Five guides · Guide 2 of 5
Guide 2 · Weed sprayingWho may spray your lawn
Whether a lawn business needs a licence to spray weeds depends on the state or territory, and on what it sprays and how. NSW, Victoria and Tasmania license commercial spraying but each sets out an exception that reaches garden maintenance; the ACT requires an environmental authorisation for commercial weed control; Queensland licenses herbicide spraying with ground equipment in its own terms, and the Northern Territory licenses professional spray applicators.
General information, not legal advice. This page covers commercial weed spraying only. Each rule is the named state’s or territory’s own, and the official pages are listed at the foot of this page.
The product and the person
Two layers of law meet in a weed spray. “The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) regulates agvet chemical products up to the point of retail sale.” After that, “using agvet chemical products is regulated by states and territories under their respective legislation.” So the product on the shelf is national, and who may spray it on your lawn for pay is a state question.
The licence, and the garden maintenance exception
| State | Who needs the licence | Garden maintenance |
|---|---|---|
| NSW | Anyone who provides services using pesticides, other than fumigants, to control weeds affecting plants or soil, needs a ground applicator licence. | Amenity horticulture, which the EPA says includes ground and garden maintenance and landscaping, is one of the activities it lists as not “prescribed work”: an individual doing it needs no ground applicator licence, though the work may require training. |
| VIC | A commercial operator licence (COL) is needed by anyone who uses agricultural chemicals on another person’s property for a fee or reward. | A person whose business uses agricultural chemicals, such as herbicide, only in a garden associated with a home is exempt from the COL if they have finished a recognised agvet chemical course. |
| TAS | A business that provides a commercial spraying service must hold a Commercial Operator Licence; the businesses it names include those offering weed control in lawns and gardens. | No licence is needed where a business uses only a “small amount” of chemical product, incidental to its main purpose. The department’s example is lawn mowing and garden maintenance using only products registered, labelled and packaged for home garden use. |
| ACT | “If you live in the ACT, you must hold an Environmental Authorisation for commercial pest and weed control operations.” | Not covered here. |
| QLD | Using ground equipment to distribute herbicides on land that neither you nor a close relative owns or occupies may need a commercial operators licence, depending on the equipment and where in the state the work is done. | Not covered here. |
| NT | A licence is needed to operate as a professional spray applicator on land, and it is valid only while working under a business that holds a ground spray business licence. | Not covered here. |
| SA | Not covered here. | Not covered here. |
| WA | Not covered here. | Not covered here. |
What each state adds
New South Wales
The EPA’s full list of activities that are not “prescribed work” is in clause 6 of the Pesticides Regulation 2017. Every pesticide licence the EPA issues is placed on a public register. Its page says that under Part 4 of the regulation, a record must be made of every pesticide application, within 48 hours, and kept for 3 years. Some product labels and APVMA permits require residents or neighbours to be told before or during spraying, and those label instructions must be followed.
Victoria
The COL covers all ground-based spraying, spreading or dispersing of agricultural chemicals, but not aerial spraying. Chemical users must make specified records within 48 hours of using a product and keep them for at least 2 years.
Tasmania
The department describes home garden products as generally small packs of low-toxicity products, labelled and packaged for the home garden and sold at nurseries and garden or hardware stores. Separately from the business licence, anyone applying agricultural chemical products for a commercial spraying business must hold a Certificate of Competency relevant to the work. Three of the certificate types the department lists cover ground spraying; the full list is on its page:
- Category 1: small volumes of herbicide concentrate registered for home garden use (under 2 L or 2 kg a year), with hand-held equipment.
- Category 2: larger volumes of herbicides and other products, with hand-held equipment.
- Category 3: motorised equipment such as a boom spray or airblast.
Australian Capital Territory
Commercial use of agvet chemical products, such as those used in commercial weed control, is a Class A activity, which Access Canberra describes as “highly regulated due to the potential environmental harm these activities may cause.” An operator licensed in another state or territory may be able to work in the ACT under the Automatic Mutual Recognition Scheme. Records are required for agricultural chemical products used in the ACT, except for products used to sanitise a pool or spa and those ordinarily used for household and home gardening; to be exempt, the product must be available in a retail store and applied by hand or with a hand-held device.
Queensland
Business Queensland’s commercial operator page says no licence is needed if the ground distribution is outside the regulated areas in Queensland. Its separate page on ground distribution contractors says any person or organisation carrying on the business of ground distribution of herbicides, or directing or authorising ground equipment to be used for it, must be licensed under the Agricultural Chemicals Distribution Control Act 1966, and does not mention regulated areas. Licensed contractors must record every ground distribution carried out on their behalf and keep the records for at least 2 years.
Northern Territory
An applicator needs chemical handling and application skills relevant to what they spray, and up-to-date certificates or statements of attainment. Owning a spray application business takes a licence of its own.
Questions the rules suggest
These follow from the rules above. None of them is a test the law asks a homeowner to apply; they are the points where the rules touch your lawn.
- Which licence, authorisation or exception the business works under in your state or territory. In NSW, the EPA’s public register lists every pesticide licence it issues.
- Whether the product will be used as its approved label says. In the ACT it is an offence to use an agvet chemical product in a way that is not in line with the approved label or permit.
- Whether the label asks for neighbours to be told before spraying, as some labels in NSW do.
Spraying is one part of looking after a lawn; the consumer rights guide covers what any paid lawn service owes you, and the mowing noise guide covers when the machines may run.