Australia's first labour hire licensing regime has commenced this week in Queensland. Brought in with a view to clean up dodgy labour hire practices (see here), labour hire businesses (with some exceptions) must now be licensed to operate in Queensland. If you're engaging labour hire companies, you'll also need to do your homework as you could be in the gun too.

Those operating without a licence face fines of up to $378,450 and the same max penalty applies to those engaging an unlicensed labour hire business.

For labour hire providers, if you haven't done so already, it's time to apply for your licence.

For those using labour hire providers, shore up your procurement and hiring arrangements including making sure your contracts deal with the new laws.

And for those with no connection to Queensland, South Australia's labour hire licence legislation has passed (will commence in September) and Victoria's is currently before Parliament. The other States and Territories could soon follow.

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