Industry organisations are ringing alarm bells as the NSW Government tables new legislation that would give health and safety representatives and union officials access to employers’ ‘digital work systems’.
The amendment Bill – Work Health and Safety Amendment (Digital Work Systems) Bill 2025 – affects workplaces that use digital work systems, including scheduling and rostering tools, AI and other software.
ARA CEO Chris Rodwell said union officials could gain wide access to employers’ digital systems on the basis of a suspected WHS contravention.
“The Bill proposes unprecedented access to commercially sensitive digital systems, from AI and automation tools to routine scheduling and payroll platforms,” Rodwell said. “This is a backward step on privacy and security that would not be allowed to occur in any other setting. It is also a significant departure from existing WHS laws and from the nationally harmonised framework which NSW has long supported.”
The Bill also introduces new duties around ‘digital work systems’ — including everyday workplace tools such as email, rostering software, payroll platforms, AI systems and basic scheduling applications — that were not subject to proper consultation and extend well beyond established WHS obligations, the ARA and NRA added.
Rodwell said the proposed laws would impose significant uncertainty and compliance burdens on thousands of NSW businesses, including small and family-run retailers already under pressure.
“Retailers are committed to safe and healthy workplaces, but these changes go far beyond the established WHS framework. They were introduced without consultation, they are poorly defined, and they risk creating confusion, duplication and unintended obligations for businesses across the state,” he said.
The Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA) also weighed in, warning the Bill will increase compliance obligations for small businesses and expose them to severe penalties.
COSBOA chair Matthew Addison called it a “trojan horse”, indicating how union officials can access all sorts of data, including platforms containing payroll data, customer lists, pricing algorithms, and operational strategies.
“Small businesses have legitimate commercial-in-confidence concerns about union officials accessing their operational systems,” Addison said.
“There are inadequate safeguards preventing these powers being used for industrial rather than safety purposes. A union official does not need access to an entire customer database to investigate a safety issue.”
The Bill also introduces new offences for breaches involving everyday software used by small businesses.
Addison said the legislation fundamentally misunderstands how small businesses use technology.
“The Bill makes small business owners liable for work allocation, and anything from a standard spreadsheet to a basic off-the-shelf system is caught up in this overreach.”
Addison said compliance obligations within the Bill are equally unclear, as it requires businesses to ensure digital systems don't create “excessive”, “unreasonable” or “discriminatory” outcomes, yet none of these terms are defined. Small businesses face significant liability without a clear understanding of what compliance actually looks like.
“The NSW Government is creating penalties first and promising to define them later through regulator guidelines. That is backwards and fundamentally unfair.”
Meanwhile, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry pointed out that the Bill has not been the subject to a thorough consultation with the industry.
“It is the role of Safe Work Australia and its associated tripartite process to monitor emerging hazards, and those matters that the Bill seeks to address are already accommodated within the existing model framework. On this basis the Bill should not be progressed,” ACCI shared in a statement.
“In the event your Government resolves to pursue the Bill, robust consultation on its impacts is crucial. Only if progressed, the Bill should be referred to a Parliamentary inquiry, alternatively, we would welcome the opportunity to meet with you in person to discuss our concerns.”
The group of organisations blasting the Bill also highlighted how it breaks away from national standards.
“Ongoing duplication and misalignment between the model WHS laws and individual State and Territory legislation is causing growing confusion for businesses operating across jurisdictions,” ACCI shared. “These inconsistencies increase compliance costs, create uncertainty and, most notably, erode safety outcomes.”
Rodwell from the ARA shared the same sentiments.
“We are at peak regulation and governments have committed to helping harmonise and reduce duplicate legislative requirements,” Rodwell said. “If the NSW Government wishes to explore reform in this area, it must occur through national consultation. Introducing state-based laws of this kind risks fragmenting the WHS system and increasing costs for businesses that operate across multiple jurisdictions.
The ARA and NRA urge the NSW Government to use the appropriate national pathways for considering emerging risks, such as a structured Safe Work Australia consultation with employers, unions and government. Until this occurs, the Bill should not proceed.
“Retailers support modern, safe workplaces, but reforms must be balanced, evidence-based and workable. These provisions do not meet that test. We urge the Government to reconsider this Bill and return to a nationally consistent, consultative reform process,” Rodwell said.