Concerning practices found in ATO, FWO sweep of Gold Coast eateries

“Fast food outlets, cafés and restaurants operating in the shadow economy deliberately disadvantage honest businesses, short-change the community and steal from their employees’ futures,” Tax Office assistant commissioner Tony Goding said.

Goding added that the operation, dubbed Operation Crimson, had revealed numerous concerning practices. He warned businesses that significant penalties could apply for misconduct.

“If you run a business, take this as your warning that you can’t get away with exploiting your workers or ripping off the community,” he said.

“At the ATO we have a range of sophisticated methods to detect shadow economy activities and we also work closely with our partner agencies like the Fair Work Ombudsman to catch out those doing the wrong thing, including regularly sharing intelligence and community tip-offs.”

Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said that the hospitality sector remained a priority for them, to ensure that workers were paid correctly and businesses met record-keeping obligations.

“Improving compliance with workplace laws in the fast food, restaurants and cafés industry is a priority for us, as the sector employs many workers who can be vulnerable to exploitation, such as visa holders and young people,” she said.

“These Gold Coast inspections combine first-time visits to many employers and revisits to some others, and are part of our efforts to ensure any who are doing the wrong thing are found out and held to account.”

The FWO and ATO said their investigations throughout the hospitality sector would continue. Previously, the FWO recovered over $215,700 in wages for nearly 450 underpaid workers during a 2020 sweep of 50 Gold Coast eateries.

The investigators found that a whopping 88 per cent of these businesses were non-compliant with workplace laws.

In 2024-25, the FWO secured over $16 million in court-ordered penalties against employers in the hospitality sector. This included its largest penalty ever, a $15.3 million fine against the former operators of Sushi Bay outlets for deliberately exploiting migrant workers.

The regulator urged workers to come forward if they suspected their employer was being non-compliant, noting that the FWO accepted anonymous tips. The Tax Office also linked its tip-off page for those wanting to report suspected tax evasion and shadow economy behaviour.