Contractor allegedly involved in PALM scheme rort

An interstate human rights law firm and Queensland motel manager have joined forces to help vulnerable farm workers after the motel manager discovered her guests were living off a few dollars a week.

Ni-Vanuatu farm workers living and working in Bundaberg have sought urgent assistance to have their visas restored under the PALM Scheme after they claim they were induced by non-approved employment firm to work illegally.

It’s alleged an interstate-based contractor “exploited” the workers after they came to Australia to work and make money to send home to their families in Vanuatu.

At least 50 workers claim the contractor has “exploited” them.

South Sea Islander man, Alan, said the Bundaberg farmworker community felt like history had repeated itself, and they were being used like their ancestors who were blackbirded to Australia under false promises in the late 1800s.

“They were slaves,” he said.

“I just want to say that we are not robots, we are not slaves, we want to be treated like Australian people who work.”

After allegations of slave-like conditions in the Queensland agricultural sector, the Australian Government introduced the Modern Slavery Act 2018.

HUSHED DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS TRIP TO BUNDABERG

Department of Foreign Affairs representatives swooped on the Bundaberg region in June 2022, after a local businesswoman made a complaint about the treatment of visiting workers.

An officer from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Office of the Pacific spoke to frustrated South Sea Islander workers about their issues with the scheme at the Bundaberg motel on June 26, 2022.

South Sea Islander man, Pako, said the meeting “did nothing” for workers still waiting for an outcome on the meeting.

“It has been a month and nothing has changed,” he said.

HOW ALLEGED MISTREATMENT WAS UNCOVERED

Motel manager Amanda Morris started to explore the struggles being faced by South Sea Islander workers who were staying at her accommodation.

When the workers voiced their concerns to the motel manager, a qualified accountant, she gained their permission to view their payslips to determine what “costs” were being taken from their pays by their contractor to cover “flights” and “visa costs”.

The workers came to Australia on the PALM and SWP Program, which allows eligible Australian businesses and labour hire firms to hire workers from nine Pacific islands and Timor-Leste.

She said she found evidence of these costs being taken from the pays of South Sea Islanders by the firm, which was not an approved employer under the PALM Scheme.

“The workers were promised regular work, better pay and a long term protection visa in order to leave their sponsors, neither of which eventuated,” Ms Morris said.

Instead, it’s alleged the workers have been subjected to debt bondage, indentured labour and what amounts to human trafficking.

The company was contacted for comment but no response was given by the deadline.

It is claimed the company asked workers to hand over all of their travel documents which included visas, passports and logins, so that they could apply to have their visas changed from the 403 visa to a “protection visa” for which they are ineligible, and where unauthorised deductions were taken from their pays.

She claimed the farm workers initially arrived in Victoria and were sold protection visas which are usually $40 for the application, but workers were allegedly charged upwards of $2000 each to lodge the application.

The workers were sent to farms across Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria to work.

Many paid cash for visas and said they were not given a receipt.

The immigration firm which allegedly facilitated the visa process was contacted for comment but no response was given by the deadline.

It’s alleged the workers were then locked out of their IMMI accounts and unable to access them until the local business woman and her staff members helped them regain access or set up new accounts.

It’s alleged they also found the same company had been working with several Australian farms to supply South Sea Islander men and women to farms illegally under the visa they are ineligible for.

The shocking claims began to emerge when Bundaberg motel manager found her guests were working for Bundaberg farms who had been employing islanders from the same company.

She then contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs and Human Rights Law Firm Levitt Robinson to help the workers rejoin the program.

Levitt Robinson has called on the Department of Foreign Affairs to act immediately so workers can make their way back to an approved employer.