The Fair Work Commission has ruled that the University of Melbourne, when hiring for continuing positions, must conduct an internal hiring process among existing casual and fixed-term staff prior to any external hiring. 

In a June decision, Commissioner Ben Redford determined that the University of Melbourne’s 2024 Enterprise Agreement, which regulates the terms and conditions of employment at the University, bars the University from simultaneously fielding internal and external job candidates for continuing roles.

Rather, the University must first exhaust its internal pool of casual and fixed-term applicants, and is only permitted to proceed to external hiring if no suitable candidates are present. 

The current Enterprise Agreement was enshrined following the NTEU’s unprecedented industrial action throughout 2023. 

“For too long, talented and dedicated staff were kept in limbo–semester after semester–while permanent jobs were quietly handed to external hires,” said UniMelb NTEU Branch President David Gonzalez in a union press release.