Tipping might not be as ingrained in Australian culture as it is in the United States, but it's here to stay and it's becoming more common every year. Whether it's at your local café, a restaurant or through a food delivery app, more Australians are leaving tips for good service.

In fact, despite the cost-of-living crunch, the average tip in Australia increased by 25% between 2024 and 2025.

However, did you know that employers have zero legal obligations to pass tips on to employees?

That’s right. The 10% tip you gave to that excellent waiter last week; there is zero legal guarantee they ever saw a cent of it.

Most hospitality businesses do the right thing and pass tips on to their staff. But without any legal protections, there are still businesses that don't do the right thing.

Over my 12 years working in hospitality, I've seen tips:

• Used to cover breakages.
• Paid out based on written knowledge tests.
• Given only to long-term staff, while newer employees got nothing.

As tipping becomes more common, our laws haven't kept up.

No matter where you stand on tipping, I think most Australians would agree on one thing: if you leave a tip for a worker, that money should go to the worker.

That's why I'm putting together a petition to the Queensland and Australian Ministers for Industrial Relations, calling for laws that:

• Require employers to pass tips on to employees.
• Require hospitality businesses to have a clear, written tipping policy that's available to both staff and customers.

If you agree that tips should end up in workers' pockets, I'd love your support. Sign the petition and help make tipping fair for hospitality workers across Australia.