Tougher laws proposed to protect migrant farm workers from exploitation

Migrant farm workers blowing the whistle on dodgy bosses need legal protections, lobbyists say, with tough new laws in the works.

Industry groups are divided on how well proposed new laws will work to better protect migrant farm workers from exploitation. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Proposed new laws aimed at protecting migrant farm workers from exploitation must include whistleblower provisions if there is to be real change in the industry, migrant worker representatives say.

Changes that could see farmers charged for coercing workers into accepting poor employment conditions do not go far enough, the Migrant Workers Centre says, with employers still retaining too much control over workers’ visa pathways.

“We need to see changes that provide a genuine pathway to permanence for temporary visa holders that is decoupled from these unscrupulous employers,” MWC chief executive Matt Kunkel said.

The Federal Government this week unveiled draft laws that would see employers face new criminal offences and fines for exploiting migrant workers, ahead of a new agricultural visa by the end of the year.

Under the changes, it would be a crime force migrant workers into accepting work that breaches their work-related visa conditions, accept poor employment conditions in order to satisfy visa conditions or by threatening their immigration status.

Farmers who breach workplace conditions will also find themselves black-listed; backpackers would be discouraged from working for these farmers by not counting any work at these businesses toward a second or third-year visa.

The laws builds on recommendations made by the Migrant Workers Taskforce, and in the recent National Agricultural Workforce Strategy.

However, Mr Kunkel said whistleblower provisions were also needed to protect workers who reported their bosses from adverse outcomes on any current or future visa applications.

“Without this, employers will still be able to exploit workers, knowing that reporting abuse carries a risk that of visa cancellation or closing the pathway to a more permanent visa,” he said.

“This proposed bill does not address the underlying cause of migrant worker abuses. Employers retain too much control of a migrant workers’ visa pathway.”

National Farmers' Federation chief executive Tony Mahar said the lobby was waiting to see further detail on the proposed laws.

“We continue to support measures that hold operators, found to be willingly underpaying or otherwise mistreating workers, to account,” Mr Mahar said.

“We look forward to working through the detail of this proposal in the development of an ag visa as committed to by Prime Minister Morrison.”

The United Workers Union said it was still reviewing the draft laws, but argued increasing enforcement needed to be accompanied by improved visa conditions, if workers were to be truly protected.

UWU’s Jannette Armstrong said thousands of workers were “trapped on dead-end visas” with limited or no work rights. The Government’s own Migrant Workers Taskforce has called for these people to be given one-off access to more secure visas.

“If the Federal Government is serious about stamping out exploitation in horticulture, it will enable these workers to apply for a secure visa, and will ensure that all migrant workers have the same best-practice protections as those in the Federal Government’s Seasonal Worker Programme,” she said.

The new laws will also suspend employers who breach provisions from hiring more non-citizens for a certain period; require employers and labour hire companies to use online verification systems to check their workers’ visa or immigration status; and give new compliance tools to Australian Border Force.

​Consultation on the draft bill closes on August 16. Details on making a submission can be found here.

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