Coverage of modern awards

In TWU v Coles (2013) FCAFC 148 the Full Court of the Federal Court stated that the test for determining whether a modern award applied, “is to discern the objective meaning of the words bearing in mind the context in which they appear and the purpose they are intended to serve”………..The test in TWU v Coles requires the Commission to take into account the historical context of the electrical power industry, the context in which the EPI Modern Award was created and the industrial purpose sought to be achieved by modern awards generally.
By way of example, we would say that a man is bald if he does not have a hair on his head. However, we would not say that the same man ceased to be bald if he had one hair on his head. I am unable to come to the conclusion, in these unusual circumstances, that BHPBIO is in the electrical power industry because it provides electrical power to the town of Newman.
Finally, for the Applicant to be covered by the EPI Award, it is necessary that the employer be in the electrical power industry and their employees be employed in the classifications listed in Clause 16”.
Campbell v BHP Billiton Iron Ore Pty Ltd (2015) FWC 3318 delivered on 3 June 2015 per Cloghan C