National licence recognition for tradies

Builders, electricians, plumbers, architects, real estate agents, security guards and other workers who hold an occupational licence in their home state or territory and who want to do the same work in another state or territory will soon be automatically deemed to have the necessary licence.

The Federal, State and Territory Governments have agreed to a mutual recognition regime that will be implemented by the Federal Government. Exposure draft legislation enabling the seamless mutual recognition scheme was released last month with the scheme expected to start from 1 July 2021.

Workers will not need to pay additional licence fees or apply for additional licences.

Workers working in another state or territory will need to comply with local laws and regulations (including vulnerable people character test) and in some cases will need to notify the regulator they intend to work in their State. The States have the capacity to refuse a registration or type of license from mutual recognition.

Those subject to disciplinary action or who have conditions on their registration as a result of disciplinary, civil or criminal action will be excluded from automatic mutual recognition. Information on cancelled or suspended registrations and disciplinary proceedings and to record cancellations and suspensions on registers, will be shared.