What the model Work Health and Safety laws are, who has adopted them, and how they compare to NZ's HSWA
Australia's work health and safety laws are largely harmonised through a set of model WHS laws developed by Safe Work Australia — a model Act, model Regulations and model Codes of Practice. Every state and territory and the Commonwealth has adopted them except Victoria, which keeps its own Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004. The model laws are not law on their own: each jurisdiction enacts and enforces its own version through its own regulator.
They are a single, nationally agreed template for work health and safety law, written so each jurisdiction can adopt the same core rules.
Before harmonisation, every Australian state and territory ran its own occupational health and safety regime, which made life hard for any business operating across borders. To fix that, governments agreed a model framework, developed and maintained by Safe Work Australia. The model laws come in three tiers — the model WHS Act, the model WHS Regulations, and the model Codes of Practice — and a jurisdiction has to separately enact them before they have any legal force there.
All jurisdictions except Victoria. Victoria runs a similar but separate regime under its OHS Act 2004.
| Jurisdiction | Model WHS laws? | From |
|---|---|---|
| Commonwealth | Adopted | 1 January 2012 |
| New South Wales | Adopted | 1 January 2012 |
| Queensland | Adopted | 1 January 2012 |
| Australian Capital Territory | Adopted | 1 January 2012 |
| Northern Territory | Adopted | 1 January 2012 |
| South Australia | Adopted | 1 January 2013 |
| Tasmania | Adopted | 1 January 2013 |
| Western Australia | Adopted | 31 March 2022 |
| Victoria | Not adopted | Keeps its OHS Act 2004 |
Even where the model laws are adopted, each jurisdiction can make variations, so always check the WHS law that applies where you work. Source: Safe Work Australia.
Act, Regulations and Codes of Practice each do a different job.
The Act sets the broad duties and the enforcement framework — the primary duty of care, who is a PCBU (person conducting a business or undertaking), officers' due-diligence duties, worker rights, and the powers of inspectors and regulators.
The Regulations add specific, detailed requirements for particular hazards and activities — things like hazardous chemicals, high-risk work, plant, asbestos and, more recently, psychosocial risks.
Codes are practical “how to comply” guides for specific topics. They are not law in themselves, but once approved in a jurisdiction they are admissible in court as evidence of what is reasonably practicable. We cover these in detail in our WHS Codes of Practice guide.
Each jurisdiction's own regulator — not Safe Work Australia.
Safe Work Australia writes and maintains the model laws but does not regulate workplaces or enforce the law. That job sits with the WHS regulator in each jurisdiction — for example SafeWork NSW, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, WorkSafe WA, and Comcare for the Commonwealth scheme. In Victoria, WorkSafe Victoria administers the separate OHS Act. This is the practical reason a business operating in several states deals with several regulators.
New Zealand's Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 was closely modelled on Australia's model WHS Act, so the core concepts are shared — but the structure around them differs.
Because of that shared lineage, the big ideas line up: the PCBU concept, officers' due diligence, the primary duty of care, the “so far as is reasonably practicable” standard, and duties to engage workers all appear in both. The key differences are structural:
For a side-by-side, see our NZ HSWA vs Australia WHS Act guide.
The model laws are updated over time, and two recent changes stand out.
First, the model WHS Regulations were amended to expressly address psychosocial hazards, requiring duty holders to manage risks to mental health so far as is reasonably practicable, supported by an approved code of practice in adopting jurisdictions. Second, from 1 July 2024 a national prohibition on the manufacture, supply, processing and installation of engineered stone benchtops, panels and slabs took effect, in response to silicosis risk. Check your regulator for how each applies where you operate.
One well-run safety system can serve both countries — provided you respect each jurisdiction's specifics.
Because the HSWA and the model WHS Act share so much DNA, a business working on both sides of the Tasman can run a single, consistent health and safety system rather than two unrelated ones. The discipline is in the detail: confirm the specific Act, regulations, codes and regulator for each place you operate, since penalties, notifiable-event rules and offences such as industrial manslaughter vary by jurisdiction.
General information, not legal advice. WHS law differs by jurisdiction and changes over time. Always confirm the current requirements with the relevant WHS regulator or a qualified adviser before you rely on them.
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They are a nationally agreed template for work health and safety law in Australia, developed by Safe Work Australia. They come in three tiers — the model WHS Act, model WHS Regulations and model Codes of Practice — and only have legal force in a jurisdiction once that jurisdiction enacts them.
All jurisdictions except Victoria. The Commonwealth, NSW, Queensland, the ACT and the NT adopted them in 2012, South Australia and Tasmania in 2013, and Western Australia in 2022. Victoria keeps its own Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004.
No. Safe Work Australia is the national policy body that develops and maintains the model WHS laws. It does not regulate workplaces or enforce the law — that is done by each jurisdiction's own regulator, such as SafeWork NSW, WorkSafe WA or Comcare.
They share the same foundations, because NZ's Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 was modelled on the Australian model WHS Act. Core concepts like the PCBU, officer due diligence and “reasonably practicable” are common to both. The differences are structural — NZ has one Act and regulator and uses ACC, while Australia has separate WHS laws, regulators and workers' compensation schemes in each jurisdiction.
No. Victoria is the only jurisdiction that has not adopted the model WHS laws. It has similar duties and protections under its Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004, administered by WorkSafe Victoria.
