The Full Court held (2-1 on jurisdiction, unanimously on the merits) that clause 39.1 of the Victoria Police enterprise agreements requires each individual period of overtime to independently satisfy the continuous half-hour threshold before any payment obligation arises; sub-threshold periods worked before and after shifts cannot be aggregated across a fortnight and treated as if they were ordinary hours to generate a continuous overtime period at the end of the roster cycle. On jurisdiction, the majority held that a justiciable controversy existed despite the absence of individual compensation claims, because the parties' pleadings and agreed facts established a real dispute about the Commissioner's obligation to pay overtime in identified factual circumstances; however, Kennett J dissented, holding the proceeding sought an impermissible advisory opinion on an abstract question of construction divorced from any proven adjudicative facts or identified affected employees.
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