The Bill cleared both Houses without amendment. The licence, the offence and the penalties are now fixed in statute. What employers will actually be measured against sits in regulations that have not been drafted.
Victoria has passed a law that will require an employer to hold a licence before entering a training contract with an apprentice or trainee.
The Education and Training Reform Amendment (Apprenticeships, Traineeships, Schools and Other Matters) Bill 2026 passed the Legislative Assembly on 27 August 2026 and the Legislative Council on 8 September 2026. The Council committed the Bill to a committee of the whole on the same day and completed that stage without amendment.
That settles the architecture. It does not settle the detail.
Once the scheme starts, entering or purporting to enter a training contract without a licence in force carries a maximum of 120 penalty units for a natural person and 600 penalty units for a body corporate. It is also a civil penalty provision. At the Victorian penalty unit value of $209.10 set for 2026 to 2027, that is about $25,092 and $125,460, although the value is reset each financial year and the scheme is years away. Most of the mechanics were visible in the Bill as introduced, and our earlier read of the licence scheme still holds.
The scheme does not start when the Act receives assent
Only a small part of the Act commences the day after Royal Assent. That is the preliminary chapter, the part dealing with the principles underlying the Education and Training Reform Act 2006, and the provision repealing the amending Act itself. The apprenticeship and traineeship chapter is not in that group.
Chapter 2 commences on a day or days to be proclaimed. If a provision in Chapter 2 has not commenced before 1 July 2029, it commences on that day. That is the only commencement date the Act fixes for the licensing scheme.
The explanatory memorandum sets out why the default sits that far out. The current regulator’s information technology system is described as not fit for purpose and insufficient to support the new scheme, and a replacement will need to be built. Property, rights, liabilities and staff relating to apprenticeships and traineeships also have to be moved out of the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority through an allocation statement process. Regulations, including the employer standards, still have to be developed.
A start of 1 July 2028 has been stated publicly by the government. It is not in the Act.
What the licence itself involves
An employer licence authorises a person to enter a training contract to train an apprentice or trainee. It is granted by Workforce Inspectorate Victoria and stays in force for one year from the day it is granted or renewed, unless cancelled or surrendered earlier.
Renewal applications must be lodged no later than the day the licence expires. The inspectorate has a discretion to accept a late application within 14 days after expiry.
A licence under renewal stays in force until the inspectorate decides the application. It does so on the condition that the holder must not enter into a training contract between the day the application is made and the day the decision is made. A builder waiting on a renewal can keep the apprentices already under contract, but cannot sign a new one.
An application must include the applicant’s name and Australian Business Number and, where the applicant holds a labour hire licence, that licence number and whether the applicant intends to supply apprentices or trainees as labour hire workers. It must include statements that the applicant has suitable premises to train an apprentice or trainee, will use appropriate equipment and methods, and that any proposed supervisor has the appropriate qualifications, knowledge and skills.
Applicants must also disclose findings of guilt for sexual offences. Separately, they must disclose findings of guilt in the last 10 years for indictable offences and offences involving fraud or dishonesty. That 10 year window also covers civil penalty orders, bans and disqualifications, and current or past investigations under a list of specified laws taking in the Fair Work Act 2009, the Corporations Act, the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009, the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 and the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013. For companies and partnerships, the same disclosure extends to every director or partner.
The inspectorate can impose conditions on a licence at grant, at renewal or afterwards. Failing to comply with a condition carries 120 penalty units for a natural person and 600 for a body corporate, and is also a civil penalty provision.
What an employer licence is
Under the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Apprenticeships, Traineeships, Schools and Other Matters) Act 2026, an employer licence is a licence granted by Workforce Inspectorate Victoria that authorises a person to enter into a training contract to train an apprentice or trainee in Victoria. It runs for one year from grant or renewal, may carry conditions, and appears on a public register. Entering a training contract without one is an offence and a civil penalty contravention.
The register will be public, including cancellations
Workforce Inspectorate Victoria must establish and maintain a Register of Employer Licences and publish it on its website.
The register records the licence holder’s name and ABN, the date the licence was granted or renewed, the expiry date and any conditions imposed. It also records the name of any person whose licence has been cancelled, and the date of the cancellation.
For a building business, that is a visible compliance record sitting alongside the licensing and compliance obligations already tracked across several regulators.
The standards sit in regulations that do not exist yet
This is the part with the least detail available.
The Act inserts a regulation making power covering standards that licence holders must comply with in relation to training apprentices or trainees. The listed matters are induction, the provision of training, work and support, access to facilities and equipment at the premises where training happens, supervision, and the resolution of complaints made by apprentices, trainees or licence holders.
Licence holders must comply with those prescribed standards as far as is reasonably practicable. The penalty is 120 penalty units for a natural person and 600 for a body corporate, and it is also a civil penalty provision.
A separate power covers standards for licence holders who also hold a labour hire licence and supply apprentices or trainees as workers, which places part of the scheme squarely in the territory of managing subcontracted labour.
Until those regulations are made, no employer can read the standard they will be held to. The explanatory memorandum states that broad consultation will be undertaken with relevant sectors while the regulations are developed.
Until those regulations are made, no employer can read the standard they will be held to.
New reporting duties attach to serious injuries
A licence holder must notify Workforce Inspectorate Victoria in writing within 48 hours of becoming aware of an incident relating to, or the death of, an apprentice or trainee that occurs at work or while attending an approved training scheme course.
The Act defines an incident to include immediate treatment as a hospital inpatient, amputation of any part of the body, a serious head, eye or spinal injury, electric shock, separation of skin from underlying tissue, loss of a bodily function and serious lacerations. It also covers medical treatment required within 48 hours of exposure to a substance. The penalty is 10 penalty units for a natural person and 50 for a body corporate.
The Act also prohibits an employer taking or threatening detrimental action against an apprentice or trainee because they have given information to the inspectorate, an authorised officer or a court, or made a complaint about the employer. That carries 60 penalty units for a natural person and 300 for a body corporate, and is also a civil penalty provision.
Refusals, cancellations and conditions can be taken to internal review by the inspectorate within 14 days of notice, and the internal review decision can then be taken to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal within 28 days.
Existing approvals run until 2030
Employers already approved to train apprentices under the current arrangements do not have to move immediately.
An approval in force immediately before commencement continues until 1 July 2030, and the inspectorate can impose conditions on it or revoke it in the meantime. Holders can apply for an employer licence at any time before that date.
Training contracts approved under the old provisions continue in accordance with their terms until three months after the relevant approval expires. Training plans signed under the old provisions carry across into the new scheme.
What the Council debated, and what did not change
Amendments were circulated in the Legislative Council by Richard Welch. They proposed that no fee be payable on a licence application, that a licence run for three years rather than one, and that the statutory review begin at the second anniversary of commencement rather than the fifth.
The committee of the whole completed with the Bill not amended.
The review provision as passed requires the Minister to commence a review of the Chapter 2 amendments by the fifth anniversary of the day section 12 of the Act commences. The review must consult employer representatives, apprentice and trainee representatives, registered education and training organisations and their representatives, over a period of at least six months.
Where the oversight now sits
Regulation of apprenticeships and traineeships moves from the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority to Workforce Inspectorate Victoria. The Authority is not abolished. The Act removes its apprenticeship function and leaves its other functions in place.
A new Apprenticeship and Traineeship Commissioner is created under the Workforce Inspectorate Victoria Act 2020 and holds the inspectorate’s apprenticeship functions. Those functions include promoting apprentice and trainee safety, administering the licence scheme and group training organisation registrations, monitoring and enforcing compliance, informing and educating licence holders and apprentices about obligations and rights, and maintaining the register.
The inspectorate may also establish an Apprenticeship and Traineeship Consultative Committee of between five and ten members. The composition must include a person representing employers, a person representing apprentices or trainees, an apprentice or trainee, a person representing registered education and training organisations, and a person the inspectorate considers suitably qualified.
The window that matters is the regulations
For Victorian builders, the licence is now settled. The variable is what the standards say about induction, supervision, support and complaint handling, and how those standards read against a two apprentice business where the owner is also the supervisor.
That question is answered in the regulation making process rather than in the Act, and it lands hardest on the small employers that research has found train apprentices best while carrying the highest retention risk.
The consultation on those regulations has not started.
Frequently asked questions
No. The licensing scheme has passed Parliament but has not commenced, so the existing approval arrangements still apply. Once the new scheme starts, an approval in force at that time continues until 1 July 2030.
The Act leaves it to proclamation. If the relevant provisions have not commenced before 1 July 2029, they commence on that day. A start of 1 July 2028 has been stated publicly by the government, but the Act does not fix that date.
One year from the day it is granted or renewed, unless cancelled or surrendered earlier. Renewal must be applied for by the day the licence expires, with a discretion for the regulator to accept an application within 14 days after expiry.
A maximum of 120 penalty units for a natural person and 600 penalty units for a body corporate, and the provision also operates as a civil penalty provision. At the 2026 to 2027 penalty unit value of $209.10 that is about $25,092 and $125,460, although the value is indexed each financial year.
No. The Act removes the Authority’s apprenticeship and traineeship function and transfers it to Workforce Inspectorate Victoria. The Authority keeps its other functions.
Related articles
- Victoria’s Apprentice Employer Licence Bill Is Before Parliament. The Transition Runs to 2030.
- Construction Licensing and Compliance in Australia
- Managing Subcontractors in Australia
Last updated 15 September 2026. This article reflects the Bill as passed by both Houses on 8 September 2026. Commencement dates and the employer standards regulations may change.
General information only. This article is general information and does not take into account the circumstances of any particular business. It is not legal advice. Anyone making decisions about apprenticeship or traineeship arrangements in Victoria should obtain their own professional advice.
Author: TGB Editorial
0 Comments