The labour hire industry likes to portray its business as the provision of flexible labour to help employers cope with fluctuations in demand, a short term need for specialist skills, or the covering of staff absences. But according to Richard Hall the reality is that over the past ten years the labour hire industry in Australia has grown beyond this benevolent 'temp employment agency' model. The deliberate use of labour hire to drive down labour costs and even to substitute existing workforces with lower cost, more compliant workers, and the attempts by client employers to minimise their responsibilities, has created an urgent need for policy reform.