Workers Compensation for Landscaping Businesses: State Rules and Real Premiums (2026)

15 Sept 2026 ·11 min read

Workers compensation insurance for landscapers in Australia is priced by multiplying your rateable wages by an industry classification rate set by your state regulator, then adjusting for your own claims experience. There is no single national price. A landscaping business in New South Wales and one in Victoria can pay very different amounts on the same payroll, because each state publishes its own rate table and applies its own minimum premium and discount rules.

The practical answer to “what will workers comp for landscapers cost me” is therefore: find your state’s published rate for your classification, multiply by wages, then check what adjustments apply. This article walks through the published rates for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 periods, state by state, using figures checked on 15 September 2026.

How the premium is actually built

Almost every Australian workers compensation scheme follows the same basic arithmetic. You take the wages you pay your workers, apply an industry rate expressed as a percentage, and that gives a base or average premium. From there, the regulator or insurer applies experience adjustments, discounts, rewards or a minimum premium.

icare, which runs the New South Wales scheme, describes the starting point as wages multiplied by the WorkCover Industry Classification (WIC) rate to produce the average performance premium. icare maintains 538 classifications grouped into 17 industry divisions. That structure matters for landscapers because landscaping, gardening and site preparation sit in different classifications with different rates, even though the work often overlaps on the same job site.

Queensland’s WorkCover describes the same three inputs: wages, claims experience and industry rate. For employers who started employing within the last 18 months, WorkCover Queensland uses a simplified formula of estimated wages divided by $100, multiplied by the industry rate. Employers with $1.5 million or less in annual wages are rated on a simplified scale where policy ratings 1 to 5 equal 80% to 120% of the industry rate. Above $1.5 million, experience-based rating applies.

South Australia takes a slightly different philosophical approach. ReturnToWorkSA says it uses the South Australian Industry Classification system based on predominant business activity, and that each classification’s industry premium rate is calculated from actual claims cost performance rather than perceived risk. In other words, the rate reflects what claims in that industry have actually cost, not a judgement about how dangerous the work looks.

Published rates for landscaping and gardening

New South Wales, through icare’s 2025-26 industry classification rates, lists WIC 425100 Landscaping Services at 5.760%, WIC 952510 Gardening Services at 6.520% and WIC 421020 Site Preparation Services at 5.350%. These are percentages of wages, not flat dollar amounts.

Victoria’s rates come from the Victoria Government Gazette No. S 275, published 3 June 2025, which sets 2025/26 WorkCover industry rates. Landscape Construction Services (E32910) is listed at 3.757% and Site Preparation Services (E32120) at 2.858%. The same gazette sets the 2025/26 WorkCover minimum premium at $380 and a default industry rate of 18.000% for employers who cannot be classified.

Western Australia’s WorkCover Recommended Premium Rates 2025/26, dated 4 April 2025 and applying to policies from 4:00 pm 30 June 2025, list Landscape Construction Services (32910) at 3.60, Gardening Services (73130) at 5.43 and Site Preparation Services (32120) at 2.87 per cent of wages.

Queensland does not publish a single landscaping rate in the same way in the sources reviewed here. WorkCover Queensland says its target average premium rate stays at $1.343 per $100 of wages for 2026-27, with industry classifications published in the Queensland Government Gazette, last updated 26 June 2026. That average is a scheme-wide figure, not a landscaping-specific rate, so a landscaping employer should not read it as their own rate.

South Australia’s ReturnToWorkSA maintained its 2026-27 average premium rate at 1.85%, the fourth consecutive year at that level. ReturnToWorkSA notes that individual premiums vary significantly by industry, remuneration and other factors, so again the average is a scheme benchmark rather than a landscaping quote.

What changes your premium after the rate is applied

The industry rate is only the starting point. Several adjustments can move the final figure up or down.

In New South Wales, icare says the 2025-26 WIC rates will be maintained for the 2026-27 policy period under a premium rate freeze, though premiums can still change with wages or the employer’s own claims experience. icare also confirmed the NSW average premium rate rose 8% in 2025-26. Small employers paying in full on time receive a 5% discount, and a Safe Employer Reward of 7.5% is available to those with at least three years’ history and a good safety record. The minimum NSW workers compensation premium remains $240 for 2026-27.

In Victoria, WorkSafe says the average premium rate for 2026-27 is 1.8% of the state’s rateable remuneration, with a minimum premium of $400 plus GST. That is a state average across all industries, and the landscaping-specific rates from the 2025/26 gazette sit well above it, which is a useful reminder that industry classification drives the outcome far more than the headline average.

In Queensland, the simplified rating scale means a small landscaping employer with under $1.5 million in wages could be charged anywhere from 80% to 120% of the industry rate depending on their policy rating. That is a meaningful spread on the same payroll.

In South Australia, because rates are built from actual claims cost performance, a landscaping business’s own claims history feeds into the system over time rather than being a separate discount.

Why landscaping is not one classification

A recurring problem for landscaping businesses is that the same crew can be doing three different things in one week: building a retaining wall and laying paving (landscape construction), maintaining an established garden (gardening services), and clearing and preparing ground for a new build (site preparation).

Regulators classify by predominant activity, which means the business needs to identify what most of its work actually is. The rate gap is real. In New South Wales, gardening services at 6.520% is more than a full percentage point above site preparation at 5.350%. In Western Australia, gardening services at 5.43 is well above site preparation at 2.87. Getting the classification wrong in either direction creates problems: too low and you face an adjustment at audit, too high and you overpay for years.

This is also why two landscaping businesses with identical payrolls can pay different premiums. It is not only about state rates; it is about which classification the work predominantly falls into.

Who needs cover, and who does not

business.gov.au states that employers must get workers compensation insurance from an authorised insurer, that laws vary by state and territory, and that sole traders are not covered by it. That last point catches many small landscaping operators who work alone and assume they are automatically protected. If you are a sole trader, the scheme generally does not extend to you, and you would need to look at other arrangements.

Once you employ anyone, including casual labourers, apprentices or subcontractors who are deemed workers under your state’s rules, the obligation typically attaches. Because the rules differ by jurisdiction, the specific threshold and definition of a worker should be confirmed against your state or territory regulator’s current guidance.

How to verify rates and check your own position

Every figure in this article comes from a published regulator document or government page, and each one can be checked directly.

Start with your state or territory regulator’s industry rates page. New South Wales rates sit with icare, Victorian rates with WorkSafe Victoria, Queensland rates with WorkCover Queensland, Western Australian rates with WorkCover WA, and South Australian classifications with ReturnToWorkSA. Each publishes its rate table and the policy period it applies to.

Check the effective date carefully. A rate published for 2025-26 is not automatically the rate for 2026-27. In New South Wales the 2025-26 WIC rates are being maintained into 2026-27 under a freeze, but in Victoria the 2026-27 average premium rate of 1.8% sits alongside the 2025/26 gazetted industry rates, and the two are different kinds of number. Mixing them produces a wrong estimate.

Confirm your classification by describing your predominant activity accurately, not the activity you would prefer to be rated under. If your work is genuinely split, ask the regulator or your insurer how they treat mixed-activity businesses.

Finally, remember that the rate is only one input. Your wages, your claims history and any discounts or rewards all feed into the final premium. A rate table tells you the multiplier, not your bill.

Common questions

Does every state use the same landscaping rate? No. New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia each publish their own figures, and they differ. New South Wales lists landscaping services at 5.760%, Victoria lists landscape construction at 3.757%, and Western Australia lists landscape construction at 3.60 per cent of wages. Queensland and South Australia publish scheme averages and classification systems rather than a single comparable landscaping rate in the sources reviewed here.

Is gardening rated the same as landscaping? No. In New South Wales, gardening services is 6.520% against landscaping services at 5.760%. In Western Australia, gardening services is 5.43 against landscape construction at 3.60. Gardening is consistently rated higher in the published tables reviewed.

Can I just use the state average premium rate? Only as a rough benchmark. Victoria’s 2026-27 average is 1.8% and South Australia’s is 1.85%, but both are across all industries. Landscaping rates are materially higher, so using the average would understate your likely premium.

What if I cannot be classified? Victoria’s gazette sets a default industry rate of 18.000% for 2025/26, which is far above any landscaping rate. Being unclassified is expensive, so it is worth confirming your correct classification.

Do I need cover if I work alone? business.gov.au states that sole traders are not covered by workers compensation insurance. If you employ others, the obligation generally applies, but the detail varies by state and territory.

参考资料

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