• Legislation & regulations

Labour hire providers and hosts should be aware of changes to make Victoria’s labour hire laws stronger and broader from 1 June 2026.

The Labour Hire Legislation Amendment (Licensing) Bill 2025 (Vic), passed by the Victorian Parliament in December, is being implemented in stages during 2026.

The Bill introduces a range of changes to further address unlawful conduct, and to protect workers and legitimate businesses.

From 1 June 2026, there will new requirements relating to who is considered suitable to hold a labour hire licence, and on what basis.

The Labour Hire Authority (LHA) emailed all licensed providers in mid-April regarding these changes, and will provide further information to support providers in May and June as the changes take effect.

A stronger fit and proper person test

People who wish to be involved in running a labour hire company – as a nominated officer or relevant person – will need to pass a more rigorous ‘fit and proper person test’.

LHA will be able to consider new factors to determine whether a person is fit and proper, including:

• if the person is under the control or influence of another person who is not fit and proper
• the person’s character, including their honesty, integrity and professionalism.

Overall compliance is more important

LHA will have more scope to assess compliance with relevant laws to make licensing decisions – including to refuse an application or cancel a licence – by considering:

• previous, current and ongoing compliance with relevant laws
• a wider range of relevant laws, in addition to the existing labour hire and workplace laws, including laws relating to bankruptcy, consumer protection, fair trading and corporate regulation.

Businesses must be financially viable

To apply for or renew a licence, a labour hire business will need to declare that it is financially viable, and LHA must be satisfied that a business is financially viable.

What it means for licence holders and applicants

These new requirements will apply to all licence holders and applicants from 1 June 2026.

There will be a range of changes to the information LHA collects through licence applications, renewal applications, annual reports and other transactions, and to how LHA assesses that information.

Licence holders and applicants who submit transactions prior to 1 June may need to provide additional information after 1 June to ensure they meet the new requirements.

The changes to Victoria’s labour hire laws are all outlined in the Labour Hire Legislation Amendment (Licensing) Bill.

A new web page provides more information on the implementation of these changes – visit Labour hire law changes 2026.

Providers are strongly encouraged to review this information, and:

• assess any impacts of the changes on their business and its relevant persons, including if they may no longer be fit and proper
• seek independent advice as needed. 

Providers will need to notify LHA within 30 days of any change to information they have provided regarding the fit and proper status of their relevant persons – failure to do so may result in licensing action including cancellation.

Upcoming LHLO portal outage – annual reports, renewals and applications

To implement these changes, some LHLO portal functionality will be taken offline ahead of 1 June, with all unsubmitted transactions deleted at this time, as follows:

• From 24 May: New licence applications will be unavailable, and unsubmitted applications will be deleted from the portal.
• From 4.00 pm 29 May: Renewals, annual reports and other transactions will be unavailable; all draft transactions will be deleted from the portal.

The LHLO portal will be available with the new transaction forms on 1 June.

More information

For more information on the changes from 1 June, visit Labour hire law changes 2026.