Consultation is now underway on reforms to South Australia’s labour hire licensing laws to better protect workers from exploitation.

The state government is committed to strengthening our state’s labour hire licensing laws to ensure that all labour hire firms and workers are covered by the same laws and regulations.

Previously, anyone who provided labour hire in South Australia was required to be licensed.

However, these laws were changed in 2020 making them apply to only five specific sectors: horticulture processing, meat processing, seafood processing, cleaning and trolley collection leaving a huge number of workers vulnerable to exploitation.

The state government intends to strengthen the Act and ensure that fly-by-night providers from interstate can’t take advantage of poor local regulations by undermining the pay and security of local workers.

This is particularly important with labour hire expanding significantly into other sectors including healthcare and government.

A discussion paper has been prepared outlining the proposed changes including the key criteria that labour hire providers would need to meet to be granted a licence such as passing police checks as well as fit and proper person requirements.

By reverting the laws to the original requirement that all labour hire providers in SA be licensed, this would ensure that ethical labour hire providers can operate in an even playing field, while keeping administrative burdens to a minimum.

Consultation closes on 21 August 2025. To view the discussion paper and make a submission, visit https://yoursay.sa.gov.au/labourhire.