page_title: Gratuity
section_title: Australia
hierarchical_section_title: Gratuity / By region / Oceania / Australia
caption_attribution_description: Jack Nicklaus, with his son Jack Nicklaus II as his caddy, walking up to the 9th green during the 2006 par-3 contest held prior to the Masters Tournament.
context_page_description: A gratuity is a sum of money customarily given by a client or customer to certain service sector workers for the service they have performed, in addition to the basic price of the service. It may or may not be customary to tip servers in bars and restaurants, taxi drivers, hair stylists and so on, but this depends on the country or location. Giving a tip is typically irreversible, differentiating it from the reward mechanism of a placed order, which can be refunded.
  Tips and their amount are a matter of social custom and etiquette, and the custom varies between countries and between settings. In some places tipping is not expected and may be discouraged or considered insulting, while in other places tipping is expected from customers. The customary amount of a tip can be a specific range of monetary amounts or a certain percentage of the bill based on the perceived quality of the service given.
  It is illegal to offer tips to some groups of workers, such as U.S. government workers and more widely police officers; the tips may be regarded as bribery. A fixed percentage service charge is sometimes added to bills in restaurants and similar establishments.
context_section_description: Tipping is not expected or required in Australia. The minimum wage in Australia is reviewed yearly, and as of 2017 it was set at A$17.70 per hour (A$22.125 for casual employees) and this is fairly standard across all types of venues. Tipping at cafés and restaurants (especially for a large party), and tipping of taxi drivers and home food deliverers is again, not required or expected. However many people tend to round up the amount owed while indicating that they are happy to let the worker "keep the change".
  There is no tradition of tipping somebody who is just providing a service (e.g. a hotel porter). Casinos in Australia—and some other places—generally prohibit tipping of gaming staff, as it is considered bribery. For example, in the state of Tasmania, the Gaming Control Act 1993 states in section 56 (4): "It is a condition of every special employee's licence that the special employee must not solicit or accept any gratuity, consideration or other benefit from a patron in a gaming area". There is concern that tipping might become more common in Australia.
caption: A young man (in white) caddies the golf clubs of an older golfer
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