National licensing system

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has agreed to develop a national licensing system that will remove inconsistencies across state and territory borders and allow for a more mobile workforce.

Overview
Update - 11 May 2011
Update - 13 January 2010
Update - 30 April 2009

Overview

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has agreed to develop a national licensing system that will remove inconsistencies across state and territory borders and allow for a more mobile workforce.

Under current arrangements, an array of occupational trades is licensed to varying requirements in each state and territory.

The COAG agreement on 3 July 2008 will result in a new national system that will be endorsed in an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) between jurisdictions by COAG in December 2008. The system will see a national approach to the licensing of a range of economically important trades.

COAG has agreed that the national system will initially apply to the following trades:

  • air-conditioning and refrigeration mechanics occupations
  • building occupations
  • electrical occupations
  • land transport occupations (passenger vehicle drivers, dangerous goods)
  • maritime occupations
  • plumbing occupations
  • property agent occupations.

COAG has requested that the Business Regulation and Competition Working Group, in consultation with the COAG Skills Recognition Steering Committee, report back to COAG in October 2008 on progress towards:

  • a set of national licensing reform principles for determining whether regulation of trades is warranted
  • a review to determine the necessity to continue licensing trades that are licensed in only one or two jurisdictions or trades not included in the Steering Committee's Ministerial Declaration process under the Mutual Recognition Act 1992
  • arrangements to sustain and further improve the gains to mutual recognition that have been made through the Ministerial Declaration process for those trades that are not part of any new national licensing arrangements

pursuing a national legislative system for selected trades, including:

  • cooperative national legislation
  • national governance arrangements to handle standard setting and policy issues and to ensure consistent administration and compliance practices
  • all current holders of state and territory licences being deemed across to the new licence system at its commencement
  • the establishment of a publicly available national register of licensees
  • the Commonwealth having no legislative role in the establishment of the new system.

For more information visit www.govdex.gov.au/confluence/display/COAGNL/Home

Update - 11 May 2011

Interim National Occupational Licensing System website

An interim website has been established to support the development of the national occupational licensing system (NOLS).

The new website, www.nola.gov.au, will keep stakeholders informed on the progress towards the implementation of the NOLS.

Information on the website includes updates from the Interim Advisory Committees (IACS) which were established to provide advice on national licensing policy issues.

The first four IACS established are:
• Electrical Occupations IAC
• Plumbing and Gasfitting IAC
• Property Occupations IAC
• Refrigeration and Air Conditioning IAC.

The IACS include a balance of expertise relevant to an occupational area across the fields of regulation, industry operations and practices (from both a union and employee perspective), safety, consumer advocacy, insurance (where relevant) and training.

Communiqués from the four IACS have been released and are available from the homepage of the National Occupational Licensing Authority's website.
For more information on NOLS, contact info@coagskillstaskforce.gov.au  or visit www.nola.gov.au

Establishment of the National Occupational Licensing Authority (NOLA)

Applications for the NOLA Board Chair and Members have now closed and short listing is currently underway.
It is anticipated that the recommendations would be provided to the Ministerial Council for Federal Financial Relations by March 2011 and published on the NOLA website when the process is finalised..

Occupational Licensing National Law and Explanatory Statement

Last year COAG signed an Intergovernmental Agreement for a National Licensing System for Specified Occupations, with Victoria being nominated as the host for the legislation. The Occupational Licensing National Law was passed by the Victorian Parliament on 17 September 2010 and this will allow the remaining States and Territories to pass the National Law in their jurisdiction.
The National Law and Explanatory Statement are available by clicking on the following links:
Occupational Licensing National Law Act http://nola.gov.au/files/2010/08/Introduction-Bill-12-August-20103.doc  

Explanatory Memorandum
http://nola.gov.au/files/2010/08/EM-Introduction-Bill-12-August-20102.doc  

A large amount of consultation and research has already occurred during the development of the National Law across Australia. This work will continue as part of the development of the regulations for each occupational area.

NOLS Public Register

On 3 July 2008 the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to the introduction of a national licensing system as part of a broader agenda of regulatory reform intended to increase Australia's productivity and provide the environment for a seamless national economy. As part of its decision, COAG specifically required the establishment of a publicly available national register of licensees.

The NOLS legislation will therefore provide for the National Occupational Licensing Authority to maintain information on licensees and make available a public register of licensee information. The legislation will enable regulations to be made to identify the information that will be collected and included in the public register and any necessary procedures for collection, retention and release of information. It is intended that there will be a consistent standard of information available on the public register for reasons of equity across the initial occupations and any additional occupations that may be included in the NOLS over time. It is proposed that information will be sufficiently transparent to allow consumers an informed choice over their engagement of licensees. Publicly available information will be a subset of the full information collected by regulators for their management of licensing information.

A consulation paper was released in March 2010 and responses to the paper have informed the development of the framework and specifications for the register.

Interim Advisory Committees - Communiqué #4 on Progress

The four Interim Advisory Committees (IACs) met during November 2010 to review work undertaken to date on licence policy elements relating to:
 licence categories, scopes of work, licence types;
 eligibility requirements (skill-based and non skilled-based); and
 other licence characteristic ( exemptions, conditions, restrictions and provisional licences).
The IACs have released a fourth communiqué that contains a report of this work for stakeholders' information.
To download the communiqués please visit www.nola.gov.au

Update - 13 January 2010

The National Licensing Legislation and public consultations

The Exposure Draft of the National Occupational Licensing Law and a supporting explanatory paper were released for public consultation on 13 November 2009.

Public consultation sessions were held in all capital cities and each session contributed constructive feedback on the Exposure Draft. The issues raised will be taken into consideration, along with the submissions received before the end of December 2009, in finalising the legislation.

The Exposure Draft and the Explanatory Paper Exposure Draft can be downloaded from the National Licensing website (https://www.govdex.gov.au/confluence/display/COAGNL/Home). The Explanatory Paper Exposure Draft is provided to assist with interpreting the National Occupational Licensing Law (the Exposure Draft). Information on how to make a submission can also be found on the above website.

The Interim Advisory Committees (IACs)

Membership of the IACs for the first wave of occupational areas was agreed by the Ministerial Council for Federal Financial Relations at its meeting on 23 October 2009. The first wave occupations of electrical, plumbing and gasfitting, refrigeration and airconditioning and mechanics and property occupations (excluding conveyancers and valuers) will commence in the NLS on 1 July 2012.

Membership of the IACs can be viewed on the National Licensing website.

Each of the four IACs met for the first time during November and December 2009 and considered the following matters:

  • governance arrangements during the development of the NLS and the role and terms of reference of the IACs, including a set of operational guidelines to guide the way they do their work
  • a draft IAC work plan and related milestones and timeframes for their work
  • the COAG Principles of Best Practice Regulation and the objectives and principles of the NLS (as set out in the IGA) and how these will apply to the IAC's work
  • an overview of the consultation draft of the National Occupational Licensing Law.

The IACs will next meet in March 2010. Information and further updates will continue to be posted on the national licensing website as the IACs progress their work in developing advice.

Update - 30 April 2009

COAG finalises Intergovernmental Agreement 

On 30 April 2009, COAG endorsed an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) and released a Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) for a national licensing system.

This is one of a series of reforms recommended by the Business Regulation and Competition Working Group (BRCWG), and represents a further step towards the development of a national licensing system for specified occupations.

To access the IGA and the RIS visit www.govdex.gov.au/confluence/display/COAGNL/Home

This page was generated on 11 May, 2011

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