AUSTRALIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Sven Burchartz and Jessica Bell, Kalus Kenny Intelex
• to follow the instructions of the coach and team managers, an employer-employee relationship exists in most cir -
A recent example is that of former volleyball player, Elizabeth Brett, who raised concerns about a culture of fear, punitive practices, lack of coach accountability and inadequate athlete support. These concerns led to an official apology from Volleyball Australia in 2024, acknowledging the inappropriate treatment of players in the past. 7.3 Free Movement of Athletes The Department of Home Affairs in Australia offers a Temporary Activity Visa, which allows foreign persons to play, coach, instruct or adjudicate for an Australian sports team, or to undertake high-level sports training within a sporting organisation in Australia, for a period of up to two years. In order to be eligible for a Temporary Activity Visa, applicants must: • have a sponsor or supporter; • have a contract and letter of support from a peak sporting body; and • not work outside of the specified sporting activi - ties. There are no Australian laws preventing governing bodies in sport from imposing limits on the number of foreign athletes in a competition. However, a league may instead impose such limits within their own reg - ulations, subject to any Visa requirements that may apply. 8. Women’s Sport 8.1 Development and Growth of Women’s Sport Australia has made significant progress and invest - ment in developing its women’s sporting industry in recent years, which is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. Notable examples include an AUD5 million invest - ment in 2022 into Basketball Australia to support the delivery of the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup and associated legacy programmes. In 2023, on the back of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the Australian government committed AUD200 million to women’s
cumstances. Salary Caps
Many of the major sporting codes in Australia have implemented salary caps, including the AFL, the National Rugby League (“NRL”) and the Men’s A-League. This means that each club is subject to a limit in respect of the amount they are allowed to spend on athlete contracts. 7.2 Employer/Employee Rights Most jurisdictions in Australia have implemented a single set of work health and safety laws that are known as the model Work Health and Safety (“WHS”) laws. The main objective of the WHS laws is to provide a framework to secure the health and safety of work - ers and workplaces, consistent across the states and territories of Australia. Within those states and territories which have imple - mented the model WHS laws (currently all jurisdictions in Australia other than Victoria and Western Australia), any “person conducting a business or undertaking” must, so far as is reasonably practicable, ensure the health and safety of: • workers engaged, or caused to be engaged, by the person; and • workers whose activities in carrying out work are influenced or directed by the person, while the workers are at work in the business or undertaking. The duty to ensure the health and safety of workers encompasses both the relationship between sporting clubs and the athletes they employ, and the relation - ship between governing bodies and the athletes who play in the competitions they manage and oversee. Governing bodies may also be subject to broader employment–law duties under legislation such as the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), including protections against bullying, discrimination and adverse action.
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