One dated row across the eight jurisdictions
The same question asked of all eight jurisdictions, each answer dated as its source dates it.
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QLD
Labour Hire Licensing Queensland: all providers must be licensed, under a scheme that began on 16 April 2018.
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VIC
The Labour Hire Authority: a provider has to hold a licence, and a host can engage only a licensed provider; the scheme began on 29 April 2019.
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SA
Consumer and Business Services: all industries from 29 January 2026, with a six-month grace period to 29 July 2026.
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ACT
WorkSafe ACT: the licensing scheme began on 27 May 2021.
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NSW
The NSW Government: there is currently no licensing scheme in New South Wales.
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WA
No specific labour hire regulation, as at March 2023.
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TAS
No specific labour hire regulation, as at March 2023.
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NT
No specific labour hire regulation, as at March 2023.
Four of the eight carry a start date. WA, TAS and NT rest on the Commonwealth department’s survey of March 2023, and NSW on the NSW Government’s own page.
The schemes, on their own pages
- Queensland: all labour hire providers operating in the state, including providers based interstate or overseas.
- Victoria: a business with an arrangement wholly or principally for the supply of labour, and a single worker supplied to a host can be enough.
- South Australia: “You’ll need a licence if” the business provides workers directly to a host, or indirectly through one or more agents or intermediaries, to carry out work as part of the host’s business or commercial undertaking.
- ACT: a provider is covered if it is based in the ACT, hires out labour beyond it, or is based elsewhere and supplies labour into the ACT.
Queensland’s scheme began on 16 April 2018; Victoria’s on 29 April 2019; the ACT’s on 27 May 2021.
In South Australia, licensing was extended to all industries from 29 January 2026, with a six-month grace period to 29 July 2026 for providers in the newly added industries.
Across whole industries, not named sectors: the Commonwealth department’s March 2023 survey described the Queensland, Victorian and ACT schemes that way, and South Australia’s coverage moved to all industries on 29 January 2026.
What a licence covers
- Queensland: providers must be licensed before they can supply workers, and a licence cannot be transferred, sold or lent to anyone else.
- Victoria: only providers with an active licence may advertise or provide labour hire services, and an applicant must not start before the licence is granted.
- South Australia: a provider must hold a valid licence before operating.
- ACT: a provider must be licensed before providing labour hire services.
Queensland’s and the ACT’s licences are renewed annually, with the renewal made before the licence expires.
In Victoria a renewal can be lodged as early as six months before the current licence expires, and it covers a period of up to three years.
What a licence does not do
The ACT’s own page notes that host businesses do not hold the licence; they should only take workers from a business that holds one.
Victoria’s Authority adds, in a worked example, that a security business supplying guards as labour hire still needs a labour hire licence; its private security licence does not change that.
A licence can carry conditions. In the ACT the licence states the licence number and any conditions.
The Fair Work Ombudsman’s guide suggests checking whether a provider’s licence carries conditions that control how it does business, such as limits on subcontracting in a supply chain.
Where a scheme is checked
Queensland’s register lists licensed providers, with a separate list of pending applications; the ACT’s register lets workers, businesses and the community check a licence’s status.
The registers themselves, and what each one shows, are the subject of the question about checking a licence.
Where the official words are
The four schemes’ own pages stand behind the four dated rows: Labour Hire Licensing Queensland, the Labour Hire Authority (Victoria), Consumer and Business Services (SA) and WorkSafe ACT, whose licensing page and 2021 licence release are listed together.
NSW’s answer is from nsw.gov.au, and the WA, TAS and NT position is the Commonwealth department’s survey of March 2023. All were read on 13 October 2026.