DocketFive guides, each read from the law itself
A guide to the law of recruitment, published by Dotto
Recruitment services: the licences and rules behind placing a worker
Finding and placing workers is regulated work in several parts of Australia. In Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and the ACT, a person must not provide labour hire services, broadly the supply of workers to another business, without a labour hire licence, and further rules reach the fee a job seeker is asked to pay, the pay of an on-hired employee and the words of a job ad.
General information about the law, not legal advice. The official places to check are each state’s and territory’s legislation register, its labour hire licensing body, and the Fair Work Commission for labour hire pay orders.
Five questions a placement raises
Each guide takes one question and answers it from the law that sets the rule, with the version of that law it was read from.
- 1
Does the arrangement need a labour hire licence?
Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and the ACT, side by side, including Victoria’s change of 1 October 2026 for recruitment that comes with accommodation.
- 2
What may a person looking for work be charged?
Queensland’s finder’s fee rule in full, with South Australia and Western Australia as a selection.
- 3
When does an on-hired employee get the host’s rate?
The Fair Work Act’s regulated labour hire arrangement orders: who may apply, and the limits on making one.
- 4
What may a job ad not indicate?
The advertising offences in Victoria’s and New South Wales’s Acts and three Commonwealth Acts.
- 5
What does South Australia ask of an employment agent?
The licence, premises, fees, statements and records under the 1993 Act, and the 2026 Act that is to replace it.
One business, several names in the law
The same desk can be a “private employment agent”, a labour hire “provider”, an “employment agent” or an “employment agency”, depending on which law is reading it. Which name fits decides which rules apply.
| Law | The name | What the law says it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Private Employment Agents Act 2005 (Qld), s 4 | Private employment agent | A person who, “in the course of carrying on business and for gain”, offers to find work for a person or a worker for a person, among other things; publishing job ads does not, by itself, make someone one. |
| Labour Hire Licensing Act 2017 (Qld), s 7 | Provider of labour hire services | A person who, “in the course of carrying on a business”, supplies a worker to another person to do work. The Act’s examples include “an employment agency who on-hires temporary administration staff to a business”. |
| Employment Agents Registration Act 1993 (SA), s 3 | Employment agent | A person in the business, for money or other consideration, of procuring workers for those wanting to engage them, or work for those wanting it; a charitable or benevolent organisation working on a non-profit basis is excluded. |
| Employment Agents Act 1976 (WA), s 5 | Employment agent | A person who for reward follows the calling of an agent for procuring engagements for people seeking employment, or employees for people seeking to employ them, among others. |
| Age Discrimination Act 2004 (Cth), s 24 | Employment agency | “any person who, or body that, whether for payment or not, assists persons to find employment or other work or assists employers to find employees or workers” |
Queensland draws one line between two of them on purpose: its Labour Hire Licensing Act says a person does not provide labour hire services “merely because” the person is a private employment agent. The labour hire licensing guide follows that line into the other three schemes.
Dates to keep in view
- 15 December 2023Part 2-7A of the Fair Work Act, on regulated labour hire arrangement orders, commenced. The Register’s endnotes record it as added by the Closing Loopholes Act 2023 (No 120 of 2023).
- 1 November 2024The duty to pay a regulated employee at least the protected rate of pay “applies on and after 1 November 2024”.
- 29 January 2026South Australia’s Labour Hire Licensing (Scope of Act) Amendment Act 2025 commenced. Consumer and Business Services says the new laws came into effect “significantly expanding the scope of the state’s labour hire licensing regime”.
- 24 September 2026South Australia’s Employment Agents Act 2026 was assented to. Its own text says it comes into operation “on a day to be fixed by proclamation”, and its 24 September 2026 version is marked uncommenced.
- 1 October 2026Victoria’s amended definition of providing labour hire services took effect, including recruitment and placement that comes with accommodation.
- Later in October 2026, anticipatedVictoria’s Labour Hire Authority expects final changes to the labour hire regulations that would bring some specific construction activities under labour hire law.
The Victorian dates show why each guide names the version of the law it rests on.
How these guides are written
Every rule is stated as its own Act states it, for the place that Act governs, and a state not covered is named as not covered. Penalties are given in penalty units, or in dollars where an Act or its regulator prints them, with their version or date. Each guide links to the others where the laws meet.