Labour hire licence in Australia: a state-by-state guide

A labour hire licence is a state licence a business needs before it can supply workers to another business. As at October 2026, you need one to operate in Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT, and host businesses in those places must only use licensed providers. New South Wales, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory don't have a scheme yet, and there is no national licence.

This guide covers who needs a licence in each state, how to apply, what you have to do once you're licensed, how hosts check a provider, and how a labour hire business keeps its own workers cleared to work.

This is general information, not legal advice. Rules and fees change, so confirm the details with the regulator in your state before you act.

Which states require a labour hire licence?

State or territory	Licence required?	Regulator	Notes (as at October 2026)
Victoria	Yes	Labour Hire Authority (LHA)	Stronger licensing tests from 1 June 2026; definition change from 1 October 2026; some construction roles proposed from 29 October 2026
Queensland	Yes	Office of Industrial Relations (labour hire licensing)	Reports every six months
South Australia	Yes, all industries	Consumer and Business Services (CBS)	Expanded to all industries from 29 January 2026; transition ended 29 July 2026
ACT	Yes	WorkSafe ACT	Licences last up to 12 months unless a regulation allows longer
New South Wales	No	n/a	The NSW Government is considering how to regulate labour hire and working on a nationally consistent framework
Western Australia	No	n/a	No state scheme legislated
Tasmania, NT	No	n/a	No state scheme

If you supply workers across borders, you need a licence in each scheme state where the work happens. A Victorian licence doesn't cover a placement in Queensland.

Who needs a labour hire licence?

In broad terms, you need a licence if your business supplies workers to another business (the "host") and pays those workers. That covers traditional labour hire firms, recruitment agencies that place temps, group training organisations that place apprentices and trainees, and some contractors who mostly supply labour rather than deliver a finished job. Each Act has its own definition and exemptions, so check the wording for your state.

Hosts don't need a licence. But in every scheme state, a host who engages an unlicensed provider can be penalised as well. That makes "is your provider licensed?" a question every host should be able to answer.

State by state

Victoria: the Labour Hire Authority

The Labour Hire Authority (LHA) licenses providers under the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2018 (Vic). Providers can't advertise or supply workers until their licence is granted. You apply online through the LHA's Labour Hire Licensing Online portal.

Victoria is in the middle of a staged set of changes:

• From 1 June 2026: a stronger "fit and proper person" test for anyone who controls the business, a wider look at your compliance history, a financial viability declaration, and disclosure of people who control the business (including shadow directors).
• From 1 October 2026: the general definition of labour hire focuses on whether labour supply is involved, which makes it clearer that you need a licence to supply labour anywhere in a supply chain.
• From 29 October 2026 (proposed, subject to consultation): a licence is needed for traffic management, concreting, crane operating and site security on Victorian Government-funded construction projects worth more than $50 million.

The LHA's 2026 law changes page has the detail. If you're a construction subcontractor in those trades, read it now.

Fees and term (as at October 2026): licences are granted for up to three years. Application, annual and renewal fees are set by turnover tier. For 2026–27, the application fee runs from about $1,865 for businesses turning over $2 million or less to about $9,188 for businesses over $10 million, plus an annual fee. Fees are indexed every 1 July, so check the LHA fees page for the current figures.

Ongoing obligations: submit an annual report on your labour hire activity, pay the annual fee, comply with licence conditions and the laws that apply to your workers, tell the LHA about certain changes, and keep your key people "fit and proper".

Penalties: the LHA states maximum penalties of more than $660,000 per breach for a company and $160,000 for an individual. That applies to providing labour hire without a licence and to engaging an unlicensed provider.

Queensland

Queensland licenses providers under the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2017 (Qld), administered by the Office of Industrial Relations. You apply online at labourhire.qld.gov.au.

Fees (as at October 2026): the licence fee is based on the wages you paid to labour hire workers supplied in Queensland in the last financial year. From 1 July 2026 it ranges from about $1,198 (wages of $1.5 million or less) to about $5,988 (more than $5 million), indexed each year.

Ongoing obligations: licensees report every six months and have 28 days after each period to lodge the report. Late reports can attract a penalty. You also need to keep complying with workplace, tax and safety laws.

Penalties: the most serious offences, including providing labour hire without a licence and a host entering into an arrangement with an unlicensed provider, carry maximum penalties set in penalty units and up to three years' imprisonment for an individual. Penalty unit values change each year, so check the Queensland register and penalties pages for current amounts.

South Australia

South Australia's scheme used to cover only a few industries (horticulture, meat and seafood processing, cleaning and trolley collection). From 29 January 2026 it covers labour hire in all industries, subject to limited exemptions. Providers newly caught by the change had until 29 July 2026 to apply, so as at October 2026 every labour hire provider in SA should be licensed or have had an accepted application lodged by that date.

Licences are issued by Consumer and Business Services (CBS). Applicants are assessed against criteria including police checks and a fit and proper person test.

Penalties: SafeWork SA lists maximum penalties of $140,000 for an individual and $400,000 for a body corporate for operating without a licence. The same maximums apply to a host who enters into an agreement with an unlicensed provider.

ACT

The ACT scheme runs under the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2020 (ACT) and is administered by WorkSafe ACT. A licence can't be issued for longer than 12 months unless a regulation allows a longer period, so most providers renew every year. Hosts don't need a licence but should only use licensed providers, and financial penalties can apply if they don't.

NSW, WA and a national scheme

As at October 2026, there's no labour hire licensing scheme in New South Wales or Western Australia. NSW says it is considering how best to regulate labour hire and is working with the Commonwealth and other states on a nationally consistent framework. There's no national licence or start date yet. If you operate in NSW or WA, keep an eye on your state government's announcements, but you don't need a state licence today.

How to apply for a labour hire licence

The forms differ, but every scheme asks for the same kinds of things. Have these ready before you start:

1. Business details: ABN or ACN, trading names, addresses and the industries and locations you supply into.
2. People who run the business: directors, nominated officers and anyone else who controls it. Expect fit and proper person checks, including police checks.
3. Compliance history: how you meet workplace, tax, super, workers' compensation and safety obligations. Victoria now also asks you to declare that the business is financially viable.
4. Accommodation (if relevant): some schemes ask about accommodation you provide to workers.
5. The fee: paid upfront when you lodge.

Apply well before you need to place workers. In Victoria you can't supply anyone until the licence is granted.

Ongoing compliance once you're licensed

Getting the licence is the start. To keep it, you need to show that you meet your obligations to the people you place, every time. In practice that means:

• Paying workers correctly: award rates, super on time (Payday Super started 1 July 2026), and tax withheld.
• Work rights: every worker is legally allowed to work in Australia, with visa conditions recorded.
• Safety: inductions done, and the licences and tickets each role needs (White Card, high risk work licences, forklift and so on) are current.
• Reporting: six-monthly reports in Queensland, annual reports in Victoria, and notifying the regulator about changes.
• Records: being able to show what you checked, when, and what the worker held on the day.

Most of these are onboarding and record-keeping jobs. They fall over when they live in email threads, shared drives and spreadsheets.

How hosts check a provider is licensed

If you use labour hire, checking the provider is your responsibility. Here's how:

1. Search the register. Each scheme state has a public register of licensed providers, searchable by business name or ABN: the LHA register in Victoria, the Queensland register, the SA licensed labour hire provider register and the WorkSafe ACT register.
2. Match the details. Make sure the ABN and legal name on the register match the business you're contracting with, not a related company.
3. Note the expiry and any conditions. Put the expiry date in your contract file.
4. Re-check before renewing a contract, and again after the licence expiry date.
5. Keep a record of when you checked and what the register showed.

How a labour hire business keeps its workers compliant

Your licence depends on the way you treat your workers, so your onboarding has to be tight. A good onboarding process for a labour hire business looks like this:

1. Collect the new-starter forms digitally. TFN declaration, super choice, bank details and emergency contacts, completed by the worker on their phone. Our employee onboarding checklist covers the full list.
2. Check work rights before the first shift. For visa holders, run a VEVO check and record the conditions. See VEVO checks for employers.
3. Collect and verify the tickets the role needs. For construction placements that usually means a White Card check and, for plant and equipment, a high risk work licence check.
4. Track every expiry. A ticket or visa that lapses mid-placement is a compliance problem for you and the host.
5. Keep an audit trail. When a regulator or host asks, you should be able to show who checked what and when.

How Canyou handles this

Canyou is employee onboarding software built for licence-heavy businesses, including labour hire and GTOs. Onboarding gets them into payroll. It doesn't keep them legal to work. Canyou does both:

• One link per worker. Candidates complete their TFN declaration, super, bank details, contracts and policies on their phone, and validated details sync to Xero, MYOB, Deputy or Cloud Payroll.
• Work rights checked with the Department of Home Affairs. Your admin runs the VEVO check in Canyou and the result is saved against the worker. See work rights checks.
• Tickets and licences tracked to expiry. Workers upload their White Card, high risk licences and other tickets, and Canyou reminds them before anything lapses. See licence and certification management.
• Records ready for an audit. Every form, signature and document is time-stamped against the worker, with sensitive data stored in Australia.

Checking your own or a provider's state labour hire licence inside Canyou is coming soon. For now, use the regulator's register and keep the result with your records.

Fast Labour Hire cut onboarding from 6–10 hours to 15 minutes per worker with Canyou. Read the Fast Labour Hire case study, or book a demo to see it with your own roles. You can also try for free. No credit card required.