I have considerable experience managing day-to-day workforce issues as well as major employment and industrial litigation. I take a strategic approach to working with clients, and am known for providing prompt and pragmatic advice. As an experienced non-executive director, I also have hands-on experience managing stakeholders in complex legal scenarios.

My specialities include:

• Advising on the implementation of workforce change
• Advising in relation to enterprise bargaining and industrial disputes
• Representing employers in workplace relations tribunals and courts
• Assisting employers with their day to day workplace relations issues including employee misconduct and poor performance
• Defending discrimination claims
• Dealing with workplace safety issues including defending safety prosecutions
• Advising on corporate governance including executive remuneration and termination benefits.

Career highlights

• Achieving outstanding results for clients in enterprise bargaining and other industrial disputes, the largest of which was the ‘Pluto’ dispute involving more than 1,200 striking construction workers on an oil and gas project
• Defending a number of groundbreaking claims in the areas of equal employment opportunity, discrimination and harassment
• Advising boards of listed companies on executive remuneration and compliance
• Counseling statutory authorities, electricity corporations and universities on IR issues
• Assisting with front-end safety advice and prosecutions, particularly in the area of electrical safety
• My ranking in Doyles Guide 2022 as a preeminent employment lawyer (employer representation) and leading workplace health & safety lawyer
• My appointment as a board member on MinterEllison's national board and non-executive director on the board of a not for profit organisation, FORM.

Education
B.Juris, LLB, MBA, GAICD

• What the Stay at Home and Closure Direction in Western Australia means for business
  

  A simple summary of what the lockdown means for business in Western Australia and what you can do

   

• New Respect@Work Bill shifts the focus from response to prevention
  

  The Respect@Work Bill enables the systemic prevention of sexual harassment, sex-based harassment and discrimination, hostile work environments and victimisation by imposing a positive duty on employers to eliminate this conduct as far as possible. Ancillary amendments are proposed to the Respect@Work Act 2021.

• Local Governments to move to State IR System from 1 January 2023
  

  The State Minister for Industrial Relations has announced that WA local governments who have been declared not to be National System Employers will move to the State IR system from 1 January 2023.

• Transparency Tipping Point: Report calls for Freedom of Information reforms
  

  A recent report presented to Government has made recommendations for improving Freedom of Information (FOI) in Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia. This article considers key recommended reforms.

• Recent amendments to the Local Government Act in WA and new regulations
  

  New model standards for the recruitment, performance review and termination of local government CEOs and new requirements for local government codes of conduct came into operation on 3 February 2021.

• Industrial relations update 2024
  

  The latest updates on the Closing Loopholes Bill, changes to Fair Work Commission powers, the ‘right to disconnect’ and IR developments in WA.

• Getting the characterisation of casual employees wrong: Lessons from WorkPac v Skene
  

  With the widespread use of casuals in the higher education sector, a recent Full Federal Court decision is particularly relevant to your university.

  In the decision of WorkPac Pty Ltd v Skene [2018] FCAFC 131, the Full Federal Court found that a casual labour hire worker was an employee entitled to annual leave payments under the National Employment Standards (NES) in the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (Fair Work Act).

• Legal Update: Local Government Amendment Bill 2023
  

  We provide a breakdown of the recent proposed reforms to the Local Government Act 1995 (WA), and how the local government sector is changing.

   

• Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill introduced to Parliament
  

  The Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill represents the largest proposed workplace relations reform since the government came to power earlier this year. We break down the proposed changes and what they mean for organisations.

• Incoming privacy law reform for WA's public sector
  

  The new WA privacy and responsible information sharing (PRIS) laws are in its final stages of the Parliamentary process, requiring public sector organisations to be prepared for reform.

• Western Australia COVID-19 - travel restrictions impacts on employers
  

  At midnight on 5 April 2020, the Government of Western Australia implemented a 'hard' closure of its state border. The closure prevents any person from entering WA unless they fall under the definition of an 'exempt traveller'.

• HR&IR Update: Developments on Labor’s employment and industrial relations policy
  

  As the Federal election campaign gathers pace over the coming months, we are monitoring developments around employment and industrial relations and will keep you updated on the potential implications for your organisation, particularly if we see a change in government.

• Putting the 'fair' back into the Fair Work Act: the High Court rules on paid personal leave
  

  The majority of the High Court of Australia has upheld the employer's appeal of the Federal Court's decision regarding the calculation of paid personal/carer's leave entitlements under section 96(1) of the Fair Work Act 2009.

• Greater flexibility to manage local government workforces through COVID-19
  

  To help local governments to adapt their workplaces during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fair Work Commission and the WA Government have made some changes to the taking of leave. We summarise these workplace law updates.

• Respect@Work Act is now law
  

  The Federal Government's Anti-Discrimination and Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Respect at Work) Act 2022 (Respect@Work Act) is now law.

• HR&IR Update: What you need to know coming into 2019
  

  Key developments that should be top of mind as you start thinking about 2019 include unpaid domestic violence leave, flexible work arrangement discussions, casual conversion rights notice, offsetting casual loading, prompt termination entitlements payment, enhanced whistleblower protections, and updates to bargaining notice requirements and enterprise agreement declarations.

• The Murdoch University termination decision and its impact on bargaining
  

  The implications of the Murdoch University Enterprise Agreement termination decision; whether there will be an appeal and what the decision will mean for other universities and the bargaining landscape.

• WA Parliament's sexual harassment report calls for significant cultural shift in the mining industry
  

  The WA Parliament's Community Development and Justice Standing Committee has identified a systemic failure by mining employers to recognise the sexual harassment happening at mine sites.

   

• Significant changes to the Code for the Tendering and Performance of Building Work 2016
  

  The Federal Government has moved swiftly to implement its election promise to abolish the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC). Whilst the complete shuttering of the regulator will require the repeal of the Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Act (BCIIP Act), the Code for the Tendering and Performance of Building Work 2016 (2016 Code) has been gutted. The move has significant impacts for entities who have performed Commonwealth funded building work subject to the 2016 Code.