings, it would be our submission that Mrs Zussino probably had every right to make her opinions known as an expert in that area, regardless of whether people were going to agree with them or not, as a member of whatever those meetings or whatever those committees were. She would have the right, you know, and the duty to - as the city librarian to make her views known.

PN105

I'm not sure whether Mr Beer was referring to Mrs Zussino's age or the fact that she is an employee with a very long period of service with the council, but it certainly didn't go towards any productive statements about trying to resolve this. Thank you.

PN106

THE COMMISSIONER: Well, if the parties are in agreement we might go off the record and go into private conference.

OFF THE RECORD [1.51pm

RESUMED [3.38pm]

PN107

THE COMMISSIONER: The parties resolved into private conciliation conference and the Commission has had lengthy discussions with both parties together and has also had separate discussions with both parties, and as I understand the parties have agreed to undertake another meeting with Ms Robertson's member and Mr Beer's council members, and as I understand Ms Robertson and Mr Beer have conferred on the arrangements on that final communication meeting, as we understand, for this process, and they will put some limited remarks on the record.

PN108

MR BEER: Yes, thank you, Commissioner. In the recess Mrs Zussino has been contacted and she has agreed to attend a meeting with council representatives to discuss a range of issues. The date for the meeting will be finalised with the union early next week and will be within the range of - somewhere between the 19th and 28 November, and when that date is set we will undertake to communicate that date to the Commission in order that a report back date can be finalised. Insofar as the agenda for that meeting is concerned, the council with the LGA will propose an agenda to the union who may care to add issues of their own to that agenda, and then that will form a basis of the discussions that the parties will have. We will undertake to provide that to the Commission as well, as a matter of record.

PN109

THE COMMISSIONER: Thank you.

PN110

MR BEER: And that's, as we understand, the situation currently, Commissioner.

PN111

MS ROBERTSON: Thank you, Commissioner, and thank you for your time today in assisting us to get to this stage. Mr Beer's comments are ones that the union agrees with, and we support the opening up of discussions again in an attempt to resolve this issue. Thank you.

PN112

THE COMMISSIONER: I thank the parties for their assistance in committing the time this afternoon. I think there has been a full and frank discussion between the parties of a range of issues, and I would hope that this next meeting would move us closer to a resolution of the issues in relation to this matter. I look forward to being notified of the agenda of the meeting and the circumstances that the parties will be represented, and we will make time available to re-list this matter should it be necessary.

ADJOURNED INDEFINITELY [3.38pm]