JollyDriversCompliance, state by state
Eight rulebooks. One record that has to answer to all of them.
Australia doesn't have one rideshare law. It has eight — one for each state and territory — and they disagree about who must be authorised, what a driver must hold, what a vehicle needs, what gets levied and what must be kept. The big apps paper over that with one national checklist. JollyDrivers is built the other way round: every driver, vehicle, trip and dollar is recorded against the state it happened in, so the operator can show a regulator the evidence that state's law asks for.
Checked against the legislation in force on 26 September 2026. This guide explains how JollyDrivers works; it is not legal advice, and the regulator has the last word. Where JollyDrivers falls short, we say so — the list is below.
Who answers for what
The law puts the duties on people. JollyDrivers keeps their evidence.
Every state's law spreads the duties across the people in the chain. Software can't hold an authorisation or carry a duty for anyone — but it can make sure nobody is caught without the paperwork.
- The booking businessHolds the state's authorisation to take bookings — a booking entity authorisation in Queensland, a booking service provider authorisation in New South Wales, registration or accreditation elsewhere — and carries the duties that come with it: safety, records, reporting, fares.
- The driverHolds the licence and any driver authorisation or accreditation the state requires, keeps it current, reports changes, and drives safely and fit to drive.
- The vehicle's ownerKeeps the vehicle registered, insured, inspected and licensed for passenger work as the state requires, and safe and fit for purpose.
- JollyDriversIs none of the above. It is the software the operator and driver run the work in: it stores the evidence, checks it against each state's requirements, records every step of every trip, and exports it when somebody asks. It is not an authorised booking entity or transport operator and never holds anyone's authorisation for them.
Every step of the way
Compliance isn't a form you fill in once. It's every trip.
Onboarded
Drivers upload their licences, checks and vehicle papers into document types defined for their state, each with its identifier and expiry date. Nothing reaches an operator unless the driver shares it — sharing is a recorded consent — and each operator approves, rejects or asks for an update on every document.
The law: the booking business must be satisfied its drivers and vehicles meet the state's standard, and keep the records to prove it.
Booked
Every booking — by chat, by the operator's booking page, by the operator, or by a driver for their own customers — goes through one door and one set of checks. The fare is the operator's own, and nothing in JollyDrivers changes it with demand.
The law: fare and booking information has to be given before the trip, and booking records kept.
Assigned
Before a driver is put on a job, JollyDrivers works out whether that driver and that vehicle are cleared for the state the trip starts in, and names any document that is missing, unapproved or out of date. Today it warns the operator rather than refusing; a mode that refuses outright is built and switched off. It also flags schedule clashes across every operator the driver works for. A warning when a job would take the driver past their own hours cap is built and, today, switched off.
The law: only eligible drivers in compliant vehicles may provide the service.
Confirmed
The customer's confirmation goes out in the operator's name and, once a driver is assigned, names the driver and describes the car — make, model, colour and registration.
The law (NSW, for example): the passenger must be able to identify the driver and the vehicle.
Driven
En route, arrived, on board, completed: every stage is an event with a time and a name on it, seen live by the rider and the operator. Complaints and incidents go on the operator's own case register, and for safety-related cases in Queensland and New South Wales JollyDrivers prints the notification test and deadline beside the case — it never decides for the operator.
The law: notifiable incidents must be reported to the regulator, some of them immediately.
Paid
The tax invoice is raised, approved, amended or voided in the operator's own Xero, in the operator's name. There is nowhere in JollyDrivers to add a card surcharge. Drivers see their share of every fare on their own statements.
The law: GST registration for anyone supplying taxi-style travel, whatever their turnover, and a tax invoice on request.
On the record
The booking and its whole event history stay in JollyDrivers. Safety management plans are published with a fingerprint, so an operator can prove which version was in force on a given day, and driver and vehicle documents export as a bundle for an auditor.
The law: records kept for years — two in Queensland and New South Wales for bookings — and produced on request.
At a glance
The eight rulebooks, side by side
What each state or territory asks of the booking business, the driver and the vehicle — and how far JollyDrivers goes there today. Queensland and New South Wales, where JollyDrivers started, have a full state pack; elsewhere the national tools work but the state's own documents, templates and courses aren't written yet.
| State | Regulator | The booking business holds | The driver holds | The vehicle needs | Per-trip levy | Safety system | Records and reporting | JollyDrivers there |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QLD Queensland | Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) | Booking entity authorisation (BEA) | Driver authorisation (DA), plus the mandatory anti-discrimination and disability-awareness training | Booked hire service licence (BHSL), registration and a certificate of inspection | None | A safety management plan for each responsible duty holder (TOPTA s 67ZC) | Drivers, vehicles and journeys kept two years and reported to TMR through BEAR | State pack built Seeded documents, safety-plan templates with Queensland citations, notification guidance and the Queensland training course. |
| NSW New South Wales | Point to Point Transport Commissioner | Booking service provider (BSP) authorisation | A driver licence and a record that passes the provider's eligibility checks (Regulation cll 24–25) | Registration, insurance and maintenance to the Regulation's standards (cll 8, 9, 22) | Passenger service levy on each trip, administered by Revenue NSW | Primary duties of care (Act ss 12–13) and a safety management system (Regulation cl 7) | Booking records kept two years (Regulation cl 41) and available when required (Act s 43) | State pack built Seeded documents, safety-plan templates with NSW citations, notification guidance and the NSW training course. |
| VIC Victoria | Safe Transport Victoria | Booking service provider registration | Commercial passenger vehicle driver accreditation | Registration as a commercial passenger vehicle | Commercial passenger vehicle service levy on each trip that starts in Victoria, indexed yearly (State Revenue Office) | Safety duties under the Commercial Passenger Vehicle Industry Act 2017 | Levy returns to the State Revenue Office; records as the regulator requires | National tools only National tools only — no Victorian document catalogue, safety-plan templates, course or levy line yet. |
| SA South Australia | Department for Infrastructure and Transport (DIT) | Accreditation as a centralised booking service | Passenger transport driver accreditation | Registration and approval for point-to-point use — check DIT for inspection and age rules | A per-trip levy on journeys starting in metropolitan Adelaide ($2 since 1 July 2025) | General duties under the Passenger Transport Act 1994 and work health and safety law | As the accreditation conditions require | National tools only National tools only — no South Australian document catalogue, safety-plan templates, course or levy line yet. |
| WA Western Australia | Department of Transport — On-demand Transport | On-demand booking service authorisation | Passenger transport driver authorisation | Authorisation of the vehicle for on-demand passenger transport | None since the on-demand passenger transport levy ended on 1 June 2022 | Safety duties under the Transport (Road Passenger Services) Act 2018 | As the authorisation conditions require | National tools only National tools only — no Western Australian document catalogue, safety-plan templates or course yet. |
| TAS Tasmania | Department of State Growth — Transport Services | Operator accreditation under the Passenger Transport Services Act 2011 | An ancillary certificate, a police check and working with children registration | Registration as a passenger transport vehicle, kept registered and safe by the accredited operator | None | Accreditation standards — systems to keep drivers and vehicles safe | As the accreditation conditions require | National tools only National tools only — no Tasmanian document catalogue, safety-plan templates or course yet. |
| NT Northern Territory | Department of Logistics and Infrastructure — Commercial Passenger Vehicles | Approval as a ridesharing network or operator — check the current category with the Department | Driver approval for commercial passenger work under the Act | Approval to use the vehicle for ridesharing, and registration | A per-trip passenger services levy, lodged online by operators and ridesharing networks | Conditions under the Act and Regulations, and work health and safety law | Levy returns lodged online; other records as the Department requires | National tools only National tools only — no Territory document catalogue, safety-plan templates, course or levy line yet. |
| ACT Australian Capital Territory | Access Canberra | Transport booking service accreditation | Rideshare driver accreditation — a 'D' condition on the licence and a public vehicle driver authority card | A rideshare vehicle licence and registration | No per-trip levy | Accreditation conditions under the Road Transport (Public Passenger Services) Regulation 2002 | As the accreditation conditions require | National tools only National tools only — no ACT document catalogue, safety-plan templates or course yet. |
Pick your state
Each state, in its own words
Every page walks the same ground — the booking business, drivers, vehicles, safety and fatigue, incidents, records, fares and levies, privacy — with the legislation cited, what JollyDrivers does about each duty, and where it falls short.
- QLDQueenslandBooking entity authorisation (BEA)State pack built
- NSWNew South WalesBooking service provider (BSP) authorisationState pack built
- VICVictoriaBooking service provider registrationNational tools only
- SASouth AustraliaAccreditation as a centralised booking serviceNational tools only
- WAWestern AustraliaOn-demand booking service authorisationNational tools only
- TASTasmaniaOperator accreditation under the Passenger Transport Services Act 2011National tools only
- NTNorthern TerritoryApproval as a ridesharing network or operator — check the current category with the DepartmentNational tools only
- ACTAustralian Capital TerritoryTransport booking service accreditationNational tools only
Duty by duty
What the law asks everywhere, and what JollyDrivers does about it
Each chip says how far JollyDrivers goes: Built is live, Built — off by default exists but is switched off today, Partly built does some of the job, Not built yet is a gap, and Yours to do is a duty no software can carry for you.
Drivers
Every state requires a licence and some form of driver authorisation, accreditation or eligibility check — criminal and driving history, and in some states medical fitness and training.
Built JollyDrivers: a driver's documents live in one place across every operator, versioned and never overwritten, each with its expiry date; operators approve them one by one and can ask for a missing one. Other users can confirm an identifier against a public register without ever seeing the document.
Built — off by default Automatic expiry reminders.
Differs by state: Queensland's driver authorisation, Victoria's and the ACT's driver accreditation, WA's passenger transport driver authorisation, Tasmania's ancillary certificate, and New South Wales' provider-run eligibility checks.
Vehicles
Registration for passenger use, compulsory third-party insurance, regular inspection, and in some states a licence for the vehicle itself.
Built JollyDrivers: vehicles belong to the driver, carry their own documents with expiry dates, and are shared with each operator separately; a service log records maintenance.
Partly built A booking names the driver's primary car; it does not yet keep a snapshot of exactly which vehicle did each trip.
Differs by state: Queensland's booked hire service licence and certificate of inspection; New South Wales' registration, insurance and maintenance standards; commercial passenger vehicle registration in Victoria.
Safety systems
Queensland requires a written safety management plan; New South Wales a safety management system; every state has general safety duties, and work health and safety law sits over all of them.
Built JollyDrivers: for Queensland and New South Wales, safety management plans built from a hazard library with the legislation cited, consultation with the other duty holders, publication with a fingerprint and an in-force window, and an audit report.
Built — off by default Review reminders and the scan that spots a plan drifting from how the business actually runs.
Differs by state: no templates yet outside Queensland and New South Wales.
Fatigue
Fatigue is a safety duty everywhere. For light passenger vehicles like these, neither Queensland nor New South Wales now prescribes a maximum number of driving hours — it is managed through the safety duties and the safety plan or system.
Built JollyDrivers: each driver's hours are counted from their trips across every operator they drive for on JollyDrivers, including the empty legs between jobs, against a cap the driver sets, with history reports for the driver and the operator. Because the law sets no limit, JollyDrivers never labels a day a "breach".
Built — off by default The warning when a new job would take a driver past their cap, and holding that job until somebody acknowledges it.
Differs by state: check the state's page — heavy-vehicle fatigue law does not apply to these vehicles.
Incidents and complaints
Serious incidents must be notified to a regulator — in Queensland to Workplace Health and Safety Queensland immediately, in New South Wales to the Point to Point Transport Commissioner — and complaints handled and recorded.
Built JollyDrivers: a case register for complaints and incidents on each operator's own books, with categories, an evidence pack, and — for Queensland and New South Wales — the notification test and deadline printed beside a safety-related case.
Not built yet Notification guidance for the other six states and territories; JollyDrivers does not lodge a notification with any regulator.
Records and reporting
Booking records — who drove, which vehicle, when and where — kept for years, and in some states reported to the regulator on a schedule.
Built JollyDrivers: every booking is a record plus its full event history, with a name on every change, and nothing is purged on a schedule today.
Not built yet Regulator report files — for example Queensland's quarterly booking entity report, which operators still file by hand.
Fares, levies and tax
Fare information before the trip; per-trip levies in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory; GST registration for anyone supplying taxi-style travel; a tax invoice on request.
Built JollyDrivers: the operator's own fares with no surge; tax invoices in the operator's own Xero; no card surcharge anywhere.
Built — off by default The New South Wales passenger service levy as its own fare line, passed on or absorbed as the operator chooses. It is switched off in production today, so no levy line is shown or counted.
Not built yet Levy lines for Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory, and levy returns in any state.
Privacy
The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and its Australian Privacy Principles: collect only what is needed, say why, keep it secure, let people see and correct it, and take particular care with sensitive information such as health and criminal records.
Built JollyDrivers: operators see only their own bookings; a driver's documents reach an operator only by the driver's recorded consent and are encrypted at rest; every published privacy notice is kept word for word with a fingerprint; privacy requests are tracked against their deadlines.
Not built yet A separate consent step before a driver uploads a medical certificate or police check.
Training
Queensland requires every personalised-transport driver to complete anti-discrimination (including sexual harassment) and disability-awareness training; New South Wales leaves driver competency to the provider's safety duties.
Built JollyDrivers: courses for Queensland and New South Wales, training records, and — where a course is assessed — competency certificates anyone can check at a public address showing only the course, its dates and the holder's first name.
Built — off by default Reminders when a certificate is due for renewal.
Accessibility and assistance animals
Refusing a passenger with an assistance animal is unlawful under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth), and state law says the same — New South Wales' Regulation has a clause on it (cl 64).
Partly built JollyDrivers: the Queensland and New South Wales courses cover disability awareness, and accessibility is its own complaint category. Booking intake does not yet ask about assistance animals or mobility needs in a structured way.
The national layer
The laws that don't change at the border
- PrivacyPrivacy Act 1988 (Cth), Schedule 1 — the Australian Privacy PrinciplesJollyDrivers' published privacy policy is written to the Principles, every version is kept word for word, and each person's consent is recorded against the exact version they saw.
- MessagesSpam Act 2003 (Cth), ss 16–18Texts go out from a named sender, and a STOP reply takes the number off the list.
- GSTA New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (Cth), s 144-5Anyone supplying taxi-style travel — which the Federal Court held includes rideshare — must register for GST whatever their turnover. JollyDrivers raises the operator's tax invoices in the operator's own Xero; registering is Yours to do.
- Work health and safetyWork Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld) ss 35, 38 and 39, and the equivalent law in each stateNotifiable incidents go to the WHS regulator, and the scene is preserved. JollyDrivers shows the test for Queensland and New South Wales cases; the notifying is Yours to do.
- Disability discriminationDisability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth)Assistance animals ride, and disability awareness is in the Queensland and New South Wales courses.
- Consumer lawCompetition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), Schedule 2 — the Australian Consumer LawPrices come from the fare book and are shown before the trip; how someone pays never changes what they pay.
Straight answers
Where JollyDrivers still falls short
We would rather you read it here than find it in an audit. Each of these is on the list to build.
- The compliance gate only warnsAn operator is told when a driver or vehicle isn't cleared for a trip, but JollyDrivers still lets the assignment through. A refusing mode is built and switched off.
- Reminders are switched offDocument-expiry, training-renewal and safety-plan review reminders are all built and all off in production today. Expiry dates are still shown; nobody is nudged about them.
- Six states have no state packVictoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory get the national tools, but no seeded documents, safety-plan templates, courses, levy lines or incident guidance of their own.
- No regulator reportsJollyDrivers produces no report file for any regulator — not Queensland's quarterly booking entity report, not a levy return — and lodges nothing on anyone's behalf.
- No register checksA document's identifier is checked against a public register by people, not by a live connection to the register.
- Receipts are not automaticThe trip receipt is sent by hand or after the invoice is approved; it shows the booked time rather than the recorded start and finish, and does not print a Queensland driver authorisation number.
- No per-trip vehicle snapshotA booking names the driver's primary car; which vehicle did each trip is not yet frozen onto the record.
- Sensitive-information consentThere is no separate consent step before a driver uploads a medical certificate or police check.
Check it yourself
Don't take our word for it
Operators
- Driver and vehicle readiness, approvals and the document export:
/portal/compliance - Safety management plans:
/portal/smp - Driving hours across the fleet:
/portal/drivers/hours - Complaints and incidents:
/portal/cases - Training:
/portal/academy
Drivers
- Your documents and who you've shared them with:
/portal/driver/documents - Your vehicles and their papers:
/portal/driver/vehicles - Your hours:
/portal/driver/hours - Your courses and certificates:
/portal/driver/training
Anyone
Regulators and auditors
- Ask the operator — they hold the authorisation and the records. JollyDrivers gives them a document export per driver and vehicle, a safety plan with a fingerprint and the date it was in force, and the event history of any booking.
- Found something here that is out of date? Tell us at hello@jollydrivers.com.au.
JollyDrivers is booking and back-office software. It is not an authorised booking entity, booking service provider or transport operator, and it does not hold anybody's authorisation for them: the operator does, and the operator and driver stay accountable for the duties the law gives them. Statements about the law are summaries, checked on 26 September 2026 against the legislation then in force; legislation changes, and the regulator's own guidance and the in-force text are the authority.