Debt bondage for workers in Australian horticulture akin to slavery
An Australian Parliamentary Inquiry has been told that consistent cross-border regulation of labour hire contractors should be adopted across industries.
It also heard that broader investigative powers should be granted to the Fair Work Authority.
The inquiry is investigating the United Kingdom's lead in adopting a Modern Slavery Act and is nearing completion with the one and only regional hearing at Mildura, Victoria, to be held on October 30.
A report is slated for release next month.
Escaping slavery in Cairns to land in danger in Mildura
"Paul" was lured to Cairns from Papua New Guinea, with the promise of a TAFE education and good work but was conned by a Far North Queensland banana farmer.
"I was working 6:00am to 6:00pm driving tractors and eating bread and cordial for breakfast and lunch, and boiled mince meat for dinner. I lived in the shed with a dog," he said.
He did not see a cent in pay and instead, when Paul asked the farmer for his pay, he was told it was being saved up to pay for the TAFE course.
After six months Paul discovered dozens of other foreign workers on the farm in the same trouble.
"I drove the tractor over to the other side of the farm to where I knew a Fijian worker was and he told me he'd been there seven years," he said.
Paul managed to escape and in June 2016 banana farmer Sona Singh Bhela of Cairns was jailed for three and a half years for a visa scam involving 43 Punjabi migrants.
But Paul's troubles were not over. He arrived in Mildura, western Victoria, to work on a dozen farms in the district.
Living in squalid, cramped conditions, his pay was less than a tenth of the legal wage.
"I was paid cash and I was left with only $60 to $70. We lived in bunks, four to a room," he said.
"They took our money, the contractors, to pay for fuel, pick up, food and (the farmer) gets all the rent. We are just left with $60.
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