Seven years of LHA: A snapshot of progress so far

With Commissioner Steve Dargavel soon concluding his time leading the Labour Hire Authority (LHA), we reflect on progress towards LHA’s mission over the past seven years.

Since being established in April 2019 to protect workers from exploitation and support a fair, lawful and transparent labour hire industry, LHA has taken significant strides towards those objectives.

LHA oversees Australia’s most comprehensive labour hire licensing system, with 5,655 licensed providers and a significant record of industry engagement, compliance and enforcement action.

As of 30 June 2026, LHA has:

“As this data shows, we’ve been a highly active regulator over the past seven years – but more important than the volume of LHA action is the purpose and outcome behind each intervention,” said Labour Hire Licensing Commissioner, Steve Dargavel.

“Whether it’s an information session we held for growers in Mildura, a licence application we refused when a shadow director is identified, or a legal action we’ve taken that sees major financial penalties for egregious unlawful conduct – the purpose is the same.

“Everything we’ve done, and that LHA continues to do, is to protect workers and improve the integrity and transparency of labour hire in Victoria.

“It has been a privilege to lead LHA and I wish the organisation continued success – with its dedicated team and strengthened powers, the team is well-placed to tackle the significant work ahead,” Commissioner Dargavel said.

Engaging and licensing the industry: LHA 2019–2022

In 2016, the Victorian Inquiry into the Labour Hire Industry and Insecure Work outlined significant worker exploitation in the labour hire sector, and the extensive work required to reform the industry.

In response to the report, the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2018 (Vic) was passed into law, with LHA established as Victoria’s independent labour hire regulator in April 2019.

LHA conducted a significant campaign of industry engagement in 2019-20, holding 140 forums and information sessions across Victoria to raise awareness of the new law requiring labour hire providers to be licensed, and hosts to only use licensed providers.

“Ensuring labour hire companies are licensed is essential to protect vulnerable workers and improve the integrity and transparency of the industry.” -- Commissioner Dargavel.

By 30 June 2020, LHA had assessed and granted over 4,600 licence applications. At the time, the Act required LHA to licence providers despite having significant misgivings about their basic capacity to comply. While LHA was able to remove many non-compliant businesses from the industry, LHA's powers were still limited.

While maintaining the focus on raising industry awareness and assessing licence applications, LHA also grew its focus on industry monitoring, intelligence and investigations. LHA recruited specialised staff and developed a compliance and enforcement program focused on industries, regions and practices with higher risks of worker harm.

In December 2022, LHA’s first successful prosecution led to a company and its director being fined $483,428.40 – at the time, the highest ever total penalty for breaches of labour hire law in Australia. The company – Ung Services, which supplied horticulture workers in the Yarra Valley – had failed to disclose that its director Nico Keat had criminal convictions for drug trafficking and theft.

Compliance, enforcement and engagement expanded

In 2023, LHA launched expanded programs of industry engagement, compliance and enforcement. Broadening its industry focus, LHA looked beyond the prescribed industries to construction, hospitality, education and manufacturing, and introduced a greater emphasis on compliance by labour hire hosts.

September 2024 saw LHA break its own prosecution record, when the Supreme Court of Victoria issued $759,674 in total penalties to five companies and three company directors operating in Victoria’s construction industry. The penalties reflected companies’ involvement in unlicensed labour hire operations, as well as unlawful conduct across multiple layers of subcontracting.

This record was bettered again in 2026, when the Court issued $830,000 in penalties to an unlicensed provider and its director who supplied over 100 labour hire workers without a licence, across two and a half years, to farms in Woorinen and Tatura.

• Since 2019, LHA has engaged with over 4,000 providers, hosts and other stakeholders at more than 400 information sessions.
• In 2024, LHA held its first major webinar for newly licensed providers. After the session attracted over 150 attendees, LHA committed to continue holding bimonthly webinars.

“It’s terrific to see so many provider and host businesses attend our events. They’re not only learning more about the labour hire licensing scheme, they are also providing us with valuable feedback and insights into the industry.” --Commissioner Dargavel.

While much of LHA’s early compliance work focused on labour hire providers, LHA has increasingly directed attention to labour hire hosts. Hosts play a critical role in supporting industry integrity and a level playing field – by only using licensed providers, and by putting simple measures in place to guard against unlawful conduct. Recent amendments will make prohibited conduct prosecutions against hosts more accessible.

Targeting both the supply of, and demand for, labour hire services helps support accountability across the entire labour supply chain.

In recent years, LHA has invested significantly in campaigns and engagement to raise awareness among labour hire hosts of their obligation to only use licensed providers. Multiple advertising campaigns ran in 2025 targeting:

• host businesses in horticulture and meat and poultry processing
• businesses in all sectors that use cleaners, security guards or temporary staff.

In March 2026, LHA announced it had filed proceedings in the Supreme Court of Victoria against a Yarra Valley orchard for allegedly engaging an unlicensed provider. Further proceedings against hosts are expected to be filed later in 2026.

Targeting non-compliance and preventing worker exploitation

The continued expansion of licensing, engagement, compliance and enforcement activities over the past seven years shows LHA’s commitment to furthering the outcomes it achieves for workers, businesses and the Victorian community.

LHA regularly undertakes site inspections of businesses and accommodation, interviewing workers and collecting evidence to prevent exploitation.

• Since 2022, LHA has undertaken over 450 field activities across Victoria, including site inspections and interviews with providers, hosts and workers.
• LHA advertising campaigns in 2023 and 2024 educated horticulture and meat processing workers of their rights under law and how to report unlawful treatment.

“Workers in horticulture and meat and poultry are among the industry’s most vulnerable, so it’s crucial that we empowered them to speak up – on their own behalf or their workmates’.” --Commissioner Dargavel

In December 2025, LHA imposed conditions on a company’s labour hire licence after LHA inspectors found it provided accommodation to 35 workers that raised considerable health and safety concerns.

LHA’s action resulted in workers being moved into newly built accommodation where each worker has their own bedroom and shares cooking and bathing facilities with no more than three other tenants.

“If you try to profit off the backs of vulnerable labour hire workers, you’ll pay a heavy price,” said Commissioner Dargavel.

In 2025, the Supreme Court of Victoria imposed penalties totalling $255,000 on a horticulture company and two individuals for failing to comply with labour hire laws, following an LHA investigation into unlicensed operations. The Court found that the workers employed by Cameron Workforce Pty Ltd had been underpaid, had entitlements withheld, and were accommodated in overcrowded and substandard housing.

These outcomes reflect seven years’ work to build a labour hire industry where lawful businesses can compete fairly, workers are better protected, and community confidence can continue to grow.

Other agencies have important roles to play also – while LHA represents a strong response to unlawful behaviour on the supply side, more progress must be made against large price setting corporations that induce non-compliance through underpriced contracts.

“Many providers have expressed their desire that meaningful focus is brought to bear on price setting firms, and I have called on relevant Commonwealth agencies to do so,” said Commissioner Dargavel.

Since 2019, LHA has helped establish greater transparency across the industry, improved visibility of labour hire arrangements and increased accountability for businesses operating in the sector.

Much more work may still need to be done, but with established foundations and stronger powers, LHA remains focused on supporting compliance, addressing emerging risks and continuing to strengthen Victoria’s labour hire industry for the benefit of workers and businesses alike.