‘He threatened to break my arms’: Backpacker ‘verbally and physically attacked’ on Qld farm
April 28, 2017
News.com.au
A BRITISH backpacker has become the latest in a long series of young fruit-pickers claiming they have been mistreated and exploited on an Australian farm.
Matt Workman, a chemist from Liverpool in the UK, says that during his first fortnight working in an orchard in Queensland, his supervisor was verbally abusive and physically attacked him.
“I arrived in Australia three weeks ago with my fiancee and started apple picking two days after,” he told news.com.au. “Within our first two weeks at the farm, the supervisor has hit me on the arm and threatened to break my arms.”
The travel blogger said he was trying to drive a tractor for the first time, with little instruction, when his supervisor hit his arm off the wheel, bent his thumb back and shouted: ““Do you hear that f***ing sound, if you leave that starter motor running again I’ll break your f***ing arms. The last guy who did that nearly got his lights punched out.
“I feel threatened to the point I have asked my fiancee to shout ‘watch out!’ if she sees him running up behind me again.”
Matt Workman says he and his fiancee Becky have faced terrible conditions while completing their farm work in Australia.
Matt and his fiancee Becky are on a round-the-world trip, and found a working hostel that would send them out to complete the 88-day farm work that allows non-Australians to extend their one-year working holiday visas by an extra 12 months. But when locals heard which farm they had been assigned to, Matt says they were warned to stay away from their boss.
The traveller says he and his fiancee on occasions made as little as $30 ($4.29 per hour) for a seven-hour working day because their earnings depend on how many bins they fill, and the apples are mostly rotten and have to be thrown away.
While they liked their hostel, their beds cost $205 per person per week, plus a $50 per person refundable bond, leaving them struggling for cash on their meagre earnings. “There is also no Wi-Fi at the hostel and it will cost you $4 every time you need to do a wash, so when you first arrive at the hostel you will have to pay $510 as a couple before earning anything,” said Matt.
The accommodation was “spacious and clean” with friendly owners, but Matt felt uneasy at being sent to work at a farm where he felt unsafe.
The travel blogger and his partner are on a round-the-world trip.
“I have seen people crying, people fear being sacked and kicked out of the hostel with nowhere to go in the middle of nowhere,” he said. “We have seen numerous people come and go from the hostel, most of them have been forced to leave after being fired.”
Worst of all is the intimidation on the farm. “We experience verbal abuse every day,” he said. “It is impossible to make a complaint without risking being evicted without notice.
“We have witnessed a total of 15 people leave the hostel in the first two weeks due to being fired from their jobs or not being able to cope with the supervisors.”
He said a Swedish backpacker who had broken her toe on the farm and taken two days off was told by the supervisor, “It’s not hard to come to work.” Another farm worker who put his feet on the man’s sofa was forced out of his house and others were fired from a nearby farm for being “too slow” or bruising the delicate fruit.
“If he finds more than three apples in a bin with bruises then the bin will not be counted and we will not receive any pay,” said Matt.
He and Becky have now moved to the packing shed for what Matt calls “backbreaking work” but are finally being paid by the hour and achieving minimum wage.
The British backpacker says he has contacted the Queensland Workplace Bullying Line and was passed on to Police Line, but is apprehensive about taking the matter further.
“They have instructed me to go to the police station” he said. “I am still unsure if I will do this as I am quite nervous of the outcome.”
The safety of foreign workers employed on Australian farms has come under the spotlight in the past few years after dozens of allegations of verbal and physical abuse, exploitation, sexual assault, underpayment or no payment and dangerous conditions.
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