Insurables — Australian business risk, sourced and dated

Accommodation providers: workers compensation requirements in Australia

Statutory cover for injury to workers, arranged through each state or territory scheme rather than on the open market.

Data as at

Verified requirements, by state

  • Licence liability condition: Split answer. A liquor licence carries no insurance condition. Short-term rental accommodation does: the host must hold insurance covering their liability for third-party injuries and death on the premises, valid for the occupancy period. NSW specifically warns hosts to review the terms carefully, including the nature and extent of any exclusions — which is a regulator saying, in effect, that ordinary home policies may not do the job. NSW · effective 2026-08-24 NSW Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: For STRA, cover must be in force for the whole occupancy period rather than evidenced at a point in time. For a liquor licence, nothing. NSW · effective 2026-08-24 NSW Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: It depends on the model, and the two answers are very different. A hotel or motel serving alcohol holds a liquor licence from the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority under the Liquor Act 2007 (NSW). Short-term rental accommodation is not licensed at all but MUST be registered: an STRA property has to be registered via the NSW Planning Portal before it is advertised or offered for short-term rental. NSW · effective 2026-08-24 NSW Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: A full-text reading of the Act returned ZERO occurrences of "insurance". The instrument is purely fiscal. AND THIS IS THE NATIONAL PICTURE: no jurisdiction outside New South Wales imposes an insurance requirement on a short-term rental host. NSW requires hosts to hold cover for third-party injury and death valid for the occupancy period; everywhere else the schemes are registration, levy or data-reporting instruments with no insurance content at all. A host who moves a property interstate loses a legal obligation, not a protection — the risk does not change with the border. VIC · effective 2026-08-24 Victoria Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: Registration or levy obligations as they apply, but no insurance evidence anywhere outside New South Wales. VIC · effective 2026-08-24 Victoria Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: For short-term rental, a levy rather than a licence. The Short Stay Levy Act 2024 (Vic) imposes a booking levy from 1 January 2025; registration duties sit with councils under local laws rather than with the state. VIC · effective 2026-08-24 Victoria Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: No state scheme exists to carry an insurance requirement. Check the specific council. AND THIS IS THE NATIONAL PICTURE: no jurisdiction outside New South Wales imposes an insurance requirement on a short-term rental host. NSW requires hosts to hold cover for third-party injury and death valid for the occupancy period; everywhere else the schemes are registration, levy or data-reporting instruments with no insurance content at all. A host who moves a property interstate loses a legal obligation, not a protection — the risk does not change with the border. QLD · effective 2026-08-24 Queensland Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: Registration or levy obligations as they apply, but no insurance evidence anywhere outside New South Wales. QLD · effective 2026-08-24 Queensland Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: For short-term rental, nothing at state level. Queensland has no state-wide short-term rental scheme; regulation is council by council. QLD · effective 2026-08-24 Queensland Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: A full-text reading of the Act returned ZERO occurrences of "insurance". It is a registration scheme, not an insurance scheme. AND THIS IS THE NATIONAL PICTURE: no jurisdiction outside New South Wales imposes an insurance requirement on a short-term rental host. NSW requires hosts to hold cover for third-party injury and death valid for the occupancy period; everywhere else the schemes are registration, levy or data-reporting instruments with no insurance content at all. A host who moves a property interstate loses a legal obligation, not a protection — the risk does not change with the border. WA · effective 2026-08-24 Western Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: Registration or levy obligations as they apply, but no insurance evidence anywhere outside New South Wales. WA · effective 2026-08-24 Western Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: For short-term rental, a state register. The Short-Term Rental Accommodation Act 2024 (WA) made registration of STRA premises mandatory from 1 January 2025, for hosted and un-hosted properties alike. WA · effective 2026-08-24 Western Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: No state scheme exists to carry an insurance requirement. AND THIS IS THE NATIONAL PICTURE: no jurisdiction outside New South Wales imposes an insurance requirement on a short-term rental host. NSW requires hosts to hold cover for third-party injury and death valid for the occupancy period; everywhere else the schemes are registration, levy or data-reporting instruments with no insurance content at all. A host who moves a property interstate loses a legal obligation, not a protection — the risk does not change with the border. SA · effective 2026-08-24 South Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: Registration or levy obligations as they apply, but no insurance evidence anywhere outside New South Wales. SA · effective 2026-08-24 South Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: For short-term rental, nothing at state level. A parliamentary committee has recommended a register and a levy, but no Act exists yet. SA · effective 2026-08-24 South Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: The word "insurance" does not appear anywhere in the Act. AND THIS IS THE NATIONAL PICTURE: no jurisdiction outside New South Wales imposes an insurance requirement on a short-term rental host. NSW requires hosts to hold cover for third-party injury and death valid for the occupancy period; everywhere else the schemes are registration, levy or data-reporting instruments with no insurance content at all. A host who moves a property interstate loses a legal obligation, not a protection — the risk does not change with the border. TAS · effective 2026-08-24 Tasmania Government · 2026-08-25
  • Licence evidence required: Registration or levy obligations as they apply, but no insurance evidence anywhere outside New South Wales. TAS · effective 2026-08-24 Tasmania Government · 2026-08-25
  • Licensing body: For short-term rental, a data-sharing regime, not a registration one. The Short Stay Accommodation Act 2019 (Tas) requires booking PLATFORMS to report listing data to the Director of Building Control — the obligation falls on the platform, not the host. TAS · effective 2026-08-24 Tasmania Government · 2026-08-25
  • Licence liability condition: A full-text reading of the Act returned ZERO occurrences of "insurance". Fiscal only. AND THIS IS THE NATIONAL PICTURE: no jurisdiction outside New South Wales imposes an insurance requirement on a short-term rental host. NSW requires hosts to hold cover for third-party injury and death valid for the occupancy period; everywhere else the schemes are registration, levy or data-reporting instruments with no insurance content at all. A host who moves a property interstate loses a legal obligation, not a protection — the risk does not change with the border. ACT · effective 2026-08-24 Australian Capital Territory Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: Registration or levy obligations as they apply, but no insurance evidence anywhere outside New South Wales. ACT · effective 2026-08-24 Australian Capital Territory Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: For short-term rental, a levy. The Short-Term Rental Accommodation Levy Act 2025 (ACT) applies from 1 July 2025. ACT · effective 2026-08-24 Australian Capital Territory Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: No insurance requirement is stated on the government guidance for that commercial registration, and no host scheme exists. AND THIS IS THE NATIONAL PICTURE: no jurisdiction outside New South Wales imposes an insurance requirement on a short-term rental host. NSW requires hosts to hold cover for third-party injury and death valid for the occupancy period; everywhere else the schemes are registration, levy or data-reporting instruments with no insurance content at all. A host who moves a property interstate loses a legal obligation, not a protection — the risk does not change with the border. NT · effective 2026-08-24 Northern Territory Government · 2026-08-25
  • Licence evidence required: Registration or levy obligations as they apply, but no insurance evidence anywhere outside New South Wales. NT · effective 2026-08-24 Northern Territory Government · 2026-08-25
  • Licensing body: For short-term rental, nothing resembling a host scheme. The only Territory registration for accommodation is a commercial one under public and environmental health regulations, and it applies to businesses housing seven or more visitors for reward — hotels, motels and hostels — rather than to casual short-term letting. NT · effective 2026-08-24 Northern Territory Government · 2026-08-25

By state and territory

Licensing is a state matter, so the requirement behind this cover changes at the border. These pages track the licence question in each jurisdiction.

What contracts commonly ask for

Principals and head contractors set their own insurance requirements, and those are frequently higher than a licence condition. The requirement that binds is the higher of the two, and both have to be read from the actual document.

What this cover costs

This site publishes no cost benchmark for this cover. A benchmark needs a real sample of documents, and none is published until the sample is large enough to compute a median honestly. A benchmark from a handful of policies is a guess with a decimal point.

Sources