No sick leave, no pay slips, no super
At a caravan park in the NSW Riverina, Pacific Islander workers broke their silence, many agreeing to be identified despite the risks.
They said they had left employers under Australia's Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme after disputes over pay, working conditions or alleged mistreatment.
Under the PALM scheme, workers are tied to an approved employer. If they leave that employer, they are not allowed to take on new work and so many become "disengaged" from the scheme, leaving them with few lawful options to keep working.
A man in a patterned shirt looks into camera with a serious expression.
Ken Dachi tries to give migrant workers a voice.
Ken Dachi worked for years in conflict-affected regions around the world. Now he helps vulnerable migrant workers here, through the Welcoming Australia organisation.
He says the PALM scheme was designed to connect Pacific Islanders with Australian employers and regional communities. But when workers aren't protected, labour hire contractors and other exploitative operators can fill the gap.
Dachi says many workers disengage from the PALM scheme without understanding that doing so makes them even more vulnerable.
He says the system is flawed.
"[They] are not numbers. They're people's lives. It's families, it's siblings, it's parents impacted … a long road without an exit sign."
They survive by finding labour hire contractors willing to pay them cash to pick fruit and vegetables destined for Australian supermarket shelves. They say they earn well below legal minimum wages, with no super, no sick leave and no pay slips.
A man looks to the side of frame with a serious expression.
Timothy earns less than $12 an hour. (Four Corners)
Timothy pays $280 a week to live in a tiny rented room in the caravan park.
"Just only this room. No kitchen, no bathroom," he says.
He collects bottles to earn extra money.
He says he works about 60 hours a week picking oranges for cash, earning about $700 a week — less than $12 an hour. "It's really hard," he says.
For Viona Obress, filling one bin with oranges can take three to four hours, equivalent to between $8.75 and $11.70 an hour.
If it is raining, it slows her down, so she says she earns even less and if she gets sick, she earns nothing.
"The fruit is so heavy and climbing a lot as a lady, it's really hard too," she says. "You feel exhausted when you finish work. You feel like you can't work another day, but what can you do? There's no options. You have to keep going."
A woman in an orange hoodie picks oranges.
Viona Obress works about 60 hours a week picking oranges. (Four Corners)
By going public, Viona hopes the conditions workers have endured will no longer remain hidden.
"The truth will finally come out," she says.
These workers do not receive pay slips, so the ABC has not been able to verify these workers' pay rates.
'I was treated more like an animal'
Across Australia's fruit and vegetable industry, Fair Work Ombudsman investigations have repeatedly uncovered widespread non-compliance.
In Coffs Harbour, 61 per cent of growers and labour hire companies inspected were found to be breaching workplace laws, including underpaying workers. The figure rose to 72 per cent in the Riverina and 83 per cent in Victoria's Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley.
In Coffs Harbour, local Raewyn Macky has become a lifeline for vulnerable workers.
She says she first noticed growing numbers of migrant workers seeking help while volunteering at a local second-hand clothes shop. She says they kept coming back with stories of unpaid wages, poor conditions and nowhere else to go.
A woman with long grey hair and glasses leaning on a white balcony railing gazed into the distance.
Raewyn Macky heard about the experiences of migrant workers while volunteering at a local op-shop.
Over the years she has built a detailed picture of a workforce falling through the cracks — workers reluctant to complain, uncertain of their rights and fearful of speaking up.
"They are exposed to dreadful working conditions, grossly underpaid, no pay slips and the pay can vary from day to day. They work … sometimes 10 plus hours and [in] summer it's pretty grim. There's not much shade on the farms. There's little sanitation," she says.
"It makes me angry. It makes me sad. It makes me sick to the stomach," she says.
Jin Lee had to work for a short period in regional areas as a condition of extending his working holiday visa.
He says he is still recovering from his time working on blueberry farms in Coffs Harbour.
"I wasn't being treated like a human being there," he says.
"I was treated more like an animal."
A young man with shoulder length hair sits in a car, speaking with someone.
Jin Lee worked on blueberry farms in Coffs Harbour to extend his working holiday visa. (Four Corners)
Lee says some days he worked from 7:30am until 5pm for just $20.
"Some of us got diapers because they didn't provide bathroom breaks," he says.
They were also expected to pay for basic equipment themselves.
Lee says the labour hire company that recruited him — ECW Farming — controlled almost every aspect of his life — from where he worked to where he lived.
He says the company made a series of deductions from his wages, including $150 a week for accommodation and $10 a day for transport to and from the farm.
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