Recent developments in the on-demand workforce industry in Victoria

Victorian inquiry onto the on-demand workforce

In 2018, the Victorian Labor Government commissioned an inquiry into the State's on-demand workforce (Inquiry). The Inquiry was chaired by former Fair Work Ombudsman, Natalie James.

The Inquiry's report was published in July 2020 and made twenty recommendations, including that the federal and Victorian governments take steps to:

• align legislative definitions across statute books to provide that workers who are not genuinely self-employed, autonomous businesspeople are treated as employees;
• establish a low-cost, accessible mechanism for determining whether a worker is an employee involving determinations by existing tribunals such as the Federal Circuit Court (or in the absence of federal support, VCAT or the Magistrates' Court);