Security Licence Check: The Firm, Every Guard, and the Installer

A facilities team engaging a guard company for a shopping centre, an office tower, a campus, or a distribution centre gatehouse usually gets a licence number on the quote and an assurance that every guard is licensed. A security licence check turns that assurance into a fact: the firm's licence, each person's licence, the class each one holds, and the state that issued them, read off the regulator's own register.

This guide is for facilities managers and procurement leads in property and facilities management. It covers where to check in every state and territory, which licence covers which duty, why the technician installing your CCTV or alarms usually needs a security licence too, where the law reaches the business that hires security, and what to keep on file. The examples are illustrations, not customers. For electrical, plumbing, and building licences, see our guide to checking a contractor licence.

What Is a Security Licence Check?

It is four questions answered from the regulator's register rather than the provider's paperwork. Does the business hold a licence to supply security services? Does each person it sends hold their own licence? Does each licence's class cover the duties on your site? Is each licence valid in the state or territory where the work is done: usually one issued there, and in NSW always? Each jurisdiction licenses security under its own Act, so the check is made state by state.

The two layers matter most. In NSW, a master licence authorises a business to provide licensed security operatives, and every operative it provides must hold the appropriate class 1 or class 2 licence.¹ The master licence also caps numbers: class MB may provide no more than three operatives on any one day, MC no more than 14, MD no more than 49, and ME an unlimited number.¹ A firm on an MB licence cannot supply 10 guards on one day from its own licence.

Where to Check a Security Licence in Each State and Territory.

Every state and territory keeps its own register. The firm and the person usually hold different licences, and both should be on it.

Jurisdiction	Firm licence	Individual licence	Where to check
New South Wales	Master licence, MA to ME1	Class 1 (1A to 1F) and class 2 (2A to 2E)23	The NSW public register, linked from NSW Police's Verify a Security Licence page4
Queensland	Security firm licence5	Class 1 and class 2 licences5	Office of Fair Trading online register67
Victoria	Private security business licence8	Private security individual operator licence8	Victoria Police Register of Licence, Registration and Permit Holders9
Western Australia	Agent licence: security, crowd control, or inquiry10	Non-agent licences, such as security officer and security installer10	WA Police current licence holder lists, one per licence type11
South Australia	Security agent licence for the business12	Security agent licence for employees12	Check occupational licence holders13
Tasmania	Agent licence14	Employee licence14	The register of licences kept by the Director of Consumer Affairs and Fair Trading14
ACT	Security master licence15	Security employee licence, 1A to 2E15	Access Canberra public registers, linked from its security industry licences page15
Northern Territory	Licence to run a security firm16	Security officer or crowd controller licence16	Licensing NT Public Register, Private Security scheme17

How the Registers Differ, State by State.

The registers behave differently, and the differences decide what you keep. Queensland's free online register is for information only and cannot be used as evidence in legal proceedings; a paid official extract shows the status, the classes, the expiry date, and any conditions.⁶ Its data updates overnight, so a licence issued today may not show until tomorrow.⁷ Victoria's register drops a licence that has been suspended, cancelled, or has expired without a renewal application, and Victoria Police tells the public to engage only operators licensed for the activity, and tells employers to check the register regularly for their own staff.⁹

Western Australia publishes its register as lists, one per licence type, so check the date printed on each list.¹¹ In the ACT, security employee licence holders are moving to new 11-digit numbers from 11 May 2026, and both numbers appear on the register until the old one lapses.¹⁵ In Tasmania, anyone may inspect the register of licences on payment of a prescribed fee (section 20).¹⁴

Which Licence Covers the Duties on Your Site?

The one whose class or activity names that duty. A guard licensed for one duty is not licensed for every duty. NSW splits class 1 into six subclasses: 1A security officer, which includes crowd control, 1B bodyguard, 1C cash-in-transit guard, 1D guard dog handler, 1E monitoring centre operator, and 1F armed guard.² The ACT uses similar subclasses, and Victoria endorses each activity on the licence.¹⁵¹⁸

Control rooms catch property teams out. NSW Police says an operator in a control room at a shopping centre or office building must hold class 1A, a monitoring centre operator who watches alarms for other sites needs class 1E, and anyone working across both needs both.¹⁹ Western Australia licenses a security monitoring officer separately, and Queensland's definition of a security officer includes monitoring property through an audiovisual or electronic system.¹⁰⁵

In-house staff can need licences too. NSW Police says a business needs a master licence to employ security operatives within its own business, naming hospitals and shops as examples.¹ In Queensland, an employee employed principally to guard, patrol, or watch the employer's property, or employed at all to guard, patrol, or watch the employer's licensed premises, counts as a security officer (section 7).⁵

Watch for trainee and restricted licences on the roster. Queensland's restricted licence limits the holder to the functions it states and requires appropriate direct supervision (section 14B), ACT temporary licences go to trainees who must be supervised, and the NT offers a provisional licence while training is completed.⁵¹⁵¹⁶ A Queensland restricted licence holder or an ACT temporary licence holder is fine on your roster only if their supervisor is there too.

Does the Electrician Installing CCTV Need a Security Licence?

Usually, yes. NSW Police answers the question in terms: a licensed electrician needs a security licence to install security cameras for clients, because anyone involved in the sale, installation, maintenance, repair, or servicing of security equipment needs class 2C.¹⁹ Class 2C covers CCTV cameras, alarm systems, and barrier equipment such as fencing and security roller doors.³ NSW's building and construction exemption covers installing basic security equipment such as locks, and does not include people selling, repairing, maintaining, or advising on other security equipment such as CCTV cameras and security fencing; NSW Police adds that tradespeople specifically contracted or hired to install, repair, or maintain security equipment are not exempt.²⁰

Other jurisdictions reach the same work under different names:

• Queensland. The security equipment installer licence covers alarms, monitoring systems, recording systems, and electric, electro-magnetic, or biometric access control devices.²¹
• Victoria. Since 19 June 2025 every private security activity is licensed, security equipment installers included, and from 19 December 2025 an independent contractor with an ABN for the work needs both a business and an individual operator licence.¹⁸
• Western Australia. Security installer class 2 covers alarms and CCTV, and an installer working under their own ABN needs their own security agent's licence.¹⁰
• South Australia. Installing or maintaining security alarm or surveillance systems is a security agent's function.²²¹²
• ACT. Subclass 2E covers installing, maintaining, monitoring, repairing, or servicing security equipment.¹⁵

So for a CCTV, alarm, or access control job, ask for the contractor's security licence as well as its trade licence, and check each technician's class. The firm layer applies to installers too: Queensland counts an installer's services as security firm services.⁵

Is It an Offence to Hire an Unlicensed Security Provider?

In Queensland, yes. Section 9(2) of the Security Providers Act 1993 says a person must not, directly or indirectly, engage another person to carry out a security provider's functions for reward unless that person holds the appropriate licence.⁵ The Office of Fair Trading, on a page updated 21 October 2026, lists the penalty for hiring an unlicensed security provider as AU$86,350 for a first offence, AU$120,890 or 6 months in prison for a second, and AU$172,700 or 18 months in prison for a third, and says corporations could face up to 5 times the maximum.²³

Victoria makes it an offence to employ or engage someone to carry on a security activity unless you reasonably believe they hold an individual operator licence for it: 120 penalty units for a natural person and 240 for a body corporate (Private Security Act 2004, section 131), with a penalty unit worth AU$209.10 from 1 July 2026.⁸²⁴ Tasmania makes it an offence to employ, engage, or direct an unlicensed person to do security work, up to 1,000 penalty units for a body corporate, and gives a defence to someone who sighted the person's identity card before engaging them (section 21A).¹⁴ Victoria's test is whether you reasonably believe the person is licensed, and Tasmania's defence is having sighted their identity card before engaging them, so keep a dated record of the register search and the card you sighted.

Where Other States Put the Offence.

In NSW, the fines NSW Police lists on its Master Licences page (read 9 November 2026) fall on the licence holder: a master licensee that provides a person without a security licence faces a fine of up to AU$55,000, two years' jail, or both, as an individual, and up to AU$110,000 as a corporation.¹ NSW Police's FAQ adds a rule every facilities business should know. A client paying a security company's invoice needs no licence, but a client that passes that invoice on to another party and assumes the role of security provider needs a master licence.¹⁹ NSW Police's Master Licences page also says a business needs a master licence when it is procuring security for a third party, giving the example of a venue hire that includes security for the client in the hiring costs.¹ A facilities management company bundling guarding into a building contract is the case to check.

Western Australia prohibits employing an unlicensed security officer or installer, and its Act reads employment as a contract of service or apprenticeship (sections 4 and 20).²⁵ South Australia's offence covers employing a security agent under a contract of service, with a separate offence of engaging an unlicensed crowd controller (section 12A).²² In the ACT, a master licensee that employs an unlicensed person commits a strict liability offence.²⁶

Victoria Asks More of the Business That Engages Security.

Since 19 June 2025, Victoria's Private Security Act has put new duties on the client as well as the provider.⁸ A person who employs or engages a private security licence holder must prepare a risk management plan, in the form the Chief Commissioner approves, before the security activity starts (section 136A).⁸ At least one day before, it must give each person doing the work a copy of the plan, any prescribed equipment, and written information about their role and responsibilities (section 136B).⁸ Failing to give the plan, equipment, and information carries up to 60 penalty units for a natural person and 120 for a body corporate; failing to prepare the plan carries the same for a business with 10 or more employees, and 30 and 60 for a smaller one.⁸

Subcontracting needs your written consent. If the security company you engage needs a subcontractor, it must get your written consent at least one day before the work starts and give you written notice of the subcontractor's name and licence number (section 136D); if it has to engage the subcontractor within 24 hours of the work starting, it has 3 days after the start to do both (section 136E).⁸ A Victorian licence holder must also produce the licence if the person they are providing services to asks to see it.⁸ File the consent and the notice with the contract, and check the subcontractor on the register as you checked the main firm.

Subcontracted Guards and Providers From Interstate.

Subcontracting is lawful and common, and every layer needs its own licence. In NSW, both the original master licensee and the subcontracting master licensee must hold a subclass that covers the number of operatives each provides.¹⁹ When a quote names one firm and the roster shows another firm's guards, check both.

A licence from another state does not always travel. NSW has an exemption from automatic mutual recognition for security roles, in effect from 1 July 2022 for five years, and NSW Police says an interstate security business serving NSW clients needs a NSW master licence and its operatives NSW licences.²⁷ South Australia says an individual (not a company) licensed interstate who will mainly keep living or working interstate can work there on that licence under automatic mutual recognition, but must notify Consumer and Business Services before starting; anyone who moves to South Australia must apply for a licence there.²⁸ The ACT and the NT also say interstate licence holders may be eligible under automatic mutual recognition.¹⁵¹⁶ Check the licence is valid in the state where the guard will stand, and for a worker relying on automatic mutual recognition, check the register of the state that issued it.

Where Your WHS Duty Sits Beside the Licence.

Licensing law and WHS law run side by side, and the licence check does not discharge your own duty. Under the model WHS Act, a contractor, a subcontractor, and their employees are workers of the business they carry out work for (section 7), and a business must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers it engages or causes to be engaged, and of workers whose activities it influences or directs, while they are at work in the business (section 19).²⁹ Where the owner, the facilities management company, and the security company share a duty for the same matter, each must, so far as is reasonably practicable, consult, co-operate, and co-ordinate activities with the others (section 46).²⁹

In Victoria, the OHS Act 2004 extends an employer's duty to provide, so far as is reasonably practicable, a working environment that is safe and without risks to health to the independent contractors it engages and their employees, for matters it controls or would control if not for an agreement purporting to limit or remove that control (section 21).³⁰ A current licence in the right class is one piece of evidence that you engaged people able to do the work lawfully. The rest sits in the site induction, the hazard information you give the guards, and the arrangements for a lone patrol at 2am.

A Shopping Centre Changes Its Guard Company, Worked Through.

A facilities manager runs a regional shopping centre in Queensland. The new guard company will patrol the car park and loading docks after hours, staff the control room through trading hours, and supply crowd controllers for late-night Christmas trading. In the same month, an electrical contractor is replacing the card readers on the back-of-house doors.

The manager starts with the firm. The Office of Fair Trading register shows a current security firm licence in the same legal name as the quote, and because this is for a contract, the manager orders an official extract showing the classes, expiry, and conditions.⁷⁶ Next come the people: the company sends the roster with each guard's licence number, and the manager searches each one, checking that the patrol and control room staff hold security officer licences whose stated category of functions covers each duty, and the Christmas crew crowd controller licences.⁵ One guard holds a restricted licence, so the roster pairs him with a supervisor who holds an unrestricted licence for the same functions.⁵

The company then mentions that a second firm will cover two Christmas shifts. Engaging an unlicensed provider indirectly is still an offence in Queensland, so the manager asks for that firm's licence and its guards' numbers and checks them the same way.⁵ Finally, the electrical contractor's two technicians each hold a security equipment installer licence, and the contractor holds a security firm licence for supplying them.²¹⁵

What the manager keeps: the dated register results and the official extract, each guard's licence number, class, and expiry date against the roster, the second firm's details, the installers' licences, and a reminder set before the earliest expiry. Had the centre been in NSW, the shape would be the same with different names: the master licence subclass must cover the most guards supplied on any one day, the control room operator needs class 1A, and NSW Police says anyone installing or servicing security equipment needs class 2C, so ask the card-reader technicians for theirs.¹¹⁹ In Victoria, the risk management plan comes before the first shift.⁸

The Checklist, and When to Check Again.

Run these before the first shift, with the quote and the roster in front of you:

• The firm's licence is on the register of the state where the work is done, in the same legal name as the quote and the invoice.
• The firm's licence covers the service and, in NSW, the number of guards it will supply on any one day.
• Every guard and installer on the roster has a licence number, and each one is on the register in the class for the duty.
• Any subcontracted firm, and each of its people, has been checked the same way, and in Victoria your written consent is on file.
• For guard dogs or armed guards in NSW, the certificate of currency shows the public liability cover of at least AU$10 million that NSW Police says the master licensee must hold.¹
• Each register result is saved with the date you searched, with an official extract where the register offers one.
• Guards will display or carry their licence on duty, as the state requires; in NSW a class 1 guard must display it at all times while working.³¹

Check again at every expiry date the register shows, whenever new names appear on the roster or a subcontractor is used, and on a regular cycle through a long contract. Expiry matters more than it looks. In NSW, a licence holder is unlicensed from the expiry date until the licence is renewed, even inside the 90-day window for a late renewal.¹⁹ In Victoria, a licence whose holder applied to renew it before it expired stays in force beyond the expiry date until Victoria Police decides the application, and the register keeps showing it (section 36).⁸⁹

Keeping Security Licences Current in ComplyFlow.

In ComplyFlow, the security company and the guards it sends are tracked at their own levels: a prequalification Requirement Set holds what the supplier company must provide to qualify, and an induction set holds what each worker must hold, as the Onboarding Requirements guide describes.³² ComplyFlow then runs the invitations, the reminders, and the renewals when a document expires.³² Our contractor prequalification and workforce compliance pages show how that works.

A licence needed only at some sites, such as crowd control at a centre with late trading, can be assigned to those sites, and the active profiles of the people assigned move to Documents Pending, as the Compliance Requirements guide sets out.³³ Where your team reviews licences itself, the reviewer checks the dates the contractor entered, corrects the expiry date if it is wrong, and approves or rejects the licence with comments, per the Approving or Transferring Documents guide.³⁴ The register search stays with you.

Check the Firm, the Guard, and the State.

A security licence check is a short search per name, and it answers the questions an inspector, an insurer, or your own board will ask after an incident on a night shift: who was on site, who supplied them, and whether each one was licensed for that duty in that state on that date. A facilities team with dated register results and a roster matched to licence numbers can answer in one page. To see contractor licences, expiry dates, and site requirements tracked in one place, book a demo.