Marine Tourism and Charter Vessels Award

The coverage exercise is mainly about what the vessel is being used for. A vessel used for tourism and charter work can fit this award, but a regular commuter or scheduled ferry operation does not fit the industry definition even if the vessel and the crew look similar at first glance.

• Start with the vessel activity, not just the fact that the business operates boats.
• Use this award for tourism, charter and leisure vessel work, not regular scheduled ferry transport.
• If more than one award might be relevant, use the classification that is most appropriate to the work performed and the environment in which it is normally performed.

The engagement paperwork matters under this award because the whole system is built around whether the employee is in the overnight or non-overnight stream. That distinction has to be visible from the start in both the written notice and the payroll setup.

• Give the required written notice at engagement stating the overnight or non-overnight stream, employment type, classification and rate of pay.
• For casual employees, also specify the likely trips the employee will be required to work.
• Check the different minimum engagement rules for casual overnight and casual non-overnight employees, and keep them separate in payroll.

Rostering is stream specific under this award. The employer cannot simply lift a day charter roster into the overnight stream or vice versa, because the award uses different limits and recovery requirements for the two kinds of work.

• Non-overnight employees have one set of ordinary hours rules, including a daily minimum and maximum within the spread prescribed by the award.
• Overnight employees have a different set of ordinary hours limits, including a roster cycle cap and a daily cap.
• Employees are entitled to unpaid meal breaks and paid rest breaks, and the award also sets a minimum break between rostered duty times.

The pay model is one of the main technical traps in this award. Overnight charters are not just longer versions of day work. They have their own rate method, and that method already deals with matters that employers sometimes try to add or remove manually without checking the clause.

• Overnight Charter Employees are paid through a daily rate and charter length structure.
• The award says the overnight rate structure has been calculated to include compensation for weekend and public holiday penalty rates.
• Non-overnight Charter Employees use a different rate structure for ordinary hours worked.

Crew support and allowance issues are central to this award, not peripheral. Vessel operators should price them into the job at the itinerary stage because they arise from how the vessel is run, where it goes and what qualifications the role requires.

• Check whether employees are required to hold MED certificates and whether the relevant allowance rules apply.
• For certain itineraries, outer reef work can trigger an allowance for the master.
• When overtime meal conditions are met, provide a suitable meal or the award's meal alternative.
• For overnight charters, provide proper meals, a bed and clean linen, and provide vessel based meals and refreshments for all employees under the award.

After hours contact can feel normal in charter operations, but the award now sits alongside the statutory right to disconnect. That means operators should think carefully about who needs to be contacted, why, and whether the contact is connected to a real roster or safety need.

• The award reflects the employee right to disconnect under the Fair Work Act.
• Tourism vessel operations often use changing departure times, urgent itinerary changes and casual trip engagement, so after hours contact should be deliberate rather than assumed.
• Review roster communication practices so contact outside working hours is tied to actual operational need.

The award does not use a single generic casual model. Casual trip work and casual hourly work are treated differently, so the roster, time records and payroll treatment should reflect the stream actually being used.

• A casual Overnight Charter Employee is engaged to work specified trip or trips.
• A casual Non-overnight Charter Employee is engaged to work a variety of hours subject to the award limits.
• The overtime references are different for the two casual streams and should be coded separately.

PR799280, PR799373, PR799528

The current consolidated award incorporates these recent variation determinations. Use the consolidated wording when checking any affected clause, schedule, rate or allowance.

Affected: 15 - Minimum rates, 17 - Allowances, Schedule A - Summary of Hourly Rates of Pay, Schedule B - Summary of Monetary Allowances, Schedule C - Supported Wage System