The Andrews Labor Government is continuing to improve the integrity and transparency of the labour hire sector, with new figures showing the extensive measures that are being taken to clean up the industry.
The Labour Hire Authority’s (LHA) recently released Annual Report shows a crackdown on dodgy operators, strict reviews of licence applications and a significant take up in the Labour Hire Licensing Scheme.
To prevent the exploitation of labour hire workers, the LHA conducted 2,431 education and compliance inspections across Victoria last financial year.
Officers made thousands of enquiries into non-compliance with workplace laws, such as payments below award wages, unlawful deductions from wages and breaches of occupational health and safety laws.
The LHA assessed and reviewed 2,435 labour hire licences and applications, resulting in nine application refusals, one licence suspension, 95 licence cancellations and 95 licence variations.
One variation involved the former CEO of a labour hire provider who was recently convicted of a serious indictable offence at the County Court. The provider’s licence was altered the day after the verdict was passed down, imposing a condition excluding the defendant from all labour hire services provided by the entity.
The work of the Authority has prevented hundreds of rogue operators from breaking the rules or entering the industry altogether.
With assistance from the Australian Taxation Office, the LHA is also dismantling labour hire providers involved in illegal phoenix activities that leave workers and businesses with outstanding payments and lost entitlements.
As part of the Labour Hire Licensing Scheme, labour hire providers must be licensed to operate in Victoria, hosts (labour hire users) must only use licensed providers and labour hire providers must comply with workplace laws.
The Victorian Government established the Labour Hire Authority in 2019, in response to the Victorian Inquiry into the Labour Hire Industry and Insecure Work.
As stated by Minister for Industrial Relations Tim Pallas
“We’ve continued to act on any evidence that showed serious and deliberate exploitation of workers through labour hire.”
“The labour hire licensing scheme protects hundreds of thousands of Victorian labour hire workers and creates a level playing field for ethical labour hire providers, by stamping out dodgy and dishonest operators.”
As stated by Labour Hire Licensing Commissioner Steve Dargavel
“The LHA has made great progress on cleaning up the labour hire industry and clearing out the rogue operators, but we have more work to do and a significant number of investigations are underway.”
