Meat and poultry processing industries

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From 1 October 2026, the definition of providing labour hire services under the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2018 (Vic) will be amended. You should review these changes to determine whether you or the entities you source labour from are now required to hold a labour hire licence.

Substantial penalties may apply if you provide labour hire services without a licence or engage an unlicensed provider.

The Labour Hire Licensing Regulations 2018 will also be amended to support these legislative changes. As the amended regulations are not yet in force, some guidance on this website may not fully reflect the updated legislative framework. This guidance will be updated once the amendments to the regulations commence.

Companies that supply workers to ‘host’ businesses or intermediaries to process meat and poultry are labour hire providers. 

Labour hire workers may kill, dress, bone, slice, prepare or pack meat or poultry. 

Under Victorian law, labour hire providers must hold a licence, and businesses must only engage licensed providers to supply workers.

Licensing helps to ensure labour hire companies meet their obligations to workers, and supports fairness, transparency, and integrity in the industry. 

Labour hire providers must comply with a range of legal obligations, including around worker pay and conditions, superannuation and taxation.

Senior decision-makers, and anyone else who influences or controls the business, must also be ‘fit and proper’ – in terms of their legal and compliance history, as well as their honesty, integrity and professionalism. 

The Labour Hire Authority (LHA) oversees Victoria’s labour hire licensing scheme, including its monitoring, compliance and enforcement. 

Under the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2018 (Vic), penalties for using or providing unlicensed labour hire services may exceed:

  • $660,000 for a corporation
  • $160,000 for an individual.

Penalties also apply for advertising labour hire services without a licence, or before a licence application is approved. Any subcontractors to a labour hire provider must also be licensed.

More information

For information on legal obligations, licence applications, renewals and further resources, visit the Provider page.

Providers can apply for and renew a licence via the Labour Hire Licensing Online portal.

Providers must pay a licence application fee at application and licence renewal. Licence fees are also payable annually. For more information, please visit the Licence fees and costs.

 

Key issues

To prevent worker exploitation, LHA targets specific harms common within the labour hire industry when assessing licence applications and through compliance activities on licence holders.

Key issues affecting the meat and poultry processing industries include:

Standard licence conditions

For providers operating in industries with higher risks of worker exploitation and unlawful conduct, LHA applies standard conditions to all new licences, as well as progressively to existing licences. 

These standard conditions act to further: 

  • increase transparency, by ensuring all workers receive information on their rights, and through reporting on the use of subcontractors, payroll services, and any change in industry 
  • enforce integrity, through restrictions on cash payments, the use of independent contractors and subcontractors, and clear requirements around accommodation and provision of PPE. 

For more information and guidance visit the Licence conditions page.

Guidance and resources

Scenarios: When is a labour hire licence required?

The examples below are for illustrative purposes only. You should consider your particular circumstances and seek legal advice if you are unsure.

Scenario 1

Ducks & More Pty Ltd (Ducks & More) operates a poultry processing establishment. When its most experienced duck boner calls in sick, it engages Quick Fix Pty Ltd (Quick Fix), which supplies John, an experienced duck boner, for one week. John works under the direction and supervision of Ducks & More. Quick Fix pays John and invoices Ducks & More for the hours worked.

Quick Fix is taken to provide labour hire services because it supplies John to perform boning activities at a poultry processing establishment. Quick Fix is a labour hire provider and must hold a labour hire licence. Quick Fix is a labour hire provider and must hold a labour hire licence.