THERE HAS again been movement in the labour hire licensing space, with the Labour Hire Licensing Bill 2017 (Vic) passing Victoria’s lower house of parliament on 8 February 2018.

This is despite opposition from the Coalition, which argued that what is most needed to combat those who deliberately defraud their workers is ‘strong and vigorous enforcement of the existing law’.

“What the government is doing here does nothing to strengthen enforcement of the existing law,” Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Robert Clark, said during the Victorian Parliament’s second reading debate on the bill.

“In fact it goes way beyond the preferred approach of the government’s own expert inquiry which recommended a sector-specific licensing arrangement with capacity to expand or reduce the sectors that are covered.

“The scope of the bill also threatens to do huge damage to the flexibility and competitiveness of the Victorian economy and thus to the ability of the Victorian economy to create jobs for Victorians.”

These comments are in line with AREEA’s view, outlined in our submission to the Victorian Inquiry into the Labour Hire Industry and Insecure Work, and our more recent submission in relation to the scope of the Victoria’s proposed labour hire licensing scheme.

Debate will resume in the upper house this week, where the government needs to secure the votes of two of the five minor party members for the legislation to pass.

If successful, this would make Victoria the third state to have a labour hire licensing scheme in place. Status updates across the country are as follows:

• Queensland: The Labour Hire Licensing Act 2017 (Qld) is set to commence on 16 April 2018. From that date, labour hire providers will have 60 days to lodge an application for a licence. Regulations, including those which would refine the scope of the scheme, are yet to be finalised (see related article).

• South Australia: The Labour Hire Licensing Act 2017 (SA) will come into operation on 1 March 2018, with a transition period of six months to allow labour hire providers to undertake the necessary applications. Businesses must be licensed by 1 September 2018.  The Labour Hire Licensing Regulations 2018 (SA) have also been released. Unfortunately, the regulations are silent on any exemptions to the scheme. This is despite AREEA’s submission that the regulations should include appropriate exclusions to the labour hire licensing scheme, as is permitted by the legislation.

• Tasmania: With an election coming up on 3 March 2018, Labor has announced its policy position that it will commence an inquiry into labour hire practices and ‘wage theft’ in Tasmania that would include ‘seeking advice’ on a labour hire licensing scheme, if it wins the election.

• Other States/National: There have been no announcements as yet from the other States and Territories.

While there is increasing pressure from the Labor-led states for the Federal Government to introduce a national scheme, the Liberal Party maintains that it does not intend to introduce such a scheme, and is an issue for the states.

AREEA’s policy and consulting teams are available to provide more information on these legislative developments and/or assist with any other labour hire licencing matters. Please contact your local AREEA office so we can best direct your enquiry.