The Fair Work Ombudsman is now under fire from both sides: employers warn they could be criminalised for genuine mistakes while senators want to know why a $49.5 million budget has failed to deliver a single prosecution.
Fair Work officials told a Senate inquiry on Monday it was "too early" to judge the laws designed to close workplace wage loopholes.
They said criminal wage‑theft cases were complex, took time to build and had to meet strict evidence tests before they could be sent to the Australian Federal Police or the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
The agency has been given $49.5 million over four years to run the new regime.
Officials said much of that had gone into setting up the system - new IT and case‑tracking tools, secure evidence rooms, additional specialist staff, and agreements with the AFP and Services Australia to assist with raids and forensic work.
So far, 39 suspected wage‑theft matters have been looked at under the laws.
Four have become full investigations, and three of those are still under way. Another seven are in the early stages.
None has been referred to police or prosecutors.
"Just so I'm clear, in 488 days since the offence commenced … millions of dollars have been spent, and not a single matter has been referred to the authorities?" independent senator Fatima Payman said.
"This piece of legislation isn't doing what it's set out to do, and these are taxpayer dollars that have been spent and not really giving us an outcome that we were hoping for."
The ombudsman said most wage‑underpayment complaints still came from health care and social assistance, construction and accommodation and food services, and that vulnerable workers - including young and migrant employees - remained a priority.
Earlier, the inquiry heard from Australia's security industry, which backs criminal penalties for bosses who deliberately underpay staff but says many employers are struggling with complex pay rules.
Australian Security Industry Association chief Bryan de Caires said the 24/7 sector operated across multiple sites and shifting client demands under a web of awards, state licences and labour‑hire laws.
"In the majority of cases, the underpayments are not deliberate, but arise from ambiguity in the system, contested interpretations and payroll system limitations," he said.
Security contracts often ran on margins of just three to five per cent, putting heavy pressure on prices and driving a "race to the bottom" as operators who underpaid staff undercut compliant firms, the committee was told.
With the 2032 Brisbane Olympics expected to drive up demand for guards, the industry warned governments must tighten checks on major contracts and ensure only compliant firms are hired.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions gave a starkly different view, telling the inquiry wage theft was still "widespread, entrenched and prevalent" across low‑paid sectors and could not be fixed by regulators alone.
It called for stronger powers to inspect time and wage records, a faster and cheaper small‑claims system, and for unpaid superannuation to be treated as wage theft.
