Each jurisdiction in Australia has its own system for regulating explosives.

Following a COAG directive in 2012, Safe Work Australia, through its SIG-Explosives, progressed reforms to provide greater national consistency in explosives laws across Australia.

The outcome of this work was a package of policy proposals which make recommendations to achieve national consistency in four key areas of explosives regulation: the definition of explosives, the explosives authorisation process, notification processes, and the licensing framework.

In late 2018, WHS ministers provided in-principle agreement to consider implementing the explosives reforms in their respective jurisdictions. This is an important milestone in moving towards national consistency in explosives regulation and improving the operating environment for businesses within the explosives industry.

Implementation of the reforms is the responsibility of the jurisdictions.