Electrical work on a home’s wiring needs a licence whatever the job costs. The regulators in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia each say that doing it without one is against the law, and three of them use the word “illegal”.
General informationA summary of what the electrical regulators publish, as at 8 October 2026: the NSW Government for Building Commission NSW, Queensland’s Electrical Safety Office, Energy Safe Victoria and Building and Energy in Western Australia. Not legal or safety advice about any job.
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The line each regulator draws
Four states, four ways of saying it, summarised here with each regulator’s strongest phrase kept:
| State | The rule | What breaking it can cost | Regulator |
|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | A licence or certificate is needed for any electrical wiring work, whatever it costs and whether the job is in a home, a shop or a factory. Unlicensed wiring work breaches the Home Building Act 1989. | Fines of $22,000 for an individual and $110,000 for a company | Building Commission NSW |
| Queensland | Anyone who performs electrical work must hold a licence that authorises it. Work done yourself counts as unlicensed electrical work, which is illegal. | Penalties of up to $40,000 for an individual | Electrical Safety Office, whose inspectors investigate and prosecute unlicensed work |
| Victoria | Every electrical worker must be licensed by Energy Safe. Doing your own electrical work is, in its words, “illegal and it can also be deadly”. | No figure is given on the pages read for this guide | Energy Safe Victoria |
| Western Australia | The law requires all electrical work to be done by someone holding the relevant licence, and it is illegal for an unlicensed person to do it, changes to fixed wiring included. | No figure is given on the pages read for this guide | Building and Energy |
Energy Safe Victoria sums up the position in four words: “There’s no grey area.”
Repairs are inside the definition
The reason a small repair is caught is in how the law defines the work. Repair and maintenance are named in it, next to installation.
In NSW, electrical wiring work means the hands-on work of putting in, repairing, altering, removing or extending an electrical installation, and supervising it. An electrical installation takes in fixed appliances, wires, fittings, meters and other equipment that carries, measures, controls or uses electricity in a place.
In Queensland, the Electrical Safety Office points to section 18 of the Electrical Safety Act 2002, under which electrical work includes “the manufacturing, constructing, installing, testing, maintaining, repairing, altering, removing, or replacing of electrical equipment”.
Read together, the two definitions leave no room for a maintenance exception: fixing what is there is as much electrical work as putting in something new.
The small jobs the regulators name
Some regulators go further than the rule and name the everyday jobs people are tempted to try. These are theirs:
- VictoriaChanging power points or light switches. Energy Safe says electrical work is not a do-it-yourself job even for jobs that small, because qualifying as an electrician takes years.
- QueenslandPutting in a light switch or a power point, swapping a light fitting for a ceiling fan, repairing electrical equipment, making an extension lead or putting a new plug on one. The Electrical Safety Office says each is a job for a licensed electrician.
- QueenslandFitting a safety switch. Only a licensed electrician can install one.
- Western AustraliaReplacing a damaged switch, power point or light fitting. Building and Energy says these must be replaced, but never by the householder, and that a licensed electrical contractor does it.
- Western AustraliaTaking switches or fittings off to paint around them. Building and Energy says never to, because wires behind them stay live even with the switch turned off.
Near the wiring, but not wiring work
Plenty of ordinary jobs bring a drill close to a cable without being electrical work at all. Western Australia’s guidance on drilling into walls describes the risk in a sequence:
Cables hide in wall cavities
Concealed cables are a risk when drilling, so Building and Energy says to find where they run before starting. Power points, switches and other fixed equipment give a clue to where the wires go.
A drill bit or a nail can damage a cable
Drilling, or driving nails or screws, can damage a cable’s insulation and lead to an electric shock or a fire.
Power off first
Its advice is to switch the power off at the work area before drilling.
If a cable is hit
If a cable is hit, Building and Energy’s advice is to keep the power off and call a licensed electrical contractor.
What can follow work done without a licence
Queensland’s Electrical Safety Office explains why the rule is strict. Unlicensed work risks contact with electricity for the person doing it and for anyone who later uses the installation, and the danger may not show straight away: it can appear only when something faults, or build up over time.
Insurance is the other cost. The same office says that if an electrical fire comes from illegal electrical work, the insurer may refuse the claim. Queensland’s Residential Tenancies Authority, writing for renters and owners, puts it more bluntly: do-it-yourself electrical work is dangerous, illegal and “will void insurance”.
The supply side is closed too. In Victoria, Energy Safe says interfering with the electricity supply cable and meter, whether by altering, removing or tampering with them, is illegal.
One more cover sits on the same footpath, and its first rule travels with every mention of it: on asbestos, the national Asbestos and Silica Safety and Eradication Agency says it is “not recommended that you handle or remove asbestos yourself”, and in some places the law goes further: in the Australian Capital Territory any removal needs a licensed removalist, unless it is part of minor routine maintenance or other minor work, and in Queensland a home owner must be trained before taking out more than 10 square metres of non-friable material, and only a removalist holding a Class A licence may remove friable material. The agency adds that a professional is easier, safer and often cheaper. It also says asbestos waste may go only to a landfill site licensed to take it, and that a household rubbish bin is not that place: putting it there can bring a fine.