Required Compliance Training For Employees

Required compliance training for employees is training an Australian employer must provide because a law, regulation or licence condition says so, rather than because it is sensible practice. There is no single national list of mandatory courses. What is required depends on the work being done, the industry, and the state or territory the work happens in.

The obligation comes from three places. The first is the general duty under the model Work Health and Safety Act, which requires a person conducting a business or undertaking to provide the information, training, instruction and supervision needed to protect people from risks arising from the work, so far as is reasonably practicable. The second is industry regulation, which prescribes named training for named roles. The third is licensing, registration and funding conditions, where a provider agrees to train staff to a set standard as a condition of operating.

Where the requirement is explicit rather than implied:

• AML/CTF risk awareness training. AUSTRAC requires reporting entities to train employees whose roles are identified as carrying money laundering or terrorism financing risk. From 1 July 2026 this reaches lawyers, accountants, real estate agents and dealers in precious metals and stones for the first time.
• Food safety training. Under Food Standards Australia New Zealand Standard 3.2.2A, food handlers working with high risk food must have completed training or be able to show equivalent skills and knowledge before they start, and the business must have a certified food safety supervisor.
• NDIS worker training. Registered providers carry obligations under the NDIS Code of Conduct and Practice Standards that flow directly into what their workers are trained on and how often.
• Work health and safety. Some tasks carry prescribed training or a high risk work licence on top of general induction, so the safety obligation is rarely satisfied by one induction module.

The practical test is not whether a course was assigned. It is whether the organisation can show the right people completed the right training at the right time, and that they could understand it. AUSTRAC’s guidance on employee AML/CTF risk awareness training is a useful illustration of how specific a regulator’s expectations can become. Requirements differ across states and territories and change over time, so treat this as general information rather than legal advice and confirm what applies to your industry. Posts tagged here work through what is genuinely required and what is simply good practice. To see what is available, visit Sentrient’s compliance training courses.