Which Australian states require a labour hire licence?

If you hire workers through a labour hire agency in Australia, here's the first question worth asking: does that agency actually need a licence — and does it hold one?

The answer depends entirely on where the work happens. Right now, four states and territories run mandatory labour hire licensing schemes. The rest don't — yet. Here's where things stand in 2026.

The short answer

Labour hire providers must be licensed in:

• Victoria
• Queensland
• South Australia
• the Australian Capital Territory

There's no licensing scheme (currently) in New South Wales, Western Australia, Tasmania or the Northern Territory — or in New Zealand.

So if you're staffing a warehouse in Melbourne or Brisbane, your provider needs a licence. The same crew, doing the same work in Sydney or Perth, doesn't require one. Same country, completely different rulebook.

The bit that catches businesses out

Most people assume licensing is the provider's problem. In the licensed states, it's yours too.

In Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT, it is a separate offence to use an unlicensed provider — even if you didn't know they were unlicensed. The law puts a duty on the host (that's you, the business receiving the workers), not just on the agency supplying them.

The penalties aren't symbolic, either:

• In Victoria, using an unlicensed provider can run to roughly $160,000 for an individual and over $650,000 for a company.
• In Queensland, it's about $172,000 — or up to three years' imprisonment — for an individual, and around $500,000 for a company.
• South Australia sits at $140,000 for a person and $400,000 for a body corporate.
• The ACT carries penalties into six figures for individuals and the millions for corporations.

Queensland and South Australia give hosts a "reasonable excuse" defence — and checking the public register before you engage a provider is exactly the kind of step that defence expects. Victoria's host offence is stricter: nobody has to prove you knew.

The takeaway is simple. In a licensed state, "we didn't realise they weren't licensed" is not a great place to be standing.

State by state, 2026

A couple of the "yes" states are worth a closer look, because 2026 has already moved the goalposts.

South Australia just got broader

South Australia's scheme used to cover only a handful of high-risk industries. From 29 January 2026, it applies to labour hire in every industry. Providers who were previously outside the net now need a licence, with a transition period running into the middle of the year. If you use labour in SA and assumed you were exempt, that assumption expired in January.

Victoria is tightening

Victoria passed amendments — in force from 1 June 2026 — that sharpen the "fit and proper person" test and add a financial-viability requirement for licence holders. Broadly, it's a push to weed out the operators who cut corners. For clients, that's a good thing: a Victorian licence now means a little more than it used to.

A national scheme is coming — slowly

There's been talk for years of a single national scheme that would replace the state-by-state patchwork. A national project office now exists and a model is being drafted, but it is not law, and there's no commencement date. For now, the patchwork is what you work with. We watch it closely and we'll update this page when it firms up.

How to check a provider actually holds a licence

Every licensed state publishes a free public register. Before you sign anything, look the provider up:

• Victoria — the Labour Hire Authority register
• Queensland — the Labour Hire Licensing Queensland register
• South Australia — Consumer and Business Services
• ACT — WorkSafe ACT / Access Canberra

It takes two minutes, the licence number should be on the provider's paperwork, and it's the single cleanest way to protect yourself. If a provider can't give you a licence number for a state that requires one, that's your answer.

Where Calima sits

We hold labour hire licences in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia — the states where we crew the most warehouse, container and industrial work, and where the law requires it. Our licence numbers are on our agreements, and you're welcome to check them on the public registers before we put a single person on your site.

Honestly, we think that's how it should be everywhere. Licensing isn't the hard part of running a labour hire business — paying people correctly, insuring them, inducting them properly and turning up when we say we will is the hard part. The licence is just the floor. But it's a floor worth standing on, and in four states it's the law.

Want to know whether a particular site needs a licensed provider, or want our numbers to check? Just ask. And if you're weighing up labour hire more generally, our breakdown of what casual, labour hire and permanent staff really cost covers the money side.