The Australian Resources and Energy Employer Association (AREEA) has urged the Federal Government to use its review of the National Employment Standards (NES) to address “structural flaws” in workplace laws affecting 24/7 industries such as mining.
In a submission to the House of Representatives inquiry, AREEA argued the current system no longer reflects how work is performed across continuous, shift-based and FIFO operations.
AREEA chief executive Steve Knott said the gap between legislation and modern work practices is widening nearly two decades after the Fair Work Act was introduced.
“The system no longer reflects how work is actually performed,” Knott said, advising the review should focus on fixing structural issues rather than expanding entitlements or adding regulatory complexity.
“The Government’s NES review must fix what’s broken. It should not become a vehicle for union campaigns to expand entitlements without proper parliamentary process and rigorous scrutiny.”
AREEA identified public holiday provisions as the most pressing concern for mining and other round-the-clock sectors. According to the association, a 2023 Full Federal Court decision has created uncertainty by requiring employers to formally request employees to work public holidays, even when those days are already embedded in long-standing roster arrangements.
“In remote and offshore environments, employees cannot simply walk off-site or down tools on a public holiday,” Knott said.
“The law currently assumes a traditional Monday-to-Friday workplace. That is not how Australia’s resources industry and many others operate. Public holidays are already built into roster design and remuneration structures.”
The association is calling for clearer statutory rules to support roster-based notifications, define how refusals are assessed in FIFO contexts, and prevent double payment where public holidays are already accounted for in salaries.
“This is about restoring common sense and coherence to the safety net, not reducing employee protections. Our workplace laws must recognise that many employees are already compensated for working an assumed number of public holidays each year,” Knott said.
“It defies common sense that resources sector managers should have to ‘request’ FIFO employees to work on a public holiday that already falls within their roster and for which they have already been compensated.”
AREEA also raised concerns about record-keeping requirements tied to annualised salaries, describing them as overly prescriptive and out of step with high-paying mining roles. It said the rules are driving technical non-compliance despite employees being well above award conditions.
The submission proposes simplified compliance mechanisms and “safe harbour” provisions where workers are demonstrably better off.
“This review is an opportunity to modernise the safety net for modern work. It should not be used to expand regulation without evidence of need,” Knott said.
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