The Victorian Government introduced the Associations Incorporation Reform Amendment Bill 2026 to the state parliament earlier this week, ensuring workers can access real union protection.
Many ‘fake’ or so-called Red Unions register as ordinary community associations rather than as a real union organisation.
Workers who join these Red Unions often believe they have the protection of a legitimate union, including industrial protection and representation. However, Red Unions cannot provide these services and often scam customers out of money on false pretenses.
The new bill prevents so-called Red Unions from registering as ordinary community associations and gives Consumer Affairs Victoria powers to wind up fake unions.
This legislation also prevents hate groups from incorporating, which takes away legitimacy and financial structuring benefits that can come from registering as ordinary community associations.
Minister for Consumer Affairs Tim Richardson says this is one of the many actions the Victorian Government is taking to protect the state and “stamp out hate”.
“If you’re calling yourself a union, you should have to act like one,” Richardson says.
“Workers deserve a union that actually fights for them — not one that takes their money and leaves them exposed.”
In Australia, unions play an important role in protecting worker rights, negotiating better pay and conditions, and shaping national social policy.
Subject to legal requirements, unions can advise on and resolve workplace issues as a representative for workers, act as a bargaining representative during negotiations, enter workplaces to hold discussions and investigate suspected breaches of workplace laws, and enter workplaces to exercise rights under work health and safety laws.
For the mining industry in Australia, the main unions include the Mining and Energy Union and the Australian Workers’ Union.
Victoria as a mining state
The Mining and Energy Union has districts across the country — beneficial for a state such as Victoria, which has played a significant role in Australian mining history.
In Victoria, mining contributes over $13 billion to the state’s economy and creates 121,000 jobs, according to the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM).
Victoria’s mining industry dates back to the gold rush in 1851, when gold was discovered in Ballarat. This gold rush made Melbourne one of the richest cities in the world, AusIMM reports.
The Victorian gold province has produced more than 2,500 tonnes of gold, with current production marked at around 650,000 ounces of gold each year.
Modern production mostly comes from the Fosterville deposit, Ballarat, Costerfield, and Stawell.
Adjacent to the Fosterville mine sits Amara Minerals’ (ASX:AM3) Lauriston Gold Project.
Spanning 28,700 hectares, the Lauriston Project hosts the Comet discovery and has returned intercepts such as 8m @ 104 grams per tonne gold (Au) and 5.9m @ 15.3g/t Au.
Amara Minerals completed its initial diamond drilling program at Lauriston in mid-June 2026, conducting 3,907.5m of drilling that targeted both the Comet and Yankee/Trojan prospects.
The company also owns the Apollo Gold and Antimony Project, which is located in the Melbourne zone and provides a “second high-impact growth asset with bulk-tonnage gold potential”.
Amara Minerals is focused on advancing two ‘high-grade’ gold-antimony projects in Victoria’s gold belts.
Meanwhile, in the Stawell mineralised corridor, North Stawell Minerals (ASX:NSM) is focused on its 445km2 tenement package.
North Stawell is planning to conduct further diamond drilling at the Darlington and Caledonia targets, following on from a sampling campaign that returned ‘encouraging’ gold results.
The targets form part of the Stawell gold mine, where follow-up 1m resamples from recent aircore drilling defined an 800m gold trend at Darlington.
Darlington returned multiple intersections including 3m at 1.35g/t Au from 44m, which includes 1m at 2.52g/t Au from 45m. The southern extension delivered 1m at 2.18g/t gold from 29m, among other results.
The company identified new drill targets at the Darlington and Forsaken prospects after a six-line, 6.5km induced polarisation geophysical survey last month.
North Stawell Minerals is a Victoria-focused gold explorer, advancing a portfolio of tenements across the highly prospective Stawell Corridor.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: iStock & Amara Minerals
