Victoria drags feet on national Labour Hire Regulator

The state has been tasked with leading the national project to establish a regulator to oversee labour hire providers but work appears to have stalled.

Victoria is delaying the rollout of a national labour hire regulator as illegal labour hire providers run rampant across regional and rural Australia.

A year ago workplace relations ministers from each state and territory agreed Victoria was to lead the national project of harmonising existing labour hire laws across Australia.

The state was also tasked with creating a National Labour Hire Regulator, modelled on Victoria’s Labour Hire Authority.

The state’s Labour Hire Authority was created in 2018 to stamp out abuse and exploitation of migrant workers illegally employed by labour hire businesses that were paying below-award wages and little or no superannuation.

But it is unclear whether Victoria met its first deadline to develop and present an intergovernmental agreement to establish the national scheme, which was to be signed off on by all workplace relations ministers in July.

The final intergovernmental agreement was to be tabled at the next meeting of ministers this month, but it appears any progress will not be shared until well into next year.

“A project office has been established within Industrial Relations Victoria to undertake the preparatory work required to set up the new national regulator. That work is continuing and is expected to continue into next year,” a Victorian government spokesman said.

“A further update on the progress towards a national labour hire licensing scheme will be provided to the next meeting of workplace relations ministers, which we expect to be scheduled by the commonwealth in the first half of 2025.”

Operation Topaz the the ATO, the Department of Home Affairs and the Fair Work Ombudsman visit seven farms across Southeast Queensland suspected of engaging workers provided by dodgy labour hire providers.

Three weeks ago a joint Australian Taxation Office, Fair Work Ombudsman and Department of Home Affairs task force descended on seven farms across Gatton in Southeast Queensland following tip-offs from the community about suspected labour hire providers operating illegally.

At the same time in Victoria, the state’s Labour Hire Authority began investigating several labour hire providers suspected of alleged illegal phoenix activity and noncompliance with the law after making a surprise visits to Koo Wee Rup farms in October.

This year’s federal budget provided $2m to Victoria to lead the scoping work for a National Labour Hire Regulator and a model law, which will be applied or mirrored in all states and territories.

A spokesman from the federal Department of Employment and Workplace Relations said it was continuing to work with officials from Victoria to progress the intergovernmental agreement and other preparatory work.