Unions are seeking to broaden the NES into a mechanism for social policy, workforce regulation and redistribution, while AREEA cautions the review risks becoming a vehicle for “pre-emptive” expansion of entitlements driven by stakeholder claims. 

AREEA’s detailed submission to the Federal Government’s statutory review of the Closing Loopholes industrial relations laws warns the reforms already risk workplace disruption across the resources and energy sector.

AREEA and Remsmart bring you Edition 7 – February 2026 of our biannual Resources & Energy Industry Workforce Insights & Remuneration Report – Australia’s only dedicated benchmarking resource tailored for the resources and energy sector.

A Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission has reset the ‘genuine agreement’ test introduced as part of the Secure Jobs, Better Pay reforms, overturning a decision that threatened to make enterprise bargaining unworkable for project-based employers.  

Many of Australia’s early female leaders in resources were trailblazers in the truest sense – the first to enter worksites, boardrooms and the technical disciplines previously closed to women. They paved the way for future generations and helped build one of the most advanced, innovative and responsibly operated industries in the world.