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CONCERNS RELAYED ON QLD LABOUR HIRE LICENCING

Concerns relayed on Qld labour hire licencing

AREEA thanks members who participated in last week’s teleconference on the proposed Queensland Labour Hire Licensing Regulations.

This session focused on proposals contained in two consultation papers released by the Queensland Government’s Office of Industrial Relations concerning development of regulations to the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2017:

  • Consultation Paper 1: Development of Operational Regulations
  • Consultation Paper 2: Possible treatments to refine the scope of the labour hire scheme.

These papers are available here.

The information provided by AREEA members has informed our submission which outlines major concerns about the scope of the scheme, its onerous reporting requirements and other aspects, including in particular:

  • Scope: AREEA reiterated its firm view as raised on previous occasions that ordinary contracting arrangements, for instance, where a company provides support service functions to another in circumstances such as maintenance, cleaning or catering, should not be captured by the labour hire licensing scheme.

    AREEA supported the exclusion from the scope of other arrangements not typically thought of as labour hire. These include secondments, consultants and consultancy arrangements, corporate group/associated entities/joint venture arrangements, and workers who are a director or owner of a business who hires themselves out.

  • Policy v regulation treatment: AREEA submitted that any clarification of the scope of the scheme should be achieved through regulations rather than policy treatment. This will provide businesses with an appropriate level of certainty as to their classification and obligations under the scheme. It will also ensure businesses are not required to examine three separate documents to determine scheme coverage and their obligations – the Act, the regulations, and any associated policies.
  • Fit and proper person test: To assist with a determination of whether an applicant is a fit and proper person to be a labour hire provider, the consultation paper proposed a number of questions whereby the applicant would be required to declare instances of prosecution or litigation, regardless of the outcome. AREEA argued that careful consideration should be given to refining the specific questions to be asked to ensure they are relevant to the purposes of the Act and a determination of fitness and proprietary, and that they do not offend against the principles of natural justice.
  • Reporting requirements: In line with previous concerns raised that the information sought to be reported is excessive and unnecessarily onerous, AREEA submitted that the proposed additional details for reporting are not necessary and should not be prescribed in the regulations.
  • Fees: The application and renewal fee proposed by Queensland is between $1,000 – $5,000. In some cases, applying for a labour hire licence in Queensland would cost $4,450 more than applying for a licence in South Australia. AREEA submitted that there is no justification for the cost of the application and the cost of doing business to be so much higher in Queensland than other Australian states. Care needs to be taken not to impose unnecessary regulatory costs and thus risk impacting jobs, investment and growth in Queensland to the benefit of other states.

The Labour Hire Licensing Act set to commence on 16 April 2018. From that date, labour hire providers will have 60 days to lodge an application for a licence.

With just over two months to go, AREEA calls on the Queensland Government to provide clarity as to the scope of the scheme as soon as possible.

Given the importance of the resources and energy industry to Queensland, AREEA urges the government to ensure the scope of such a scheme is appropriately limited and not to overreach in this area to the extent where employment and investment in Queensland could become less attractive.

AREEA will keep its members updated of developments.

If you wish to be added to the distribution list, get in touch via email at [email protected].

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