Labour hire licensing is one of those compliance items that looks like paperwork until the day it isn’t. It isn’t national, the rules changed in Victoria in June 2026, and in two of the states where most construction happens there is no scheme at all. If you engage labour hire across borders, here’s what actually applies where — and what you should be checking before workers start.
There is no national scheme
Australia has four separate labour hire licensing schemes, run by four different regulators: Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory. There is no Commonwealth licence, and a licence issued in one state does not cover you in another.
New South Wales and Western Australia have no labour hire licensing scheme. That surprises people, because NSW and WA carry an enormous amount of construction work. It doesn’t mean anything goes — workplace, tax, super and WHS law all still apply in full — it means there’s no licence to check, so the checking falls to you.
Where the licence is required
Queensland
Every labour hire provider supplying workers in Queensland must be licensed, including providers based interstate or overseas. Where the business is registered is irrelevant; what matters is where the workers are supplied. A Sydney-based provider sending workers to a Brisbane site needs a Queensland licence.
Victoria
Same principle: to operate legally in Victoria a provider must hold a Victorian licence — and Victoria has just raised the bar. From 1 June 2026, all Victorian licence holders face new obligations:
- A stronger fit and proper person test, extended to anyone who exerts control over the business, now weighing character, professionalism and integrity.
- Compliance declarations covering financial viability and a wider set of laws — bankruptcy, consumer protection, fair trading and corporate regulation.
- Business compliance plans: the Authority can require documentation showing how the provider’s model meets its obligations in practice, across workplace, employment, tax, super, WHS, migration and labour hire law.
Penalties for non-compliance exceed $660,000 for a company and $160,000 for an individual. Victoria has also signalled further changes later in 2026 dealing specifically with construction activities and the definition of a labour hire service — worth watching if you build in Victoria.
South Australia and the ACT
Both operate schemes on the same logic: supply workers there, be licensed there.
The part that catches host businesses
These schemes don’t only regulate providers. In the licensed states it is an offence for a host to engage an unlicensed provider. You can be exposed for who you hired from, not just for what you did — and “we didn’t know” has never been much of a defence.
The check itself takes about a minute. Each scheme publishes a public register of licensed providers. Search the provider’s name, confirm the licence is current, and keep a record of the date you checked. Do it again at renewal rather than assuming it rolled over.
What to check in NSW and WA
With no licence to look up, the burden shifts entirely onto your own due diligence. Reasonable things to ask a provider for:
- Workers compensation cover, current, in the state where the work happens.
- Public liability, with the certificate of currency — not a claim in an email.
- Evidence of correct engagement: PAYG, superannuation, award rates and classifications.
- Right to work checks for every worker supplied.
- Tickets and inductions matched to the actual task, current on the day.
A useful shortcut: ask whether they hold a licence in Queensland or Victoria anyway. A provider licensed in a scheme state has already been assessed on financial viability and compliance history by a regulator. That assessment doesn’t legally extend to a NSW site — but it tells you someone independent has looked at the books.
Cross-border work is where it goes wrong
The common failure isn’t a provider with no licence anywhere. It’s a provider licensed in one state supplying into another where they aren’t — usually because a job moved, or a client asked for workers “just for a couple of weeks” over the border. The obligation follows the place of work, every time. If your project spans states, confirm the licence for each state the workers actually set foot in.
A short checklist
- QLD, VIC, SA, ACT — licence required. Check the public register before engaging.
- NSW, WA — no scheme. Do your own due diligence, in writing.
- Licences are per state, not national. Cross-border work needs cross-border checks.
- Victoria’s obligations tightened on 1 June 2026, with construction-specific changes still coming.
- Hosts carry exposure too, not just providers.
Where DL Aus Group sits
We hold a Queensland labour hire licence (LHL-04372-G3F0N) and a Victorian labour hire licence (VICLHL03363), and we supply across QLD, NSW, VIC & WA. Both numbers are on our site because you shouldn’t have to ask for them — you should be able to check them on the register yourself.
See our compliance details or talk to us about your next project.
