• Welcome articles

Welcome to the December edition of LHA News.

As we head towards the new year, I wanted to wish everyone a happy, healthy festive season.

December can be a time to look forward to the year ahead, but also a great opportunity to spend time with family and friends and reflect on the last 12 months.

LHA started 2024 with a communications campaign to inform labour hire workers in the horticulture industry of their rights and how to report unfair treatment.

We built on this campaign with licensing and compliance activities in horticulture throughout the year, resulting in several labour hire licences being refused or cancelled for failure to comply with labour hire licensing and workplace laws.

But horticulture was just one of our focus areas – 2024 saw record levels of LHA compliance activity across many industries, along with significant successful prosecutions, and an extensive program of industry education and engagement.

These outcomes make the industry fairer for everyone – most importantly, for the workers who help bring the festive season alive.

Whether it’s by picking the vegetables or processing the meats for festive meals, or by providing security or cleaning services for end-of-year functions – while it often goes unnoticed, labour hire workers do a great deal to make this time of year possible.

In this edition, we look at the varied role that labour hire plays – and we highlight the actions LHA has taken in 2024 to ensure workers are paid and treated fairly.

Elsewhere this month, we look at businesses’ obligations when employing apprentices, trainees and children under 15.

I hope you enjoy this edition and have a happy and safe holiday season.

Steve Dargavel
Labour Hire Licensing Commissioner

In this Edition

• Keeping labour hire workers front of mind this festive season
• Employ apprentices or trainees? Know your obligations
• Hiring children under 15 for summer seasonal work? What you need to know
• Wrapping up the year and upcoming regional sessions – LHA engagement in 2024
• Details of all providers subject to licensing action in October 2024

Licensing update

November 2024:

• 86 licence applications submitted
• 55 licence renewals granted
• 69 licences granted
• 33 licences refused or cancelled

Resources

• A busy year-end should not make it a dangerous one. For more information on keeping your workers safe during the festive season, visit the WorkSafe website.