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RAE IQ
Legislation changes

The WHS & HSWA changes we're tracking.
Status updated live.

Three national transitions and one NZ Bill currently affect Australian and New Zealand duty-holders. Each is mapped to what is changing, who it affects, what to do, and the regulator source. The status banner on each card is read live — when the effective date passes, it flips automatically.

Upcoming

Date-certain future commencement. Reference but not yet binding.

AU-NSWEffective 1 July 2026

NSW WHS s26A: Codes of Practice as enforceable duty

From 1 July 2026, the NSW Work Health and Safety Act 2011 elevates approved Codes of Practice from "evidence of what is reasonably practicable" to a standalone enforceable duty under s26A. NSW PCBUs must comply with applicable Codes, or demonstrate an equivalent or higher standard with documented justification. The change does not affect other Australian states.

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AU-NATIONALEffective 1 December 2026

WES → WEL: Workplace Exposure Limits replace Standards

From 1 December 2026, the long-running Workplace Exposure Standards (WES) for airborne contaminants are replaced nationally by Workplace Exposure Limits (WEL). The change updates ~50 substances with reduced or revised limits based on current toxicological evidence, and modernises the framework around short-term excursion limits and biological monitoring. All Australian jurisdictions adopt the WEL list under model WHS Reg 49.

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Pending (not yet law)

Bill before Parliament or not yet date-certain. Track only — do not cite as binding.

NZIntroduced 9 February 2026

NZ HSW (Amendment) Bill 2026 — pending

The Health and Safety at Work (Amendment) Bill 2026 (Bill 244-1) was introduced to the New Zealand Parliament on 9 February 2026 and is currently before the Education and Workforce Select Committee. It proposes substantial reforms to HSWA 2015 including an ACOP "safe-harbour" framing, expanded worker engagement obligations, and clarifications to the officer due-diligence regime. The Bill has NOT yet received Royal Assent — its provisions cannot be cited as binding law. RAE IQ tracks the Bill's status and surfaces it as pending until commencement.

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How RAE IQ uses this tracker.

Every change on this page is wired into the document drafting engine. The same date-aware helpers that flip the status banner here also flip the behaviour inside SWMS / risk assessment / RTW generation — without a deploy. NSW s26A is referenced in every NSW SWMS today and will become binding-text on 1 July 2026 automatically. The NZ Bill 2026 is tracked as pending and never cited as binding until Royal Assent.

See how the engine handles transitions