Modern Slavery Committee meets in Coffs Harbour

THE NSW Parliament’s Modern Slavery Committee travelled to Coffs Harbour to hold its fifth public hearing last week as part of its inquiry into the risks faced by temporary migrant workers in rural and regional NSW.

The committee heard from service providers who work directly with victim-survivors of modern slavery in the Mid North Coast region, as well as local councils, health and religious organisations.

The hearing was open to the public and was live streamed on the NSW Parliament’s website.

Committee Chair Dr Joe McGirr MP said, “The committee is grateful to local stakeholders for taking the time to share their perspectives on how the issue of modern slavery can be addressed and how support for temporary migrant workers can be strengthened”.

The meeting covered a wide range of issues and heard from people who interact with workers across a range of schemes.

Senior Solicitor for the Workplace Rights Service at Legal Aid NSW, Giles Fryer, told the Committee that the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme operates differently to usual work visas and work generally in Australia, because there is a larger class of deductions that can be taken from pay.

“Under the PALM deed and guidelines, they’re really left with not much in their pocket at the end of a full working week,” he said.

“Because of that, and the fact there is a bit of idle time, especially in harvest-based industries like horticulture where there isn’t [enough] work, they’re not able sometimes to get their full hours each week.”

James Blaxland, also Senior Solicitor for the Workplace Rights Service at Legal Aid NSW, said, “With almost zero regulation in NSW for labour hire, employers can essentially be a $10 company with no assets.”

“We’ve seen examples of a labour hire company whose registered address is in fact the backpacker hostel, and the Director is overseas.

“Bringing a legal action for recovery of wages or anything against a company like that is fruitless. There’s no money; there are no assets.

It’s often difficult to even serve documents on a company like that.”

 

We all benefit

Biba Honnet, Migrant and Settlement Manager, St Vincent de Paul Society NSW, told the Committee, “These workers are doing work that Australians often aren’t interested in doing.

“They’re providing a service to us. We are all benefiting from that.

“They actually deserve to be welcomed into communities, and that starts with letting service providers know where they are working, where they are based and where they are accommodated, and allowing us to bring them to welcome events and include them in faith-based activities, if that is their want.

“It’s a whole-of-community responsibility, and I think that the communities I have known that have included workers in

their activities have said nothing but positive things.”

Carla Chung, Migrant Support Worker, Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans, talked about PALM scheme workers who are working on the coast of NSW with whom she has been in touch.

“I visited them last year along the coast. Most of them are living in overcrowded accommodation, sharing [with] a minimum two people to up to six,” she said.

“Previously, there were up to 10 people in one cabin.

Regardless of how many people are sharing, the amount that they pay for the week is the same if they work for the same approved employer.

“Workers are too scared to speak up about the condition of their accommodation.”

Ms Chung cited two workers who came from the same village in Nauru; one who worked in Western Australia and another who worked on the coast of NSW.

“The one who worked in Western Australia lived in a one-bedroom [unit] with no sharing and with all of the available facilities, paying $125 per week.

“While the one on the coast of NSW was paying $170 per week and sharing with between two or six…  people in a cabin.”

Other issues covered included women’s health, with harrowing stories of mothers and newborn babies not being able to afford health care and living in substandard conditions.

Again, workers were scared to come forward or complain for fear of losing their jobs.

 

Coffs Coast workers

Malia Sykes, from the Coffs Coast Multicultural Society, talked about the inadequate accommodation and unfair conditions faced by horticultural workers in the area.

She said, “When they speak up about it, they just never bring them back.

“I know the supervisors and the farmers think that they’re doing the right thing by them, but all we see is the unfairness and the expectations.

“When the boys are helping the girls to do some of the work, to work as a team, they get told that they need to be doing

their own job.

“But they’re trying to do it together as a team so, in that way, they all benefit from the work.

“I am trying to help our people without having to complain, but there needs to be some fairness.”

Coco Pereira, also from the Coffs Coast Multicultural Society, told the Committee, “The Tongans wouldn’t get up and speak because they’d been threatened, if they complained, that they won’t be brought back.

“So they asked us to come along and speak on their behalf.”

She later said, “Can I add, it’s not just the workers themselves that are threatened by the employers; it’s their families [and the fear] that they won’t be employed and brought back.

“It’s not just them, but their family and village. That’s a big threat.”

“When asked if growers knew the conditions under which their workers were living, Ms Sykes said, “They do; they attend the site.

“They [say] if agencies are the ones that bring them, it’s… their responsibility [to] look after the workers.”

Dr McGirr closed the meeting by thanking those who provided information and said the Committee would follow up the issues raised.

By Andrew VIVIAN