On Point - Issue #2
Employment Conditions in the North-West Offshore Areas
- The North-West offshore areas containing oil and gas facilities are located in WA and the NT. Most of the offshore facilities are in WA. In the NT, there is associated infrastructure, a major supply base and future proposed offshore facilities.
- The North-West offshore area is commonly referred to as ‘Commonwealth waters’, but this is not entirely correct. In 1979 the Commonwealth and the States reached agreement about Australia’s offshore jurisdiction. The NT was treated as a State for the purposes of the agreement. The WA and NT ‘boundaries’ are represented in the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 (Cth) (“OPGGSA”).
- Most employment conditions are regulated by the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (“FWA”). The OPGGSA regulates workplace health and safety. However, there are ‘residual conditions’ legislated by WA or the NT, such as long service leave and workers compensation (excluding seafarers).
- Employees working in offshore WA and NT facilities reside in different States and Territories. Issues can arise if there are significant differences between WA and NT conditions, which there are.
- A complicating factor is that the NT exercises Commonwealth jurisdiction. Since Federation, the Territories power has caused tension in the High Court of Australia. This ranges from NT laws having extra-territorial application in the States to rendering State law invalid due to inconsistency.
- In the age of COVID-19, WA and NT could pass novel legislation, such as requiring employees working on offshore facilities to reside ‘locally’.
