National Labour Hire Registration Scheme: Coalition commits again

Ag Minister David Littleproud said a re-elected Coalition would push on with a national scheme to regulate hire providers promised last election.

A Coalition government would push ahead with a national labour hire licensing scheme if the states and territories fail to agree on draft legislation to regulate the sector.

The Coalition promised to introduce a national labour hire licensing scheme for horticulture during the last federal election campaign in 2019.

However three years on and little can be seen of its progress.

The 2019-20 Federal budget set aside $16 million to fund the design and implementation of a National Labour Hire Registration Scheme that would be administered by the Fair Work Ombudsman.

The scheme was to target rogue operators to protect vulnerable workers and level the playing field for businesses “that do the right thing”.

Progress was paused in March 2020, at the beginning of the Covid pandemic, but resumed in August that year.

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said the project had been taken over by Industrial Relations Minister Michaelia Cash to broaden its scope beyond agriculture.

“There has been a couple of states who have made it more problematic than it needs to be,” he said.

“We’d also like mirroring legislation with the states and that’s been challenging for them to agree (upon). We’ve given them a time frame to agree. If that doesn’t happen we need to start putting it in place ourselves.”

Labor’s agriculture spokeswoman Julie Collins also promised that Labor would introduce a national labour hire licensing scheme if elected.

Labor’s election headquarters, which responds to all media inquiries rather than directly through candidates, did not respond to questions for greater detail.

Peter Angel, who runs employment and training company Madec’s harvest trail service, said Victoria and Queensland’s labour hire licensing schemes had proven successful and welcomed any progress on a national model.

“We think they’ve driven the dodgy operators out of business or to become compliant,” Mr Angel said. “Farmers face red tape, and it adds a layer of course, but it does appear to be working.”

Madec is one of the largest farm labour providers in Australia and has to operate in an environment that changes with state borders, with varying legislation regulating the industry in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia but nothing in other states and territories.

Mr Angel said Madec was concerned however it would fall short of the industry’s expectations. The proposed scheme was referred to as a National Labour Hire Registration Scheme in the 2019-20 federal budget.

“The Coalition, when they last talked about a regime, referred to it as a light-touch registration process, rather than a licensing scheme,” Mr Angel said. “It can’t be another toothless tiger.”