LHA year in review 2024-25

3 July 2025
LHA year in review 2024-25

A snapshot of 2024-25 shows increased focus on high-risk industries has led to significant outcomes in Victoria’s labour hire industry.

Preliminary data 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).

The ongoing focus on industries with higher risk profiles, such as construction and horticulture, led to successful outcomes and further supported LHA’s mission to prevent worker exploitation and improve the integrity and transparency of the industry.

This industry focus in 2024-25 involved a range of site visits and investigations, and resulted in enforcement action including an LHA prosecution that saw a new record total penalty set for breaches of labour hire law in Australia.

Informing hosts of their obligations to only use licensed providers was a focus of LHA communications, targeting hosts in the horticulture and meat and poultry industries in May 2025, and expanding to all industries in July.

Compliance and enforcement

LHA continued to expand its compliance and enforcement program in 2024-25, 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 issued and licences cancelled.

Construction industry focus

LHA took a range of actions against labour hire providers in Victoria’s construction industry in 2024-25, including refusing or cancelling licences and prosecuting unlawful behaviour.

These actions included decisions that removed organised crime and outlaw motorcycle gang figures from the industry.

Common issues identified within the construction industry include:

  • persons who are not fit and proper controlling labour hire businesses
  • complex, multi-tiered supply chains, which increase the risk of worker exploitation
  • misclassification of workers as independent contractors.

The focus on the construction industry saw the highest total penalty for breaches of labour hire law in Australia issued by the Supreme Court of Victoria in September 2024.

A total of $759,674 in penalties were issued to five companies and three company directors for their involvement in unlicensed labour hire operations. The penalties reflected unlawful conduct across multiple layers of subcontracting.

The Court held that construction company Rocktown Pty Ltd had engaged two companies to supply workers, which engaged two further companies to supply workers, and that none of the companies held a labour hire licence.

Following high-profile allegations of unlawful behaviour within the construction industry in 2024, LHA launched a dedicated internal construction taskforce to strengthen its capacity to identify and investigate non-compliance in the industry and enforce compliance.

This taskforce works closely with a range of primary regulators and law enforcement to detect, disrupt and deter non-compliance within the labour hire industry, through:

  • sharing data and intelligence
  • collaboration when assessing licence applications
  • compliance monitoring and investigations
  • joint field activities.

In December 2024, the Victorian Government announced that LHA’s regulatory powers would be strengthened to further address unlawful conduct in the construction industry.

As well as recommendations for legislative changes – to make it clearer which businesses in the industry require a licence, and to enhance LHA’s capacity to regulate the construction industry – the review also recommended the establishment of an alliance of state and federal regulators, law enforcement and other entities. This alliance was established earlier this year.

The alliance’s role in addressing allegations of criminal or unlawful conduct on Victorian Government construction sites includes LHA as a member to share information, coordinate action and inform government of emerging issues on these sites.

LHA’s expanded focus on construction will continue into the new financial year, with the expected strengthening of LHA's powers to address unlawful conduct in the industry.

Horticulture industry focus

LHA continued to focus on the horticulture industry in 2024-25, with several site visits and investigations, and high-profile prosecutions concluded and continuing before the courts.

Multiple site visits to farms were undertaken in 2024-25 to investigate allegations of non-compliance, including illegal phoenix activity and unlicensed operations.

The site visits included working closely with other agencies and regulators to ensure non-compliance is investigated and enforced across different workplace laws and obligations that fall under each regulator’s jurisdiction.

Joint activities included visits to farms in:

LHA completed three successful prosecutions of horticulture providers in 2024-25 totalling $806,000 in penalties, with three more prosecutions currently before the courts.

Labour hire in Victoria

By the end of 2024-25, 5,788 businesses held a labour hire licence – the highest number since the labour hire licensing scheme began in 2019. This includes 889 new licences granted over the year.

Education and engagement with the industry

LHA staff engaged with over 1,300 industry stakeholders across Victoria, delivering a total of 52 engagement activities in 2024-25.

Activities included:

  • 32 information sessions/webinars for providers, hosts, workers and intermediaries
  • 11 stakeholder meetings
  • 5 externally hosted presentations
  • 4 booths at expos.

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

An LHA communications campaign targeting workers in meat and poultry processing ran in July 2024, with advertising across digital, social media, and press channels, translated into ten 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.

Hosts in meat processing and horticulture were the target of a communications campaign run in May and June 2025.

Advertisements encouraged hosts to use the tools on the LHA website to check the labour hire licences of providers they have engaged or are seeking to engage. The advertisements generated more than 9,800 visits to the campaign pages on the LHA website.

The campaign aligned with webinars held for hosts in the targeted industries in May.

Education and engagement data

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.