How many logbook hours do I need in each state?

New South Wales and Victoria both ask for 120 supervised hours, including 20 at night, if you are under 25 in New South Wales or under 21 in Victoria. Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory ask for 100, including 10 at night. How many logbook hours you need depends on where you live and how old you are.

Those figures come from Transport for NSW, VicRoads, the Queensland Government, the Department of Transport Western Australia, My Licence South Australia, the Department of State Growth Tasmania and ACT Government City Services. Western Australia asks for 50 hours including 5 at night. South Australia asks for 75 hours including 15 at night on the Vehicle On Road Test pathway. Tasmania asks for 80 hours including 15 at night for novice learners since 1 December 2020. The Northern Territory has no verified mandatory hours figure on its own pages.

Night hours sit inside the total, not on top of it. If you are a New South Wales learner with 110 hours and no night driving, you still have 20 hours of driving left, not 10 and not 30, because all 20 night hours are still owed and they also cover the last 10 hours of the total. The number of hours still to drive is whichever is larger: the hours still owed on the total, or the night hours still owed. Two jurisdictions require 120, two require 100, one requires 80, one requires 75, one requires 50, and one has no verified figure.

1Do night hours sit inside the total?

In New South Wales the 20 night hours are part of the 120, as the Transport for NSW page Using your Learner Driver Log Book sets out. Victoria uses the same 120 including 20 at night, according to the VicRoads page Driving on your Ls. Night hours in both states are counted between sunset and sunrise. A 6 pm drive in June can count as night. The same clock time in December may not, because sunset has moved.

Queensland's 10 night hours sit inside its 100, Western Australia's 5 sit inside its 50, South Australia's 15 sit inside 75 on the Vehicle On Road Test pathway, and Tasmania's 15 sit inside 80 for novice learners since 1 December 2020, each on that agency's own pages. The Australian Capital Territory puts 10 night hours inside 100, or 5 inside 50 if the learner licence was issued at 25 or over, under ACT Government City Services guidance. The Northern Territory publishes no night hours figure.

2At what age do the hours stop applying?

New South Wales drops the logbook entirely at 25, according to Transport for NSW. Queensland does the same at 25, though the Queensland Government learner logbook page still recommends keeping one. Western Australia's 50 hours apply to learners under 25, per the Department of Transport Western Australia. Victoria is the one place where the requirement stops at 21 rather than 25, a cut-off VicRoads states on Driving on your Ls.

The Australian Capital Territory halves the requirement rather than removing it. Learners who were 25 or over when the ACT learner licence was issued log 50 hours including 5 at night, not 100 including 10, according to ACT Government City Services. That is different from every other jurisdiction that varies by age. No age exemption has been verified for South Australia, so none is stated here. Tasmania's 80 hour rule is described for novice learner licence holders since 1 December 2020, without a verified age cut-off in the pages checked.

3When in the process do the hours count?

In New South Wales the hours run from the day the learner licence is issued to the day the driving test is sat, Transport for NSW says. Victoria records hours across the learner permit, and VicRoads has them declared before the drive test, in the myLearners app or an official learner logbook. Driving before the learner licence exists does not start the New South Wales clock.

Queensland requires the logbook to be recorded and submitted for review before a learner can book the practical driving test, according to the Queensland Government learner logbook page. Driving up to the last hour and booking the next morning is the wrong sequence. Western Australia reverses the usual order: hours are logged after passing the Computerised Theory Test and while holding the learner's permit, and they have to be in the book before the Practical Driving Assessment can be booked, as the Department of Transport Western Australia explains.

Tasmania spreads the hours across L1 and L2. The Department of State Growth Tasmania describes 30 as recommended during L1 and 50 as required during L2. The assessment will not go ahead without a logbook showing the L2 hours and a completed declaration. Treat the 80 as the number that gets a learner through the whole system rather than a single gate. Learners who held an L2 licence before 1 December 2020 sit under the older 50 hour rule.

4What do the course credits actually save?

New South Wales offers two credits, and both leave the night requirement untouched. The Safer Drivers Course gives 20 hours, once, after the learner has 50 logbook hours of on road driving, not counting 3 for 1 bonus hours, and has done some of that driving at night, under the Transport for NSW logbook rules. The credit does nothing for the 20 night hours. Approved providers set their own prices, so there is no single published fee.

Structured lessons at 3 for 1 are the second credit. Each hour with a licensed New South Wales driving instructor is logged as 3 hours. Only 10 instructor hours qualify, so the bonus tops out at 20 hours, again under Transport for NSW rules. Bonus hours from a night lesson still do not count towards the 20 night hours. Only the hour actually driven in the dark does. The guide to the NSW 120 hour logbook and the Safer Drivers Course covers the New South Wales 120, the course and the 3 for 1 arithmetic in depth.

The Australian Capital Territory credits lessons with an accredited instructor at 3 hours for each hour driven, capped at 10 hours, according to ACT Government City Services. It has not been verified whether that cap counts lesson hours or credited hours, so the cap exists and the ambiguity has not been resolved. South Australia's competency based training and assessment replaces the Vehicle On Road Test with 30 assessed tasks signed off by an accredited instructor, and the hours requirement works differently on it, as My Licence South Australia explains. That is a different path, not a credit stacked on the 75 hours.

5A Wollongong learner with 84 hours logged

If you are under 25 in Wollongong, New South Wales, with 84 hours logged, 6 of them at night, and you drive about 4 hours a week, this is how the numbers fall. The Transport for NSW requirement is 120 hours including 20 at night. Complete the Safer Drivers Course, which credits 20 hours, and 104 hours count. Hours still owed on the total: 16. Night hours still owed: 14.

Because night hours sit inside the total, the real number of hours left to drive is 16, and 14 of those 16 have to be after sunset. At 4 hours a week that is 4 weeks of driving. The trap: the Safer Drivers Course credit did nothing for your night hours, so almost every one of your remaining hours has to be driven in the dark. The logbook planner works out a remaining hours date from the same split of total hours against night hours.

Skip the course and 120 minus 84 is 36 hours still owed on the total, with 14 night hours still owed, so the larger number is 36. The course saves you 20 hours of daylight driving and nothing after sunset. Instructor 3 for 1 hours would behave the same way. A New South Wales learner drives 70 more supervised hours than a Western Australian learner before the same kind of test, because Western Australia asks 50 and New South Wales asks 120.

6The same requirement in eight short paragraphs

New South Wales. Learners under 25 log 120 hours, including 20 at night, from licence issue to the driving test. At 25 or over there is no hours requirement. Night hours run sunset to sunrise. Source: Transport for NSW, Using your Learner Driver Log Book.

Victoria. Learners under 21 log 120 hours, including 20 at night, recorded across the learner permit and declared before the drive test in myLearners or an official logbook. At 21 or over there is no minimum and no logbook. Source: VicRoads, Driving on your Ls.

Queensland. Learners under 25 log 100 hours, including 10 at night. The logbook must be submitted for review before the practical driving test can be booked. At 25 or over the logbook is not required, though Queensland still recommends keeping one. Source: Queensland Government, Learner logbook.

Western Australia. Learners under 25 log 50 hours, including 5 at night, after the Computerised Theory Test and before the Practical Driving Assessment can be booked. The 50 is a floor, not a target. Statewide pass rate: 42.3 per cent across 244,557 assessments at 22 centres, freedom of information release 2026-0140. Source: Department of Transport Western Australia.

South Australia. Learners on the Vehicle On Road Test pathway log 75 hours, including 15 at night, recorded as 4,500 minutes in The Driving Companion. Competency based training and assessment replaces that test with 30 assessed tasks, and the hours requirement works differently on it. No age exemption has been verified. Source: My Licence South Australia.

Tasmania. Novice learners since 1 December 2020 log 80 hours, including 15 at night, spread across L1 and L2, with 30 recommended during L1 and 50 required during L2. Assessment needs the L2 hours and a completed declaration. Learners who held L2 before 1 December 2020 sit under the older 50 hour rule. Source: Department of State Growth Tasmania.

Northern Territory. No mandatory hours figure and no night hours figure could be verified on the territory's own pages. The territory issues a supervised driving logbook and runs a minimum learner period. It publishes 100 hours of practice as the level at which crash risk drops by about a third, a safety finding, not a licensing requirement. Source: Northern Territory Government, Get your driver licence.

Australian Capital Territory. Learners whose learner licence was issued before 25 log 100 hours, including 10 at night. Issued at 25 or over, the figure is 50 hours including 5 at night. Hours go in the logbook issued with the learner licence and are completed before the provisional licence. Instructor credit is 3 for 1, capped at 10 hours. Source: ACT Government City Services.

7How do the hours go in the book?

New South Wales uses the Transport for NSW Learner Driver Log Book. Victoria takes the myLearners app or an official learner logbook, per VicRoads. Queensland submits the logbook for review before the practical test can be booked, a step the Queensland Government makes compulsory. Western Australia uses the department logbook or Learn and Log inside the ServiceWA app. The Department of Transport Western Australia sells a printed logbook for $10.70, and it is optional.

South Australia counts minutes in The Driving Companion, run by My Licence South Australia. Tasmania's Department of State Growth needs the L2 hours and a completed declaration before assessment. ACT Government City Services issues the logbook with the learner licence. The Northern Territory Government issues a supervised driving logbook even though no mandatory hours figure has been verified. The state by state comparison puts the totals beside each other.

8Common questions

Question

how many logbook hours do i need

It depends on the state and your age. New South Wales and Victoria ask 120 including 20 at night. Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory ask 100 including 10 at night. Tasmania asks 80 including 15. South Australia asks 75 including 15 on the Vehicle On Road Test pathway. Western Australia asks 50 including 5. The Northern Territory has no verified mandatory figure. Each number comes from that jurisdiction's own licensing agency.

Question

do night hours count extra on top of the total

No. The night requirement is a slice of the total, not an extra block. Transport for NSW counts the 20 night hours as part of the 120, not as 20 more on top of it. To find what you have left, work out the hours still owed on the total and the night hours still owed, and drive whichever is larger, making sure enough of it happens after sunset.

Question

do i need logbook hours if i am over 25

In New South Wales, no: Transport for NSW drops the requirement at 25. Queensland does not require the logbook at 25 or over but still recommends one. Victoria's requirement ends earlier, at 21. The Australian Capital Territory keeps a smaller requirement of 50 hours including 5 at night for learners licensed at 25 or over. No age exemption has been verified for South Australia.

Question

does the safer drivers course count as night hours

No. The New South Wales Safer Drivers Course credits 20 hours once, and Transport for NSW applies that credit to the total only, so your 20 night hours are untouched. The 3 for 1 instructor bonus works the same way. It tops out at 20 hours from 10 instructor hours, and a lesson after dark adds to your night count only for the time you actually drove, never for the bonus.

Question

how many logbook hours do i need in wa

If you are under 25, the Department of Transport Western Australia asks for 50 hours including 5 at night. You log them after passing the Computerised Theory Test, and they must be in the book before you can book the Practical Driving Assessment. Treat 50 as the minimum rather than the goal: freedom of information release 2026-0140 puts the statewide practical pass rate at 42.3 per cent across 244,557 assessments at 22 centres.

Question

does the northern territory require 100 logbook hours

Not as far as the territory's own pages show. The Northern Territory Government issues a supervised driving logbook and sets a minimum learner period, but no mandatory hours or night hours figure could be verified on its Get your driver licence page. The 100 hours it mentions is safety advice: practice at that level is linked to crash risk falling by about a third, and it is not a condition of the licence.

Question

when can i start counting my logbook hours

In New South Wales the count starts the day your learner licence is issued and runs until you sit the driving test. Victoria counts hours across the learner permit and has you declare them before the drive test. Western Australia counts only hours driven after you pass the Computerised Theory Test. Those start points come from Transport for NSW, VicRoads and the Department of Transport Western Australia. In Queensland the hours also have to be reviewed before you can book the practical test.

Question

how do i work out how many hours i have left

Take the hours still owed on the total and the night hours still owed, then drive the larger number, with enough of those hours after sunset to close the night ledger. The Wollongong example had 16 hours left on the total and 14 night hours left, so 16 hours of driving, 14 of them after sunset. Credits change only the total. The logbook planner turns that into a finish date.

9Sources

1. Transport for NSW, Using your Learner Driver Log BookChecked 3 September 2026
2. VicRoads, Driving on your LsChecked 3 September 2026
3. Queensland Government, Learner logbookChecked 3 September 2026
4. Department of Transport WA, Learn to drive and log your hoursChecked 3 September 2026
5. My Licence South Australia, The Driving Companion, How to use your Log BookChecked 3 September 2026
6. ACT Government City Services, Learner and provisional driver safetyChecked 3 September 2026
7. Department of State Growth Tasmania, If you hold an L1 licenceChecked 3 September 2026
8. Northern Territory Government, Get your driver licenceChecked 3 September 2026