Automatic Mutual Recognition (AMR) Information
What is AMR?
In August 2020, the Federal Government announced that there was agreement with certain states and territories to introduce a uniform scheme for the automatic mutual recognition (AMR) of occupational registrations, subject to the passing of legislation, to assists the country’s recovery from the pandemic.
AMR will allow a person who is registered or licenced for an occupation in one jurisdiction, to be considered registered to perform the same activities in another jurisdiction, without the need for further application processes or the payment of additional fees. Examples provided included trades such as plumbers, electricians, and real estate agents.
Several states around Australia have confirmed that waterwell drillers licences fall into this same category, meaning that a driller’s home state licence may now be the only one that they require for working elsewhere in the country.
This however is still a work in progress and each state and territory are progressing legislation and how it will affect drilling licences individually and within their own timeframes.
Currently the situation for licenced drillers wishing to work in Western Australia under AMR is as follows:
| Principal place of residence or work | Authorised method to undertake drilling in WA |
| Western Australia | You must hold a WA driller’s licence |
| Queensland | You must hold the appropriate Class WA driller’s licence. You can apply for a licence conversion here. |
| New South Wales | You can use the automatic mutual recognition process to work only on Class 1 wells in WA under your NSW licence. |
| Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Northern Territory | You can use the automatic mutual recognition process to work in WA under your interstate licence. |
Currently the situation for licenced drillers wishing to work in South Australia under AMR is as follows:
| Principal place of residence or work | Authorised method to undertake drilling in WA |
| South Australia | You must hold a SA well driller’s licence |
| Queensland | You must hold an SA well driller’s licence. You can apply for an interstate conversion to an SA licence. |
| New South Wales | You can use the automatic mutual recognition process to work only on Class 1 wells in SA under your NSW licence (see the requirements for NSW driller’s outlined here). |
| Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia, and Northern Territory | You can use the automatic mutual recognition process to work in SA under your interstate licence. |