The Allan Labor Government has taken strong action to stamp out the rotten culture that has been exposed within the construction sector.
Minister for Industrial Relations Jaclyn Symes today announced that the Workforce Inspectorate Victoria (WIV) has launched the new Construction Complaints Referral Service, following reforms to the Labour Hire Legislation passing the Victorian Parliament.
This key action acquits the Government's response to the Wilson Review and gives enforcement bodies more powers to target criminal and unlawful conduct in the construction sector.
The referral service is now able to receive complaints - with the new law providing increased protection for people who provide information or make a complaint relating to public construction projects.
WIV's referral service will provide a single doorway for receiving and assessing complaints and will ensure they are referred to the appropriate regulatory body. A new criminal offence of causing or threatening to cause detriment to a person who makes a complaint to WIV will protect complainants.
This builds on previous work of the Labor Government in implementing the Wilson recommendations, including the establishment of an Alliance of Victorian and Commonwealth regulators and agencies to share critical intelligence and further collaborate to address criminal or unlawful behaviour on Victorian construction sites.
New government policy and contractual requirements will also be introduced from 1 January 2026 that will require contractors on public construction projects to report criminal and unlawful behaviour. This delivers on Recommendation 7 of the Wilson Review and reinforces the State's commitment to integrity in public construction.
The Government has also now passed legislation to strengthen the powers of Victoria's Labour Hire Authority to enable them to better prevent those with links to criminal organisations from operating labour hire businesses. The reforms will:
- strengthen the test to determine who is a fit and proper person,
- more comprehensively define the coverage of when a business provides labour hire licensing,
- provide the Labour Hire Authority with stronger powers to require the production of documents and,
- enable the Labour Hire Authority to publish more information about licensing decisions.
An evaluation of the implementation of the Wilson recommendations will be undertaken two years from the commencement of the reforms.
As stated by Minister for Industrial Relations Jaclyn Symes
"We have zero tolerance for any illegal behaviour - there is no place for it on any work site."
"The creation of new criminal offences mean people will be protected from reprisal when providing information or making a complaint - another way we are stamping out the rotten culture that has been exposed in the industry."
