The title each law protects
None of the laws quoted on this site lists the word “engineer” on its own as a protected title. Queensland protects three titles by name: “registered professional engineer”, “registered professional engineer of Queensland” and “RPEQ”. Victoria protects “professional engineer”. New South Wales and the ACT name no title; instead each makes it an offence to claim falsely to be registered.
The schemes compared
| Place | Law | Work that needs registration | Protected title or claim | The register |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Queensland | Professional Engineers Act 2002, version current as at 1 July 2024 | Professional engineering services, by a practising professional engineer or under the direct supervision of one who is responsible for them (s 115) | “registered professional engineer”, “registered professional engineer of Queensland”, “RPEQ”, and any other title or name a regulation prescribes that suggests registration (s 114) | Kept by the Board, which must make it available for inspection on its website (ss 102, 103) |
| Victoria | Professional Engineers Registration Act 2019; the offence sections in force from 1 July 2021 | Professional engineering services in structural, civil, mechanical, electrical or fire safety engineering, or another prescribed area (ss 4, 67) | “professional engineer” (s 68(4)), unless the person holds an equivalent registration elsewhere in Australia or in New Zealand (s 68(5)) | The Register of Professional Engineers, kept by the Licensing Registrar (s 28); searchable by name or registration number |
| New South Wales | Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020, version current from 10 June 2026, and its Regulation of 2021 | Professional engineering work in structural, civil, mechanical, fire safety, electrical or geotechnical engineering, carried out directly in relation to the design or construction of a class 2, 3 or 9c building or part of one (Act s 32; Regulation cl 14, 15) | No title named; falsely claiming to be registered, or registered in a class, is an offence (s 58) | Kept by the Secretary, freely available on the internet (s 98) |
| ACT | Professional Engineers Act 2023; the duty to register and the offences in force from 6 March 2025 | Professional engineering services in civil, electrical, fire safety, mechanical or structural engineering, or another prescribed area (ss 9, 14) | No title named; a false or misleading claim to be registered is an offence (s 59) | The registrar must make each engineer’s name, area, number, term, conditions and status public, unless withheld for safety or national security at the engineer’s written request (s 31) |
| Tasmania | Occupational Licensing Act 2005 and the Building Services Work Regulations 2016 | Engineering analysis, design and documentation of premises, buildings or temporary structures, or of building components and structural systems, as building services work that needs a building services licence (s 22A; Schedule 1) | Not in the sections read for this guide | A register of current licence holders only |
| Northern Territory | Building Act 1993, as in force at 10 February 2026 | Working as a certifying engineer, one of five categories of building practitioner (ss 4A, 22) | The title of building practitioner, or of a category of building practitioner (s 22(1)(a)) | Not in the sections read for this guide |
South Australia’s public licensing register, as its page stood when last updated on 18 June 2026, does not list engineers among the occupations it covers. This guide holds no Western Australian source on engineers, so it states no rule for Western Australia. The other states and territories sheet has the detail.
Two exceptions all four registration laws share
Work done to a prescriptive standard. Queensland, Victoria, NSW and the ACT each leave out of their definition engineering work done only by following a document of set procedures or criteria that needs no advanced scientifically based calculations.
Work done under supervision. Each law lets an unregistered person do the work under a registered engineer: “direct supervision” in Queensland, Victoria and NSW, and “direction and oversight” in the ACT.
Five sheets, one state at a time
- 1Registered professional engineers in Queensland
The RPEQ titles and the Board’s register.
- 2Engineer registration in Victoria
The five areas, and work “in or for Victoria”.
- 3Design and building practitioners in NSW
Why NSW turns on the class of building.
- 4Engineers in the other states and territories
The ACT, Tasmania, the NT, SA and WA.
- 5An engineer’s certificate and the NCC
The declaration a NSW certifier needs.