"I had the privilege of attending a special event to commemorate the opening of the John Anton Kovacic PSM Hearing Room at the Fair Work Commission's Canberra office ..."

Address to the House of Representatives, Statements by Members, John Kovacic

Tuesday 25 October 2022

Last Friday I had the privilege of attending a special event to commemorate the opening of the John Anton Kovacic PSM Hearing Room at the Fair Work Commission's Canberra office, a special event hosted by Justice Iain Ross, President of the Fair Work Commission.

It's been two years since the untimely passing of Deputy President Kovacic, and it is fitting that the main Canberra hearing room has been named after him, after a career dedicated to cooperative workplace relations—or industrial relations, as many of us who were there would probably prefer. Before being appointed to the Fair Work Commission in 2013, John had enjoyed a long and successful career in the Australian Public Service and served numerous governments as a senior public servant, including as deputy secretary of the department in one of its many forms.

I had the privilege to work for John when he was a branch head, being on opposite yet friendly sides of the table in agency bargaining when he was a division head and appearing before John on a number of occasions in his role as deputy president. In that role, on many occasions he used his particular skills to move the parties through conciliation, all too aware of the limited capacity for arbitration. A commission empowered to have greater conciliation and arbitration powers is well overdue. He was well loved by commission staff and had the respect of all the industrial parties.