It may be. I've been looking at the legislation, starting with
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/qld/consol_act/esa2002169/s55.html
and so far I haven't found any way to avoid the need for a licence to so
much as attach a plug to an appliance.
The legislation is so restrictive, they even needed a special subsection
to allow people to install things that plug into mains outlets:
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/qld/consol_act/esa2002169/s18.html
"2) However, the following are not electrical work--
(a) installing or removing electrical equipment by connecting it to
electricity, or disconnecting it from electricity, by a plug and socket
outlet"
So QLD's another state I won't be moving to.
Sylvia.
Since I'm in the mood for it, let's examine the QLD law a bit.
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/qld/consol_act/esa2002169/s55.html
"(3) A person is not required under subsection (1) to hold an electrical
work licence for the purpose of the following--
....
(c) performance or supervision of remote rural installation work;"
Apparently even a nanny state can recognise that you can't expect
someone to try to call out a sparky to replace a lamp socket when
they're 500km from the nearest town.
Mind you, "remote rural installation work" is defined in the dictionary
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/qld/consol_act/esa2002169/sch2.html
as
"remote rural installation work means work on an electrical installation
if all the following circumstances apply--
....
(d) a person holding an appropriate electrical work licence is not
available to perform the work because of the remote location of the farm
or grazing property."
So before you get to work replacing that lamp socket on your remote
rural property, you have to ponder the question of whether a sparky is
"available". In practice, whether one's available is just going to
depend on how much you're willing to pay.
Mind you, that's not your only problem. You're allowed to work an a
remote rural installation without a licence, but an item is part of an
installation only if it is permanently connected to it. So you can put
that cable down - it's no use to you. You can't trim the insulation off
the wire until it's connected to the installation, and you obviously
can't connect it until you've trimmed the insulation off.
Just gotta love nanny state governments.
Sylvia.