A parliamentary inquiry into the National Employment Standards (NES) is currently underway, focusing attention on whether the 12 basic entitlements of minimum terms and conditions of employment standards are good enough. Some of the questions the Committee will be asking include: Are the NES fit for purpose in the context of the changing nature of work? Do the NES provide sufficient protections to all employees from diverse backgrounds? Are they working as intended? 

The NES were established to provide ‘a safety net which is fair for employers and employees and supports productive workplaces’. They are an important element of the Australian workplace relations system, underpinning working conditions and protections for most wage earners in Australia, along with modern awards.

There were 10 standards when the NES were first established with the Fair Work Act 2009. Now there are 12 entitlements setting minimum standards in relation to maximum weekly work hours, requests for flexible working arrangements, minimum leave entitlements, public holidays, termination notice and redundancy pay, casual employee pathways to permanent employment, employer superannuation contributions and information that must be provided to employees.  

While there have been some innovative reforms to the NES in recent years, we know there are weaknesses and gaps in this safety net.

One shortcoming is that the NES do not cover all workers who need the protection of minimum standards. Notably, non-employee workers engaged as contractors, such a digital platform or ‘gig’ workers and others who are classified as ‘self-employed’, are not covered by the NES, even though they may have very little labour market power, including some dependent contractors. Casual employees are also excluded from some entitlements in the NES. Other entitlements are restricted based on employees’ length of employment.

Some NES provisions are weak or ineffective. For example, there is an NES provision on maximum weekly working hours that allows employers to require employees to work reasonable additional hours. However, there is no hard definition of what is reasonable and there is not even a requirement for the additional hours to be paid.  

In addition to addressing these and other shortcomings in the NES, another good reason for the Government to be considering how to strengthen the NES right now is to make sure the NES promote secure work and gender equality. Secure work and gender equality were only recently included in the objects of the Fair Work Act in 2022 ‘as part of an Australian Government commitment to improve job security and put gender equality at the centre of the workplace relations system.’

The promotion of both secure work and gender equality requires minimum standards and entitlements that prevent insecure, unpredictable work and that enable workers to balance work and care responsibilities.

Changes are needed that move the norm or ‘standard’ working time arrangement away from an inflexible full year full-time job with four weeks’ annual leave. This model might have worked for many families when women were assumed to be fully engaged in unpaid domestic and care work in the home. It does not meet the needs of most households and families now. Over the course of many people’s working lives there are multiple periods in which paid work is being combined with care responsibilities. If there is a ‘standard’ model of work, it should be a model of flexible work that enables work and care.

One much needed addition to the standards is a provision to ensure workers have greater predictability in their working time. Another is an increase in minimum annual leave entitlements from four to five weeks. This is a change that is long overdue, as there has been no decrease in full-time work hours for almost 50 years, despite productivity growth. Many full-time employees are working long hours, and they are working a lot of unpaid overtime. Centre for Future Work research in 2025 found the average full-time worker was working over five weeks a year in unpaid overtime. 

Better alignment of the employment standards to the nature of the workforce and workers’ lives also requires some improvements in carer’s leave. The existing carer’s leave entitlement is combined with personal leave. This means workers with care and family responsibilities may have to choose to use their leave either to care for others or to care for themselves when they are sick, because carer’s leave is not in addition to personal leave. Other changes to carer’s leave are needed to make sure it is inclusive and recognises the diversity of families and a broader range of care activities.