Inspection reveals substandard housing for PALM scheme workers in Gippsland

Feb 24 2026
ABC News.

When inspectors came to look at this Gippsland home in Victoria's east, they were confronted with sewage pooling in the front yard.

The inspectors from Victoria's Labour Hire Authority had received a tip that migrant workers were being housed in substandard conditions.

As they made their way inside the house, they found extensive black mould covering doors, windows, ceilings and curtains.

Inside, 22 migrant workers were housed in unsanitary conditions in a single home and a granny flat.   

A ceiling covered in black mould
There was extensive black mould throughout the property.

The authority, which works to prevent the exploitation of labour hire workers, found the Warragul property, about two hours east of Melbourne, was riddled with inadequate facilities.

There was no washing machine, forcing workers to hand-wash their clothes, as well as a malfunctioning septic system, a missing hot water tap in the bathroom sink and a non-functional exhaust fan and hot plate.

The authority's licensing commissioner, Steve Dargavel, said the workers had to pay "outrageous deductions" from their wages for this substandard accommodation.   

"Workers were being charged $190 each for sharing part of a floor in a room," he said.

Close up photo of the Labour Hire Licensing Commissioner Steve Dargavel
Steve Dargavel says the horticulture industry is a focus of the Labour Hire Authority.

The authority investigated Kyshan Pty Ltd, which operates as Top of the Crop Labour Hire.

The company employs workers from the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) Scheme, which allows people from the Asia-Pacific to come to Australia and work to fill labour shortages.

Kyshan provided workers to farms in the Warragul region and operates nationally.

The authority found the company was also housing workers in an overcrowded motel.

Black mould on the ceiling of a bathroom
Conditions at the accommodation raised concerns about workers' health and safety.

One of the workers staying at the motel, Mia, whose name has been changed in order to protect her identity, said 31 people were living in the motel.

She said there were five people in one room and she had no sense of privacy when talking to her family members overseas.

"Our room is too narrow … and bed is not good," she said.

"We stay with five people, how can we talk [with] privacy?"
Mia said there was only one kitchen and a washing machine shared between 31 workers.

People queued up to cook and there were not enough utensils.

The authority found "indications of controls placed on the workers' use of showers, washing machines and heating and cooling".

National issue
Mr Dargavel said substandard accommodation was not a new problem, and the authority had received many tip-offs about this issue.

"It's a problem nationally," he said.   
"Unfortunately, far too often workers in the horticultural industry are mistreated, underpaid, and subject to abuse, occasionally violence, and in this case, really terrible and unsafe accommodation and overcharging."
Migrant Justice Institute co-executive director Laurie Berg said the standards for accommodation under the PALM scheme were somewhat subjective.

A close up photo of Laurie Berg, director of Migrant Justice Institute
Laurie Berg says PALM scheme workers are often hesitant to speak up.

"Some employers see that as an opportunity to take advantage of migrant workers who are dependent upon them for their housing," Ms Berg said.

Under the PALM scheme, workers are tied to their particular employer, in this case Top of the Crop Labour Hire, as a condition of their visa.

Ms Berg said they were not allowed to change employer.

"I think that that coercive relationship between the employer and the worker under the scheme is a real issue," she said.

Report wants to free Pacific workers from unfair worker visas
palm scheme workers picking cherries in orchard
Changing jobs is a basic right for most people, but it is not so simple for Pacific Australia Labour Mobility workers.

Ms Berg said many PALM workers were hesitant to speak up because they're scared of repercussions.

"They feared that if they aired their concerns that they might lose their job … others said that they feared causing problems for their co-workers or that their employer might give them less work or no work," she said.

This leaves some workers trapped working, or living, in conditions that most Australians would deem unacceptable, Ms Berg said.

Ms Berg wants the government to explore forms of supported mobility in the scheme, so workers have a way to change their employer.

"Unless workers have the possibility to change employers when things go wrong, they just won't speak up," she said.

Sewerage pooling in grass
Foul-smelling effluent pooled in the front yard.

Will whiteknight and the other entitled centrelink customers step up and work hard so we don't need to import migrants to do the work ?

How can these entitled bludgers sleep at night knowing they are taking advantage of these wonderful cheerful hard working migrants.

I would support an exchange system where we switch out long term centrelink customers and send a plane load of them to Manila or Bangkok and return the plane with aspirational industrious warm smiling thai and phillipinos.

I think that would be a smart move

aquascoot wrote on Feb 24^th, 2026 at 6:47am:


How about we put people like you on a plane and send you to Manila or Bangkok?

Now, that's something I would support.