Calls grow to sever “bondage” between worker and employer

The federal government is under pressure to reform a Pacific labour scheme that ‘traps’ workers in conditions of modern slavery.

Calls are growing to urgently reform a Pacific labour scheme and end the “bondage” of workers to their employer.

A growing number of academics want the federal government to allow workers to change their employer, ending the “guest worker” nature of the scheme they say is fuelling discontent and an increasing number of workers to flee the scheme entirely and apply for protection visas.

Almost 12 per cent of PALM workers absconded in 2023-24 and applied for protection, according to Department of Home Affairs data, up from 7 per cent four years ago.

Matt Withers, from the Australian National University’s School of Sociology, said the PALM scheme had grown to a size where problems such as increasing rates of workers absconding could no longer be ignored.

“The reasons why workers are choosing protection visas is fairly clear, it’s not necessarily related to concerns that would fall into the category of a protection visa, (it’s) in order to get around the punitive regulations attached to the PALM scheme and principally to change employers.

“They are tied to an employer creating conditions not seen in Australia before, leaving workers extremely vulnerable. They’re given very little opportunity to either accept the conditions of their work or leave the program,” Dr Withers said.

“It’s also quite clear that word of mouth is spreading among Pacific workers, that this (protection visa) might be an avenue through which they can find employment or change jobs.”

Dr Withers said reform was urgent and necessary, and should include an extension of Medicare, ending the need for workers to have private health insurance.

“But severing the bonded nature of the employment is the first and most important area of redress,” he said.

Increasing numbers of PALM workers are fleeing the scheme and applying for protection visas as a means of leaving their employer. Photo Paul Beutel

His call follows a damning report released last month by NSW’s Anti-Slavery Commission, which found PALM workers were “trapped” in conditions of modern slavery by being tied to an employer for as long as four years.

NSW’s Anti-Slavery Commission principal policy adviser Sophia Kogan said workers should be given the right to change to a new approved employer so they could leave an unsuitable or exploitative position without jeopardising their visa status.

PALM workers come to Australia for between six to nine months in the scheme’s short-term stream, or up to four years in the long-term stream, from nine Pacific Island countries and Timor Leste to work in regional and rural Australia, largely in agriculture, meat processing and aged care.

The National Farmers’ Federation is not opposed to the idea or worker portability. “We recognise that competition and flexibility can be positive forces for both workers and employers, but we’d need to ensure that any proposal is realistic about the costs and risks to the employers,” president David Jochinke said.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s office deferred questions about the merits of the idea to the Department of Home Affairs.

A Home Affairs spokeswoman said the department has been specifically targeting PALM workers since the beginning of the year informing them about the protection visa system and the implications of having an application denied.