New laws governing the use of labour hire within certain industries come into effect today, increasing accountability in those industries where workers are particularly vulnerable to exploitation.
Commissioner for Consumer Affairs Dini Soulio said the new laws targeted specific sectors, and were introduced as a result of unintended consequences arising from the original legislation.
"Since the original laws were introduced, it has become apparent that many businesses were inadvertently captured by the licensing regime, creating an unnecessary layer of red tape for a number of industries, well and truly beyond what is reasonably required," Mr Soulio said.
"These new laws remove the unnecessary regulatory burden and costs to many businesses, by narrowing the scope of the scheme to apply to those labour hire providers working within high risk industries where workers are more vulnerable to exploitation."
Mr Soulio said the scheme now only applies to the following types of work:
- horticulture processing
- meat processing
- seafood processing
- cleaning
- trolley collection.
"Where there are licensed businesses that no longer require a licence, they can surrender their licence and apply for a refund of the remaining balance of their licence fee," he said.
