• Compliance & enforcement

Snapshot data for 2023-24 shows further progress has been made to improve worker protection, transparency and integrity in Victoria’s labour hire industry.

Preliminary data for the year shows the Labour Hire Authority (LHA) delivered expanded compliance and enforcement programs and enhanced its education and engagement activities to help providers and hosts meet their obligations under the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2018 (Vic).

Licensing snapshot – 2023-24

By the end of 2023-24, 5,663 businesses held a labour hire licence – the highest number since the labour hire licensing (LHL) scheme began in 2019 – including 1,240 new licences granted over the year.

The LHA licensing team continued processing the first round of licence renewals, with 1,056 renewals granted in 2023-24.

As an industry, commercial cleaning saw the highest growth in licensed providers, with 89 new licensees, followed by the health care and social assistance industries with an increase of 60 new licensed businesses.

Compliance and enforcement snapshot

LHA continued to expand its compliance and enforcement program in 2023-24, focusing on high-risk industries and high-impact harms, leveraging data and intelligence to direct activities.

The year saw significant compliance outcomes achieved across industries and regions, with hundreds of warnings and cancellations of licences for non-compliance issued.

The volume of LHA enforcement activity also reached an all-time high in 2023-24.

December 2023 saw the Supreme Court of Victoria issue the largest total penalty for breaches of labour hire law in Australian history – a total of $617,916 – following a successful LHA prosecution.

Elsewhere in 2023-24, LHA investigations led to several major legal actions, including:

• a case filed in July 2023 for multiple alleged breaches of obligations around company directors of Monorom Labours Power Pty Ltd, which operated in the Yarra Valley and Koo Wee Rup
• an undertaking from Cameron Workforce Pty Ltd in September 2023 that the company would refrain from providing labour hire services without a licence
• proceedings filed in the Supreme Court of Victoria in October 2023 alleging Rocktown Pty Ltd engaged two unlicensed subcontractors to supply workers
• the successful prosecution of Honey Bunny Global Pty Ltd in December 2023 for engaging unlicensed providers to source workers for farms in the Cobram area.

LHA also expanded its collaboration with other regulators in 2023-24 to ensure non-compliance can be investigated and enforced across different workplace laws and obligations that fall under each regulator’s jurisdiction.

In October 2023, several providers were successfully prosecuted following collaboration between LHA and Queensland’s Labour Hire Licensing Compliance Unit (LHLCU).

A joint operation in April 2024 between LHA and the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) investigated possible underpayments and other non-compliance by labour hire providers at a farm in Melbourne’s south-east.

With hundreds of investigations finalised, and more ongoing, it’s been a significant year for LHA compliance and enforcement.

Education and engagement snapshot

LHA enhanced and expanded its education and engagement activities in 2023-24, supporting industry stakeholders with relevant information and resources across a range of channels.

LHA continued its program of industry engagement with a total of 81 events and activities reaching labour hire providers, hosts and workers, along with unions, employers, industry groups and other stakeholders.

The engagement program included information sessions for providers and hosts, expos and LHA’s first introductory webinar tailored to providers, which attracted more than 150 attendees.

All LHA information channels saw record audiences in 2023-24 – website traffic increased 45%, LHA News subscribers increased by 2,000, and LHA was mentioned in the media more than 400 times.

The LHA website was upgraded in November 2023, making information clearer and more accessible, with improved page templates and simplified navigation. The Labour Hire Licence Register was also upgraded to improve its speed and useability.

As a result, website users found the information and resources they needed more quickly, on average visiting fewer pages and spending one minute less on the site per visit.

An LHA communications campaign targeting horticulture workers ran in December 2023 and January 2024, with advertising running across digital, social media, radio and press channels, translated into nine languages.

The campaign generated almost 30,000 visits to the campaign web page over a six-week period, making it the most-visited page on the LHA website during that time.

Responding to enquiries and requesting information

Ensuring stakeholders have clear and relevant information on their obligations is integral to LHA’s mission of creating a fair and lawful labour hire industry.

The year saw growing industry awareness, supported by significantly improved access to information via LHA’s communication channels and engagement activities.

The LHA Enquiries team continued to manage a significant volume of activity across the year, responding to many thousands of phone and email enquiries.