Labour hire licensing reforms

Have your say on proposed changes to labour hire licensing laws in South Australia.

What's being decided?

Proposed changes to labour hire licensing laws in South Australia will ensure all labour hire firms and workers are covered by the same laws and regulations. The changes are focused on protecting more workers from exploitation and ensuring that ethical labour hire providers can operate on an even playing field, while keeping administrative burdens to a minimum.

The proposed changes would return industry to largely the same arrangements that were in place when labour hire licensing first commenced in 2018, before 2020 amendments to the law narrowed the scope to just five areas.

We are seeking community feedback to help ensure the new legislation changes will protect workers and bolster the integrity of the labour hire sector.

Background

The Labour Hire Licensing Act 2017 commenced in March 2018, requiring anyone providing labour hire to be licensed. The Act was amended in 2020, narrowing the scheme to only five industries where workers were at particular risk of exploitation: horticulture processing, meat processing, seafood processing, cleaning and trolley collection.

The State Government is concerned that the current law leaves some labour hire workers without important protections and allows labour hire providers to operate without meeting licensing criteria - such as police checks and fit and proper requirements for those managing the day-to-day operations of the labour hire business.

A discussion paper outlining proposed changes to the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2017 has been prepared and we are seeking feedback on these changes.

Get involved

Find out more:

• read the Discussion Paper outlining the proposed changes

Have your say by:

• taking our survey
  
  
• emailing a submission to CBSReforms@sa.gov.au
  
  
• posting your written submission to:
  Regulatory Services - Reform
  Consumer and Business Services
  GPO BOX 1719
  ADELAIDE SA 5001.

Please note that submissions (including name and address details) may be made publicly available. If you do not wish for your submission - or any part of your submission - to be made public, please mark it ‘Confidential - Not for Publication’ and provide your reasons for this.

Please be aware that unless a request for confidentiality is made, information contained in any submission may be referred to publicly or published. Any material identified as ‘confidential’ is still subject to the Freedom of Information Act 1991 and, while efforts will be made to keep the material confidential, in some circumstances it may be disclosed under that Act. Where disclosure of information may identify you, attempts will be made to consult with you under the Freedom of Information Act 1991 before the documents are disclosed.

What are the next steps?

We will consider your feedback about the proposed changes and provide a report to the Minister for Consumer and Business Affairs.

A summary of your feedback will be published on this website.