Thursday, 4 December 2025

 Richard WELCH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (21:30): I rise to speak on the Labour Hire Legislation Amendment (Licensing) Bill 2025. The main purposes of this bill are:

(a)   to amend the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2018–

(i) to further provide for the meaning of labour hire services; and

(ii) to further provide for determining if a person is a fit and proper person; and

(iii) to further provide for the Authority’s monitoring, investigation and enforcement powers; and

(iv) to further provide for information sharing; and

(v) to further provide for the subject matter for regulations; and

(vi) to make minor and consequential amendments; and

(b)   to amend the Workforce Inspectorate Victoria Act 2020 to prohibit persons from causing or threatening to cause detriment to other persons in certain circumstances.

The coalition are not opposing this bill, but we do have amendments. It is worthwhile establishing why we have this bill in the first place, and it does emanate out of the Wilson review. The Wilson review itself emanates out of well-publicised and well-understood criminal and corrupt behaviours on public building sites. There was a series of media reports, predominantly in the Age and on 60 Minutes in July 2024, which focused on allegations of criminal activity involving organised crime figures and the CFMEU, including intimidation, coercion and anti-competitive behaviour on Victorian government construction project worksites. In July 2024 the Premier announced that the Victorian government would establish an independent review to consider recommendations to strengthen the power of Victorian government bodies who engage with or have oversight of construction companies and construction unions to respond to those allegations of criminal or other unlawful conduct in the Victorian construction sector. Later in July 2024 the Premier established the review into Victorian government bodies’ engagement with construction companies and construction unions, otherwise known as the Wilson review.

In July 2024 the Victorian Liberals and Nationals called on the government to establish a royal commission, because that was the degree of seriousness of the corruption uncovered, and to get to the bottom of the alleged rorts and criminal conduct that have flourished across Victorian government projects under Labor. We had previously announced that a future Liberal–Nationals government would restore integrity to major projects by reinstating a Victorian code of practice for the building and construction industry – the one that Labor abolished the previous iteration of in 2014 – and by establishing construction enforcement Victoria to oversee and monitor compliance with the code.

It is important to understand that Labor did not act because it was the right thing to do, it was done because 60 Minutes and the Age ran hard on the CFMEU and organised crime misbehaviour, and many stakeholders at the time said the Wilson review did not go far enough. Civil Contractors Federation Victoria said it did not go far enough, Master Builders Victoria said it did not go far enough and Australian Industry Group actually said it was a whitewash, but this is the outcome. This bill is the government’s last planned action on the matter.

We will not oppose the bill, because it does seek to address what even Labor now acknowledges is a serious problem. There are some constructive elements in the bill, such as the general bolstering of whistleblower protections and the ability to request documents, but we have concerns about some other very key ways the changes have been structured. In many cases it does not tighten the controls, and in others it broadens the scope and the powers of the Labour Hire Authority but in ways that do not seem to have anything to do with the problem it intends to address – namely, government worksite corruption and a very specific organisation who is at the centre of it and the very specific set of corrupt and criminal behaviours that have been well publicised. That is where this bill gets a little bit odd. It says it is getting tough, but once you look at the changes it is hard to see how, except by granting extraordinary discretionary powers to make the Labour Hire Authority completely a law unto itself, with no fixed rules of engagement. It is like we have gone from no adequate controls to no rules at all, except for the unlimited discretion of the LHA to say, to choose and to define as it sees fit. If that is meant to act as some kind of CFMEU catch-all, it is hard to see how, because by design it is not designed; it is a bureaucratic free-for-all, the problem of course being that it inevitably scoops up everyone within its orbit alongside the actual problem organisation. It scoops up all behaviours alongside the problematic ones. It abandons absolute clarity on whatever the LHA says the rules are today, which may be different to the way it chooses to interpret its own rules tomorrow. If that is the approach, you would have to at the very least be able to draw a very clear line between creating that as an approach and how it prevents worksite corruption by the CFMEU and how it is in any way related to the Wilson review findings and recommendations, and it does not; you cannot draw that line.

We have five broad concerns, which I will go through. The first of these is the broadening and changes to the definition of what is labour hire. We go from a definition that was quite clearly defined to something based on phrases like ‘the character of the arrangement’ and ‘the totality of the arrangement’ and to changing ‘supplied by the applicant to hosts’ to ‘placed by the applicant’. There has been no clear explanation of what legal difference this creates or what it means in absolute terms. So this immediately creates uncertainty. Will consulting firms, professional service firms and tech platforms matching contractors to clients now be considered labour hire? And it expands the remit of the Labour Hire Authority. If it does, then more people are required to lodge paperwork and pay the licence fee, and the more people the LHA has to monitor, the less time it has to focus on problem areas.

The second concern is the expansion of the Labour Hire Authority’s discretionary powers and the degree to which it diminishes procedural fairness. It expands the definition of what is labour hire, but there is also a new fit and proper persons test, which on paper is a good thing. But in comparison to the existing statute, it goes from explicit absolutes of what is a fit and proper person to the LHA in almost every regard simply having to have regard to a series of matters. Even if they are a member of a proscribed organisation that no longer excludes them, the LHA just simply must give regard to it. It does not actually have to rule them out; it is a matter of discretion. It also describes a person’s character in terms of honesty, integrity and professionalism without defining what those terms mean in practice or in application. This really does create an environment of great inconsistency and uncertainty for anyone applying, because they do not really have an objective view of what standard they are expected to meet, and of course those standards can change under the power of regulation. Finally, there is the ability to designate someone a labour hire provider just by saying so, with no guardrails. This is a pretty extraordinary power, and it makes, in effect, all other qualifications and rules irrelevant. If you can just say someone is or is not a labour hire provider, why bother with all the other definitions? You might as well just say, ‘It’s up to you. You make it up as you go along.’

The other area around procedural fairness is the power of the authority under this proposed new bill to publish the details of a person the Labour Hire Authority is considering acting against, even if it has not. There is obviously a fairness issue there. There is no timeframe over which they can be in those points of consideration. They may never act against this person, but to simply publish their name can have very obvious reputational impact on a business. It would suggest that they are not fit and proper or they have done something improper, so that is a very problematic clause. Then there is something which introduces vagueness and uncertainty into it, where the licence applicants have to declare compliance with a long set of generic laws in the past, in the present and in the future – say, ‘We will adhere to these laws in the future.’ Apart from understanding what the value of saying ‘I will follow the law in the future’ is in terms of an application, it also makes no distinction between whether any previous breach was a minor clerical breach or a material breach. Whether you can comply with something in the future is unprovable.

The third area we have got concerns on is where I think there is a fairly obvious loophole. The fit and proper person test applies only to the licence holder. It says nothing about the character of the people being placed by them on the worksites. I think that can be remedied by requiring the licence holder to take reasonable precautions or steps that the people that they are placing are of good character themselves.

The fourth concern is perhaps its non-directional nature. There is no specific element that really directly addresses corrupt CFMEU practices. The Wilson review was all about criminal behaviour on worksites, and it was pretty explicit about what they were. But this bill goes further towards expanding the powers of the Labour Hire Authority than actually drilling down onto those specific behaviours that the Wilson report highlighted and that I thought would have been the purpose of this bill – to follow through, to enact the final group of recommendations from the Wilson review. In fact I think it goes a little bit backwards, this bill, because it removes the specific mandatory fit and proper person tests and disqualifications from the act and replaces them with subjective Labour Hire Authority judgements.

The fifth and final one is a minor one in the sense that no additional funding is planned for the LHA or the Workforce Inspectorate Victoria or Victoria Police to service the new powers. This may only be a minor thing, it may not be a thing at all, but it may be. But we do not actually know because we do not know how many additional companies and how many additional investigations may be drawn in under this and what the resource demand will be. That is maybe not a major issue, but it is certainly a consideration.

Additionally, we are concerned about the Wilson review recommendations that are not part of this bill or the Wage Theft Amendment Act 2025 that we dealt with a few weeks ago. On recommendation 2, the alliance of state and federal law enforcement, regulators and other relevant entities – we believe that has been established at an administrative level, but there is no public transparency on that. Recommendation 7 – the need for new clauses in government policies and contracts that require principal contractors to report and act on suspected criminal or unlawful conduct – is being implemented at a departmental level, but we do not have any visibility of that either. And then recommendation 8 is the need for a review in two years time. The issue there is we are actually two years from when the media broke the scandal, and we are one year on from the Wilson report, and it is now only in the last sitting week of 2025 that we do actually have the substance of the reform, only to find it is actually quite weak, in some areas pointless. You would argue it hits the people that we are meant to be targeting with a lettuce leaf but throws the rest of the industry and those adjacent to the industry into concern and confusion about where exactly they lie with the law. Former IBAC commissioner Robert Redlich said he felt the police and the IBAC had limited means to address the issues. Murray Furlong, from the Fair Work Commission, says that we are at risk of missing a once-in-a-generation reform opportunity. We support the bill, but we are genuinely concerned that it does not really do anything to address the specific behaviour of organised crime and rogue CFMEU elements on Victorian government construction sites. We will be moving amendments we think will better target the actual problem. I would be happy if the amendments are circulated now.

We want to first make it explicit and to remove any ambiguity that the subcontractors do not fall under the act. We do know that it was in the second-reading speech, we do know it is in the preamble, we just would like to see it in black and white in the act. We would like to adopt something that they do in Queensland, where they allow an authorised officer to lodge paperwork on behalf of the nominated officers. It does not diminish the responsibility of the nominated officers, it is just a better, more efficient mechanism effectively. We actually prefer and would like to retain the current labour hire definitions in the act and ensure that the regulations cannot be arbitrarily used to prescribe a person as taken to provide labour hire services or not. There has not been sufficient justification as to what the changes in definition actually achieve, particularly in relation to CFMEU corruption.

We would like to see the fit and proper person test include specific references to the construction industry, labour hire, intimidation and other corrupt practices the bill is meant to address. We would like to specify that a person who is a member or affiliate of a prescribed organisation is not a fit and proper person and not allow the Labour Hire Authority to consider this, as it might now, as permissible. We would like to tighten the requirement that the labour hire holders declare compliance with a long list of loosely defined laws and adopt instead clear parameters that directly address behaviours and actions. We would like to require that the licence holder take reasonable steps to ensure that individuals supplied for labour are themselves of good character and not a member or affiliate of a prescribed organisation. We would like to remove the provision that the Labour Hire Authority can publish details of someone it is considering exercising a power against, and we would like to insert a provision into the act for a formal ministerial review of its operation after two years.

Some of these amendments are changes that we proposed and others are simply to retain elements of the existing act that we feel are superior to the proposed changes. Outside those amendments and beyond the scope of this bill, it is worth noting that the Liberals and Nationals have made several policy commitments that we believe would actually take up the reform baton seriously and that by comparison this bill alone, keeping in mind it is the last intended reform that we are aware of, just does not go close enough to. The Liberals and Nationals would establish a royal commission into the CFMEU’s involvement on Victorian government construction sites. We would reinstate a Victorian code of practice for the building and construction industry, and we would establish construction enforcement Victoria to oversee and monitor compliance with the code. But we are not getting to those tonight. We do think this bill goes a couple of inches in the right direction, but it goes nowhere near taking on the corruption on our public worksites in earnest, and we do risk missing that generational opportunity. We encourage the adoption of our amendments. They have been done in consultation with industry – they have been prepared that way. They add rigour, they add clarity and they absolutely target the specific behaviours the Wilson review set out to address and we all know need to be addressed. I will conclude there.

 Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (21:49): I am pleased to rise to speak on the Labour Hire Legislation Amendment (Licensing) Bill 2025. Obviously the government has a hugely significant construction agenda. It is not called the Big Build for no reason. There is a lot of very significant civil construction activity occurring right across Melbourne and Victoria, and obviously in the residential construction sector as well we have got a big agenda in our housing statement and our planning agenda to make sure we are building more homes. So the importance of the construction sector to Victoria and to Victorians is real and is significant. This bill and the work that it is trying to do to weed out practices is about supporting those in the sector. The bill is about protecting those workers from those who think that they can cut corners, do the wrong thing or engage in unscrupulous or corrupt activity. The bill is not exclusively about the construction sector, but the prevalence and use of labour hire is significant within the construction sector.

I think it is important that we reflect that no matter whether it is on a building site or in an office, the obligation that we all have to make sure that our workplaces are conducted with the highest of ethics and the highest of ethical standards and free from improper, unscrupulous or corrupt conduct is significant. We need to here make sure – and what this bill is focused on is weeding out those who seek to do the wrong thing – and ensure that labour hire workers and those businesses that are doing the right thing are protected, not undercut and not targeted by unscrupulous operators. The Labour Hire Legislation Amendment (Licensing) Bill will amend and improve Victoria’s labour hire licensing scheme, making it stronger and more effective at stamping out corruption. The bill is also going to amend the Workforce Inspectorate Victoria Act 2020 to create an offence of causing detriment or threatening to cause detriment to a person for making a complaint or providing information to the workforce inspectorate as part of the complaints referral functions, making it very clear that any effort to threaten or intimidate someone from making a complaint will not be tolerated and there will be penalties, and it strengthens the fit and proper person test.

The amendments that this bill is seeking to create to the various substantive acts arise as a result of the Wilson review. This bill responds directly to the Wilson review, which the government set up to respond to serious allegations of corrupt conduct in the construction sector here in Victoria, and that review identified labour hire as one of the most problematic areas that needed to be addressed. Workers were being exposed to threats and businesses were restructuring themselves to avoid regulation, and some operators were hiding in the shadows of a complex supply chain designed to frustrate oversight and regulatory bodies. But we have got the tools and we have got the will to fix it, and this is what this legislation here is to do.

The recommendations out of Wilson were pretty clear. We have got to strengthen oversight. We have got to empower regulators and make sure that corruption has nowhere to hide, and that is exactly what this bill does. The Wilson review made a series of recommendations on how the powers of various government bodies could be strengthened to better respond to allegations of criminal conduct or other unlawful behaviour on Victorian government worksites. This bill will do a number of things. There was a recommendation in the review to amend the fit and proper person test, and this bill will do that by strengthening the test required to obtain a licence, amending current criteria and implementing new criteria. The bill will also amend the labour hire regulations to better define certain activities connected to the construction sector, which was another recommendation out of Wilson, that are meant to be better regulated under the Victorian labour hire licensing scheme. We know how complicated supply chain structures are, and there are serious risks there that we need to address.

Another recommendation was about search powers, so the bill will strengthen the authorities’ powers with respect to their ability to request that labour hire providers produce certain documents and will better align the powers of this authority with other modern regulators. The bill will amend the publication powers of the Labour Hire Authority, again implementing another recommendation to publish additional contextual information about suspensions and cancellations of licences with appropriate limitations. The amendments are in their totality vital to ensuring the Labour Hire Authority can be more transparent, be more effective and be the necessary agent that we need to ensure that inappropriate and corrupt practices are stamped out in this section of the construction industry. That was at the core of the government acting in response to these allegations. That was at the core of the Wilson review. This bill complements the other action the government has already taken to help ensure that we stamp out corruption on our construction sites.

Tom McINTOSH (Eastern Victoria) incorporated the following:

Every worker deserves to be treated with respect and have the opportunity for safe and secure work.

Labour hire should be a temporary solution; however, for large projects that are short term, or work that is seasonal by nature, labour hire is used in Victoria.

This amendment to the Labour Hire Licensing Act will protect the rights and safety of Victorians who are employed through labour hire agreements by prohibiting, preventing, and punishing the exploitation of workers, and for this reason I support the amendment.

The changes implement the Wilson report’s recommendations to combat wrongdoing and ensure worker safety in the construction sector.

Construction is already one of the most dangerous industries in Victoria, with some of the highest rates of injuries and fatalities, further adding to the importance of safe working arrangements.

Key changes include the expansion of the ‘fit and proper person’ test to consider a range of factors which can inhibit a labour hirer’s ability to successfully ensure worker safety and security.

The new ‘fit and proper person’ test will now consider a person’s history, character, prior licence incidents, and indictable offence history.

On top of changes to the standard ‘fit and proper person’ test, the Labour Hire Authority will be granted greater flexibility to consider a wider range of considerations outside of the ‘fit and proper person’ test when assessing the fitness and propriety of a labour hirer.

This bill also includes amendments to the Workforce Inspectorate Victoria Act which will introduce an offence prohibiting harmful conduct being either caused or threatened against whistleblowers who make a complaint or provide information to Workforce Inspectorate Victoria.

The amendment is essential to furthering this Labor government’s agenda of ensuring worker safety across the state. This protects workers, especially young workers and new migrants, who can be the target of exploitation and coercion. Workers employed by labour hire are some of the most vulnerable workers in the economy.

Importantly, since it is becoming increasingly common for there to be labour supply arrangements involving more than three parties, the definition of ‘provides labour hirer services’ is changing. This is being done to better address what the Wilson report describes as ‘grey areas’ regarding enterprises involved in labour hire practices in addition to the standard three parties.

There are cases where these ‘grey areas’ have been exploited, and these amendments fix this.

The Labour Hire Authority covers workers in the construction, horticulture, meat processing, poultry processing, commercial cleaning, and security industries.

These are frontline and essential workers often undertaking roles that are higher risk than the average occupation and are often undertaken by workers who are more vulnerable, including those in regional Victoria.

For all these reasons I support the Labour Hire Legislation Amendment (Licensing) Bill.

John BERGER (Southern Metropolitan) incorporated the following:

President, I rise today to speak on the Labour Hire Legislation Amendment (Licensing) Bill 2025.

The objective of this bill serves to implement recommendations 3–6 of the Wilson review.

The Wilson review came about in response to allegations of criminal and other unlawful conduct in the construction industry.

It was the Formal Independent Review into Victorian Government Bodies’ Engagement with Construction Companies and Construction Unions, led by Mr Greg Wilson.

The final report was delivered on 29 November 2024.

In response to this review, this bill, in alignment with previous legislation, intends to tighten loopholes highlighted by the review, where oversight fell short.

The Labour Hire Licensing Act 2018 was established to protect workers who were employed through labour hire arrangements.

It introduced a licensing framework for labour hire providers, requiring them to demonstrate compliance with workplace safety and migration laws, requiring them to obtain a licence to operate.

This legislation brought with it the introduction of the Labour Hire Authority (LHA).

This is what the Allan Labor government is building on in order to bring greater transparency and accountability to high-risk industries highlighted by the Wilson review.

These recent reforms aim to modernise the act, strengthen enforcement powers and close loopholes that undermine worker protections.

This legislation is built on protecting workers in the labour hire industry, with the broader goal of reinstating integrity, safety and fairness that the Wilson review exposed areas that were lacking.

This bill will amend the Workforce Inspectorate Act 2025 to provide protection to people making complaints to the workforce inspectorate.

It will make it an offence to cause detriment or attempt to cause detriment to someone providing information or making a complaint to the workforce inspectorate.

This new offence will ensure that people who make a complaint or provide information to the workforce inspectorate as part of its new construction industry complaints referral function are appropriately protected from reprisal.

The establishment of the complaints referral function in the workforce inspectorate was brought in earlier this year to implement recommendation 1 of the Wilson review.

The review made eight recommendations about how the power and processes of Victorian government bodies can be strengthened to better respond to allegations of criminal and other unlawful behaviour.

These recommendations emphasise collective action among employers, agencies and law enforcement to encourage complaints and share information.

The recommendations to be implemented by this bill are as follows.

Recommendation 3 will be implemented by replacing the current ‘fit and proper person’ test to allow the Labour Hire Authority (LHA) to be more selective.

A new test is to be used which has been broadened so that additional factors are considered when assessing the suitability of a candidate.

This acts as a safeguard to ensure labour hire providers operate within the industry standards and upholds the integrity of our construction industry.

Better licensing decisions can be made by having a tougher barrier to entry.

Sending a clear message that criminal behaviour and exploitative business practices will not be tolerated within our industries.

Recommendation 4 – amending Labour Hire Licensing Regulations 2018 (LHL regulations) to define certain activities connected to construction to be explicitly regulated under the Victorian labour hire licensing scheme.

By making the legislation clearer it prevents labour hire arrangements escaping regulation through manipulative structuring.

By explicitly amending the definition, this bill can bring greater coverage for regulation of high-risk supply arrangements.

Increasing scrutiny and reducing the risk of misclassification or a classification grey zone that can be exploited.

It also gives workers confidence by making the process more transparent.

Recommendation 5 is being actioned in this bill through providing the LHA with the power to request that a person provide information or documents that an inspector has reasonable belief are necessary for monitoring or enforcing compliance with the act.

This is broadly referred to as a ‘notice to produce’ (NTP) power.

This is necessary to provide further transparency to enable early detection of non-compliance, and it supports swift, evidence-based decisions on licensing and enforcement to better protect workers.

Within this bill, the LHA will be provided with expanded publication powers as well as the clarification of current powers.

From recommendation 6, this bill will empower the LHA to publish additional contextual information about suspensions and cancellations of licences on the register of licensed labour hire providers.

This recommendation is being implemented by permitting LHA to publish certain information in or in connection around licensing decisions.

This seeks to protect transparency and public confidence in decisions made by the LHA.

By providing the opportunity for the LHA to publish the evidence around the outcome, it reassures the public as well as legitimate operators that this legislation is being applied consistently and seriously.

By doing so, it maintains that providers know misconduct will be visible and transparent in providing education, efficient enforcement, and integrity monitoring.

The recommendation aims to provide clarity about which construction activities are covered by the scheme to prevent businesses from structuring themselves to avoid regulatory oversight.

The bill will also make other amendments to improve the operation of Victoria’s labour hire licensing scheme and the implementation of the Wilson review recommendations, including:

providing greater protection for all LHA staff as well as the labour hire commissioner in circumstances where they may be dealing with matters and allegations arising out of the Wilson review;

ensuring staff can carry out investigations without fear or bias;

reinforcing the independence of the LHA, ensuring decisions are evidence based, and based on public interest not external pressures;

expanding the list of laws that licence holders and applicants must comply with to include laws relating to education and training, bankruptcy, competition, consumer protection and fair trading, corporate regulation and security interests in personal property;

expanding the list ensures that labour hire providers are not just meeting workplace and employment laws, but also broader financial integrity standards;

it encourages professionalism within the sector by promoting responsible business conduct, aligning the labour hire practices with other industry standards;

amending the LHL act to require that in granting a licence the LHA must be satisfied that the applicant’s business is financially viable;

financial viability checks ensure that only stable, solvent business are able to be licensed and, reducing the risk of providers collapsing, leaving workers unpaid and unemployed.

By ensuring a business is financially viable to require a licence ensures only stable and trustworthy businesses can operate.

This refers to those able to pay workers properly and on time, meet super and leave obligations and compete fairly without cutting corners.

This will help to build confidence throughout the sector that licensed labour hire practices are credible and reliable.

Finally, permitting the commissioner to make a disclosure to a person employed in a Commonwealth, state or territory government department or agency, as well as the minister, where the commissioner is reasonably satisfied that the disclosure is in the public interest.

This means serious issues like wage theft, fraud or criminal infiltration can be referred quickly to the appropriate authorities.

This ensures faster action and better protection for workers.

It promotes co-ordination of government bodies to help close enforcement gaps.

The bill will prohibit persons from causing or threatening to cause detriment to other persons for making a complaint or providing information to Workforce Inspectorate Victoria as part of their new complaints referral function.

The offence will be enforced by Victoria Police and carries a significant penalty, including a potential jail term.

The Allan Labor government, like all Labor governments, holds the protection of workers at the centre of our cause.

Labor has always and will always stand for working people.

Our movement was founded to protect workers rights and that will remain a key pillar of this party.

Enshrining the Wilson review’s recommendations in legislation demonstrates the Allan Labor government’s commitment to closing loopholes and ensuring that workers feel safe onsite and safe reporting things to the proper authorities when things are not right.

Workers are our first point of call when it comes to calling out unacceptable behaviour and we need to listen to what they have to say.

As many in this chamber know, next year I will be celebrating 40 years of membership of the Transport Workers Union (Vic/Tas) branch.

Having spent years representing workers, I have seen how easy it is for people to fall through the cracks when labour hire operators cut corners.

I have also seen the difference strong laws and union advocacy can make – lifting wages, improving safety, and giving workers a voice.

That is why I am very honoured to be talking about this important legislation in this place.

It builds on the values that have guided me in my career.

Worker protections is something that I, and many others in this chamber, take personally.

I carry that principle into this chamber and every time I stand to speak.

Fairness, safety, and respect for working people is a non-negotiable.

My history is one of standing up for workers who might otherwise have been ignored.

In the past for me that meant fighting for better protections in enterprise agreements.

But today that looks like ensuring labour hire workers are protected under Victorian legislation.

These protections extend to the transport workers I used to represent as labour hire is often used within the industry.

And this legislation holds these same values of protecting workers to make sure workers in every industry get a fair go.

By implementing these reforms, the Allan Labor government continues to demonstrate our determination to restore integrity, fairness and safety to workplaces across Victoria.

This underscores the Allan Labor government’s longstanding commitment to protecting working people.

This is a value that I personally respect and align myself with.

In practice, these reforms ensure construction and other high-risk industries cannot be used as vehicles of exploitation and corruption.

It will give workers confidence that their rights will continue to be enforced no matter where they work.

The LHL laws build on a century of Labor reforms dedicated to protecting workers.

Now, we have come a long way since securing the eight-hour working day.

But these reforms uphold the same tradition that is ensuring that every worker, whether directly employed or supplied through a provider, receives equal treatment and respect.

For too long labour hire has been used to undercut wages, outsource responsibility, and weaken workplace protections.

By strengthening the licensing framework, the Allan Labor government is reaffirming that a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay applies to all.

These amendments also support the Victorian government’s economic goals.

A transparent and compliant labour hire sector fosters stable employment, attracts ethical investment, and sustains the skilled workforce needed for major infrastructure and manufacturing projects to continue to provide for the Victorian people.

It is good for workers, good for businesses, and good for the state.

A common misconception is that stricter regulations hinder business.

But in fact, it is the opposite.

A well-regulated labour hire market rewards those who play by the rules, only penalising those who cheat.

When rogue operators are allowed to thrive, legitimate business are forced to compete against unfair practices which cut costs at the expense of the workers.

By enforcing clear, consistent standards, we ensure that there is an even playing field for all providers to operate in.

Businesses that maintain proper accounts, pay their taxes, and train their staff will now have a competitive advantage, as they should.

These reforms not only protect the workers but the broader industry.

This bill clearly represents what the Allan Labor government has always said:

Exploitation has no place in Victorian workplaces;

Honest businesses will be supported;

And this government is committed to the continued protection of Victorian workers across all sectors.

The Labour Hire Legislation (Licencing) Bill 2025 builds on a simple but powerful principle.

Every worker deserves their rights to be respected and acknowledged no matter how or where they are employed.

By expanding the fit and proper person test, strengthening financial viability checks and clarifying the definition of labour hire services, the bill closes longstanding loopholes.

Ceasing exploitation and unfair competition from persisting.

Giving the LHA broader investigative and publication powers ensures transparency and integrity remains a cornerstone of this legislation.

When wrongdoing occurs, the public will know why and how action is taken.

And when employers do the right thing, they can expect a level playfield.

These changes will also protect those who make this enforcement possible: the staff of the LHA and the commissioner themself.

Empowering them with the tools and safeguards they need to investigate is essential if we are to deliver real accountability in sectors like construction, where the Wilson review revealed systematic risks.

These measures are incorporated to assemble a regulatory framework that rewards honest business, deters misconduct and restores public confidence in the fairness of Victoria’s labour hire practices.

The reforms are practical, proportionate, and built off of consultation and evidence.

Most importantly, they uphold the enduring Labor belief that dignity and safety in a workplace is non-negotiable.

This legislation is not only about compliance but about the values that I can say everyone on my side of the chamber holds as it reflects the history of Labor governments.

Fairness, responsibility, and respect for working people are values that I heavily align myself with as a trade unionist.

They are also values which those of us on this side of the chamber in the Allan Labor government all share.

Victorian workers know this, and they know that they have an ally in the Premier who will always be on their side.

Good businesses, who do the right thing, know that when you pay your workers fairly and treat them with respect, you wind up with better, more productive workers who feel more personally invested in the success of the company.

When companies who aren’t doing the right thing use loopholes to pay their workers less or give them worse conditions, they aren’t just saving a dollar; they’re telling their workers that they fundamentally don’t respect them as people.

Economies which are not built on a basis of fairness, responsibility, and respect for working people are built on very shaky foundations indeed.

That is why these values are important.

They remind us that good policy is measured not only by economic outcomes but how it treats the people who keep our state moving forward.

This bill follows with the clear message that the Allan Labor government stands firmly with workers, with ethical business, and with everyone in Victoria who believes in a fair go.

Therefore, I commend the bill to the house.

 Lee TARLAMIS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (21:54): I move:

That debate on this bill be adjourned until the next day of meeting.

Motion agreed to and debate adjourned until next day of meeting.