Purpose:

This Act establishes a licensing scheme to regulate labour hire services, aiming to protect workers from exploitation, safeguard licensed businesses from predatory practices, and promote the integrity of the labour hire industry.

Objectives:

• Protect workers from exploitation by providers of labour hire services.
• Protect licensed labour hire businesses from predatory business practices that may be engaged in by persons unsuitable to be licensed to provide labour hire services.
• Promote the integrity of the labour hire industry.

Key Provisions:

• A licence is required to provide labour hire services, and it is prohibited to advertise or hold out as providing such services without a licence.
• Persons must not enter into arrangements for labour hire services with unlicensed providers or enter into avoidance arrangements designed to circumvent the Act.
• Persons must report avoidance arrangements to the Commissioner.
• Licence holders must provide current licence particulars to the host before supplying a labour hire worker.
• Procedures are established for the application, grant, and conditions of licences, including eligibility criteria and objections to applications.
• Licence holders are required to pay periodic fees and lodge regular reports containing prescribed information, and to notify the Commissioner of certain changes in circumstances.
• The Act outlines provisions for the suspension, cancellation, and surrender of licences, including grounds for such actions.
• Requirements for responsible persons overseeing the day-to-day management of the licensed business are specified, including their availability and procedures for changes or substitutions.
• Authorised officers are empowered to monitor and enforce the Act, including obtaining information, entering premises, and inspecting documents.
• A public register of licences must be maintained by the Commissioner.
• Prohibitions against providing false or misleading information and requirements for advertisements to include licence numbers are in place.

Evidence of Compliance Requirements For Agricultural Organisations:

• Licence Required: Agricultural organisations providing labour hire services must hold a valid licence under this Act. Evidence of compliance is the possession of a current licence document or being listed on the public register as a licence holder.
• Engagement with Licensed Providers: Agricultural organisations acting as hosts must not enter into an arrangement for labour hire services unless the provider is authorised by a licence under this Act. Evidence of compliance is checking the public register (maintained under section 43) to confirm the provider’s licence status at the time of entering the arrangement.
• Reporting Avoidance Arrangements: If an agricultural organisation (as a client) becomes aware that a supply or intended supply of an individual to undertake work is an avoidance arrangement (designed to circumvent or avoid an obligation imposed by this Act), it must, as soon as practicable, provide the Commissioner with written information. This information must include the name of the non-complying person and a brief description of the avoidance arrangement.
• Provision of Licence Particulars to Host: The holder of a licence (or any agent/intermediary involved in the supply) must take all reasonable steps to ensure the host is provided with current licence particulars before the labour hire worker is supplied. These particulars include the name and contact details of the licence holder, the name and contact details of each responsible person for the licence, and the licence number.
• Licence Application: An application for a licence must be submitted in a form approved by the Commissioner, specify the names of nominated responsible persons, include all information required by the Commissioner to determine the application, and be accompanied by the prescribed fee.
• Compliance with Licence Conditions: Licence holders must comply with specific conditions, including those prescribed by regulations for the provision of information to labour hire workers and any other conditions imposed by the Commissioner.
• Periodic Fees and Reports: Licence holders must, at intervals prescribed by regulation, pay the prescribed fee to the Commissioner. Additionally, they must lodge a report with the Commissioner in a form required by the Commissioner containing prescribed information relevant to the corresponding reporting period. The prescribed information includes:
  • Full name and contact details of the licence holder.
  • Business name, ABN, and address of the business subject to the licence.
  • Full name and contact details of each responsible person for the licence.
  • Number of labour hire workers who undertook prescribed work for a host under the licence.
  • Details of the specific industries in which the work was carried out by these workers.
  • Information about compliance with relevant laws by the licence holder.
  • Information about any disciplinary or enforcement action taken against the licence holder by a regulatory body under a relevant law.
  • To the best of the knowledge of the licence holder, the number of notifiable incidents involving a relevant worker notified under section 38 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2012.
  • To the best of the knowledge of the licence holder, the number of applications for compensation made by a relevant worker under the Return to Work Act 2014.
  • Any other information prescribed by the regulations.
  • If a licence holder fails to pay the fee or lodge the report, they must make good the default within 28 days after service of a notice from the Commissioner. Failure to comply results in licence cancellation.
• Notification of Certain Changes: Licence holders must give the Commissioner notice of a change in respect of a prescribed matter relating to the licence within 14 days after the change occurs. Prescribed matters include those related to whether a person is a fit and proper person to be the holder of a licence or a director of a body corporate, details about the licence shown on the register, or activities undertaken under the licence (such as accommodation provided for labour hire workers).
• Provision of Information Upon Commissioner’s Requirement: If required by the Commissioner by written notice, licence holders must provide information relating to the provision of labour hire services, the licence holder’s fit and proper person status, the business’s financial resources, and any other matters relating to the objects of the Act. This information may be required on specified occasions or at periodic intervals and may need to be verified by statutory declaration. Failure to provide information within 28 days of notice may result in licence cancellation.
• Return of Evidence of Suspended or Cancelled Licence: If a licence is suspended or cancelled, the holder may be required by the Commissioner to return any evidence of the licence issued to them within 14 days after receiving notice of the suspension or cancellation.
• Return of Evidence on Surrender: If a licence is surrendered, the person surrendering it may be required by the Commissioner to return any evidence of the licence issued to them within 14 days.
• Responsible Persons’ Availability: The holder of a licence must ensure that each responsible person for the licence is reasonably available to be contacted by the Commissioner, an authorised officer, or a member of the public during business hours.
• Substitute Responsible Person Records (Temporary): If a licence holder appoints a substitute responsible person for a period of not more than 30 days, written notice of the appointment and the individual’s written consent must be kept at the premises where the substitute will manage the business and made available for immediate inspection by an authorised officer who asks to see them. The Commissioner must also be notified of the appointment (in an approved manner and form) and the prescribed fee paid within 7 days of the appointment.
• Prohibition on False or Misleading Information: Any person providing information or keeping records under this Act must ensure that such information or records are not false or misleading in any material particular.
• Advertisement Requirements: The holder of a licence must ensure that any advertisement relating to the provision of labour hire services specifies the licence number, preceded by the letters “LHS,” alongside the name or contact details of the licence holder.
• Inspection and Audit Requirements: Authorised officers have powers to require persons to answer questions (orally or in writing) and produce books or documents (including clear printed reproductions of electronic documents), and to attend at a specified time and place. They also have powers to enter and search premises, vessels, or vehicles (with a warrant for non-workplaces/residential parts), open containers, make inspections, conduct analyses or tests, take samples, examine, copy, and seize books or documents, take photographs/films/video recordings, take measurements and make notes, and give reasonable directions. Books or documents produced or seized may be retained for inspection and copying, and as evidence for legal proceedings.

Metadata Keywords:

Labour Hire, Licensing, South Australia, Agriculture, Horticultural Processing, Meat Processing, Seafood Processing, Worker Protection, Compliance, Regulation

Publication Information:

Version: 1.7.2021 Published under the Legislation Revision and Publication Act 2002 Principal Act: Labour Hire Licensing Act 2017, Assent 12.12.2017, Commencement 1.3.2018.

Agricultural Industry Alignment:

Horticulture, Beef & Veal, Chicken, Pig, Sheep Meat, Fisheries

Date Added to database:

This document was parsed and added to the database on 25-07-2025

URL:

https://www.legislation.sa.gov.au/__legislation/lz/c/a/labour%20hire%20licensing%20act%202017/current/2017.68.auth.pdf →