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For tour guides
Guiding is your profession. The employment paperwork sitting behind it should not have to be.
What you get
Employed properly, so you can get on with the job
You are the face of the company and critical to the guest experience. What you should not also have to be is your own payroll department, super administrator and industrial relations adviser.
- A written contract that sets out your rights and obligations before you start.
- Correct pay, on time — wages checked against the award that actually applies to you.
- Superannuation and PAYG paid on your behalf, not left for you to sort out at tax time.
- Workers compensation cover if you suffer illness or injury.
- Someone to ask when something on your payslip does not look right.
Worth knowing
“I invoice on an ABN — does that make me a contractor?”
Not necessarily, and the law on this changed recently in a way that works in your favour.
Since 26 August 2024, the Fair Work Act works out whether someone is an employee or a contractor by looking at the real substance and practical reality of the working relationship — not simply what the paperwork calls it. Being asked to invoice on an ABN does not, by itself, settle the question.
The protection against sham contracting was tightened at the same time. An employer defending a claim now has to show they reasonably believed the person was a contractor, which is a harder test than the one it replaced.
This matters in guiding because ABN arrangements are common and the difference is not academic. An employee accrues leave, has super paid, is covered by workers compensation, and sits under an award floor. A genuine contractor has none of that automatically.
If you are unsure which you are, that is a reasonable thing to want checked — and it is the sort of question we answer for guides regularly.
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman — Independent contractor changes
Your superannuation
You can now check your super is landing
The rules changed on 1 July 2026, and the change makes underpaid super much easier to spot — including by you.
Sources: ATO — About Payday Super · Fair Work Ombudsman — Payday Super
Common questions
Questions guides ask us
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Which award covers me?
There are six industry awards a tour guide might fall under — Amusement, Hospitality, Live Performance, Passenger Vehicle, Racing Clubs Events, or Wine. Which one, if any, depends on the industry your employer operates in and whether that award has a classification matching your duties and qualifications. If no industry award covers you, you fall under the Miscellaneous Award.
This is why two guides doing similar work for different companies can sit under different awards, on different rates. It is worth having yours checked rather than assumed.
Sources: Fair Work Ombudsman — Award coverage for tour guides · MA000080
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Do I lose work by asking to be employed properly?
Operators who engage guides through us are choosing compliance deliberately — it is the reason they came to us. Being on a correct arrangement is not a favour anyone is doing you; it is what the law contemplates.
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What happens if I am injured on a tour?
Where we employ you, you are covered by workers compensation. This is one of the sharpest differences between employment and an ABN arrangement, and it is the one guides tend to discover at the worst possible moment.
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My work is seasonal. Does that change things?
No. Seasonal and irregular patterns are normal in guiding and they do not remove your entitlements — they just make the record keeping matter more. Handling that pattern correctly is a large part of what we do.
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Do you find me work?
We are an employment services provider, not a placement agency — our role is the employment relationship itself: the contract, the pay, the super, the compliance. If you are working with an operator who engages guides through us, that is where we come in.
The information on this page is general in nature and current at the time of writing. It is not legal advice, and it does not take account of your particular circumstances. For advice on your situation, get in touch.
Looking for professional accreditation? That is a separate thing, and a good one. Tour Guides Australia runs the national Professional Tour Guide Accreditation Program. They accredit your guiding; we look after your employment.
How we fit togetherRun a guiding company? The obligations look rather different from your side of the arrangement.
For tour operatorsNot sure your arrangement is right?
Tell us how you are currently engaged and we will tell you plainly what we see.