Insurables — Australian business risk, sourced and dated

Security guards: professional indemnity requirements in Australia

Cover for legal liability arising from professional advice or services, written on a claims-made basis.

Data as at

Verified requirements, by state

  • Licence liability condition: Yes for some classes and no for others, which is the detail that gets missed. A master licence holder must have and maintain at least $10 million in public liability insurance cover IF it intends to provide Class 1D (guard dog handler) or Class 1F (armed guard) operatives. A master licence supplying only unarmed guards without dogs does not trigger it. The requirement follows the risk of the activity, not the fact of being in the security industry. NSW · effective 1998-04-01 NSW Police Force — Security Licensing & Enforcement Directorate · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: Evidence that the applicant has obtained the public liability insurance required by the Regulation, where it applies to that applicant. Because the trigger is the class of operative supplied, adding an armed or dog-handling class to an existing master licence is what turns the requirement on. NSW · effective 1998-04-01 NSW Police Force — Security Licensing & Enforcement Directorate · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: The NSW Police Force, through the Security Licensing & Enforcement Directorate, under the Security Industry Act 1997 (NSW). Two licences work together: a MASTER licence for the business supplying security operatives, and an individual licence for each operative, classed by the activity. NSW · effective 1998-04-01 NSW Police Force — Security Licensing & Enforcement Directorate · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: Yes, and Victoria takes a BROADER approach than New South Wales. Victoria Police require evidence of public liability insurance, as a certificate of currency from the insurer, "showing coverage for the activities and sub-activities applied for". The cover must match the activities on the licence — but unlike NSW, where the condition bites only on master licences supplying armed guards or guard-dog handlers, Victoria applies it to private security BUSINESS licence applications generally. A firm licensed in both states faces the condition in Victoria on work that would not trigger it across the border. VIC · effective 2005-07-01 Victoria Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: A certificate of currency from the insurer at application, showing cover for the specific activities and sub-activities being applied for. A generic policy that does not name the activities does not satisfy it. VIC · effective 2005-07-01 Victoria Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: Victoria Police, through the Licensing and Regulation Division, under the Private Security Act 2004 (Vic). The scheme covers private security licensing generally, covering both individual operatives and the businesses that supply them. VIC · effective 2005-07-01 Victoria Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: No insurance condition appears in the Act itself, which deals with training, character assessment and industry association membership. But note the mechanism: conditions can be imposed by the chief executive, so an insurance condition could attach to a particular licence without being in the statute. Recorded as "not in the Act" rather than "does not exist", and a Queensland licensee should check the conditions actually on their own licence. QLD · effective 2026-08-24 Queensland Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: Not established. QLD · effective 2026-08-24 Queensland Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: The Office of Fair Trading, under the Security Providers Act 1993 (Qld). QLD · effective 1993-12-01 Queensland Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: No insurance condition. Insurance appears three times across the Security and Related Activities (Control) Act 1996 and all three are the reverse of a condition — they exempt bodies authorised under the Commonwealth Insurance Act 1973 from needing an inquiry agent licence while acting in the ordinary course of that business. Insured, indemnity and indemnify appear not at all. The Security and Related Activities (Control) Regulations 1997 return zero on all four terms across the complete instrument. WA · effective 2026-08-25 Western Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: None. No insurance obligation exists in the Act or the Regulations for evidence to attach to, and nothing links lapse to suspension because there is nothing to lapse. WA · effective 2026-08-25 Western Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: The Commissioner of Police, through WA Police Licensing Enforcement Division, licenses the security industry under the Security and Related Activities (Control) Act 1996. Western Australia runs eight separate licence classes rather than one catch-all: security agent, security officer, security consultant, security installer, security bodyguard, inquiry agent, crowd control agent and crowd controller. The security agent class sits above the others — it is the person who supplies the services of officers, consultants, installers or bodyguards, so the firm licence and the individual licence are different things. WA · effective 2026-08-25 Western Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: No insurance condition. The word insurance appears exactly once in the whole Security and Investigation Industry Act 1995, and it runs the other way: it excludes a person who lawfully carries on the business of banking or insurance, or the business of an insurance intermediary, from the definition of a security agent. Indemnity and insured appear nowhere at all. SA · effective 2026-08-24 South Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: None. There is no insurance condition on the South Australian security agents licence for evidence to attach to. SA · effective 2026-08-24 South Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: The Commissioner for Consumer Affairs, through Consumer and Business Services, issues the security agents licence under the Security and Investigation Industry Act 1995. A security agent is defined as a person who performs any of a listed set of functions for fee or reward, beginning with protecting or guarding a person or property, or keeping a person or property under surveillance. SA · effective 2026-08-24 South Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: No insurance condition. Insurance appears nowhere in the Security and Investigations Agents Act 2002 as a requirement on a licensee. Its one occurrence runs the other way: section 41(1)(e) exempts a person carrying on the business of insurance, insurance broking or banking from needing a commercial agent licence when doing incidental agent work in the ordinary course of that business. TAS · effective 2026-08-24 Tasmania Government · 2026-08-25
  • Licence evidence required: None. Automatic suspension under section 16 is triggered by unpaid fines, false information and breach of conditions generally — there is no insurance-linked trigger. TAS · effective 2026-08-24 Tasmania Government · 2026-08-25
  • Licensing body: Consumer, Building and Occupational Services licenses the security industry under the Security and Investigations Agents Act 2002. Section 4 provides that a person must not undertake any commercial agent activities, crowd control agent activities, security agent activities or inquiry agent activities unless the person is the holder of an agent licence granted by the Director. The classes are an agent licence, held by an individual or a body corporate, and a security employee licence. TAS · effective 2026-08-24 Tasmania Government · 2026-08-25
  • Licence liability condition: No insurance condition is stated in the published eligibility criteria, which cover disqualifying offences, training and qualifications, and police checks. Recorded as not stated rather than confirmed absent — the Act's own contents include a provision about directions to master licensees concerning insurance, so a power may exist even where no standing condition is published. ACT · effective 2026-08-24 Australian Capital Territory Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: Not established. ACT · effective 2026-08-24 Australian Capital Territory Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: Access Canberra, under the Security Industry Act 2003 (ACT). ACT · effective 2003-11-01 Australian Capital Territory Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: No insurance condition is listed in the published application requirements, which cover the age requirement, training and first aid certification, and a criminal history check. Recorded as not stated rather than confirmed absent. NT · effective 2026-08-24 Northern Territory Government · 2026-08-25
  • Licence evidence required: Not established. NT · effective 2026-08-24 Northern Territory Government · 2026-08-25
  • Licensing body: Northern Territory Government Licensing, under the Private Security Act 1995 (NT). NT · effective 1996-01-01 Northern Territory Government · 2026-08-25

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