Executive protection · Compliance
Landing a principal in Australia: what an overseas firm needs from a local provider
What a US or European security firm should ask of an Australian provider before handing over a principal: licensing per state, insurance, and who is accountable on the ground.
Published 31 August 2026 · 2 min read
A protective detail that covers a principal at home usually cannot travel with them everywhere, and should not pretend otherwise. At some point the principal lands somewhere the detail is not licensed to work, and the engagement is handed to a local provider. That handover is the highest risk moment of the whole trip, and it is worth being deliberate about.
Licensing is per state, not per country
Australia licenses security work state by state. A licence in New South Wales does not authorise work in Queensland or the Australian Capital Territory, and close personal protection is a distinct class from a general security officer licence. An itinerary that crosses three states needs an operator correctly licensed in each on the dates they are working, which is a scheduling problem as much as a compliance one.
What to ask for, before you need it
- The master licence number, and the jurisdictions it covers; then verify it yourself on the regulator’s register rather than accepting a certificate by email.
- A certificate of currency, at the level the venues on the itinerary require, and whether the provider can name a third party as an interested party.
- Which entity is contracting, and whether that entity is the one that will be accountable on the ground.
- What the provider will not do, and where they will subcontract: asked directly, because the answer is more useful than the brochure.
A US firm will recognise the pattern, because it is their own. Security licensing in the United States sits with the states too: California through its Bureau of Security and Investigative Services, Nevada through the Private Investigators Licensing Board; and a licence in one authorises nothing in the next. The difference in Australia is only that the distances are longer and there are fewer providers holding more than one.
The question nobody asks
Who does the advance. A handover where the receiving provider has not walked the venues, driven the routes or spoken to the people already responsible for the buildings is not a handover; it is a hope. If the answer is that the advance happens on arrival, the trip has already lost its margin.
Sources
General information, not advice for your circumstances. Obligations change: confirm anything you intend to rely on against the current instrument.