Today in Parliament, Abigail gave notice of a motion regarding the recently tabled report by the NSW Modern Slavery Commissioner: ‘Be Our Guests: Addressing urgent modern slavery risks for temporary migrant workers in rural and regional NSW’ and urged the NSW Government to implement all of its recommendations.

Abigail said:

I give notice that on the next sitting day I will move: 

1. That this House notes that:
   • on Wednesday 18 September, the NSW Modern Slavery Commissioner tabled the landmark report ‘Be Our Guests: Addressing urgent modern slavery risks for temporary migrant workers in rural and regional New South Wales’,
   • this report details a present and emerging crisis of modern slavery risks in agriculture, horticulture and meat processing in rural NSW among temporary migrant workers particularly Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme workers,
   • the report found temporary workers in rural and regional parts of the state are being exploited through practices such as debt bondage, forced labour, sexual violence and servitude, and
   • the report does not address modern slavery risks in related visa categories - notably those relating to international students, domestic partners and those on bridging visa, though aspects of these arrangements may also engender such risks.
2. That this House notes that:
   • the report found that in regional and rural NSW, agriculture, horticulture and meat processing are sectors that are especially likely to employ low-wage temporary workers,
   • these workers comprise different migration streams:
     • PALM workers - who come for periods of between 6 to 9 months and 1 to 4 years to work in regional and rural locations across Australia. The number of workers in this stream has grown dramatically over the past 5 years from 5,886 in 2019 to 31,950 nationally as at July 2024, with the largest number of workers coming from Fiji and Vanuatu,
     • Working Holiday Makers (WHM) - who come for periods of up to 3 years and who mostly work on farms, and
     • Undocumented workers - who may be visa overstayers or visa holders without a right to work. This group included workers that have ‘disengaged’ from the PALM scheme, leaving their approved employment to seek work elsewhere.
3. the report found temporary migrant workers in rural and regional NSW, particularly in agriculture, horticulture and meat processing, face modern slavery risks in four areas:
   • working conditions, wages and entitlements:
     • PALM workers in NSW frequently experience a range of wage-related violations including underpayment of wages, and excess or unexplained deductions for overpriced rent, transport, laundry and kitchen access,
     • PALM workers are often given unreasonable fruit picking targets to achieve within a week, and penalised for not meeting the target,
     • other violations include incorrect application of penalty rates,
     • temporary migrant workers also face difficulty accessing their superannuation, leaving PALM workers with only a fraction of their entitlements,
     • dangerous working conditions are another major issue in both the agriculture and meat processing sectors for PALM workers and other temporary migrants - with the annual number of deaths among PALM visa holders more than quadrupling from seven deaths in 2021-22 to 29 deaths in 2022-23, as well as 233 critical incidents resulting in injuries to PALM workers, and
     • the report found SafeWork NSW has identified seasonal workers in agriculture as a priority, but there is limited evidence of this having been translated into increased enforcement action, 
   • accommodation, transport and living conditions:
     • the report identified overcrowding, substandard and unsafe accommodation, frequent reports of price-gouging and overcharging for accommodation,
     • the report detailed numerous instances, with photographic evidence, of living conditions involving six or more people sharing a small room, while being charged $150 or more per week each, and
     • the report provides as an example a case were PALM workers were forced to live in a particular caravan park, told they could only leave with the employer’s permission or that of their labour hire company agent, and forced to buy from a commissary at the caravan park, which charged exorbitant prices. The report identified this pattern of forced accommodation and over-charging for basic services through a ‘company store’ as a classic feature of slavery-like and forced labour conditions,
   • isolation and social marginalisation:
     • temporary migrant workers face significant language barriers and a lack of cultural competency on the part of employers and service providers,
     • this has left some PALM workers without interpretation during critical medical and court proceedings,
     • PALM workers and non-English speaking WHMs may lack awareness of their rights due to a lack of available materials in their local language, resulting in greater risk of exploitation, and
   • gendered violence and restricted healthcare access for women migrants including survivors:
     • around 20 per cent of PALM workers in Australia are female, with this proportion expected to rise with PALM expanding into aged care and tourism,
     • the report found female temporary migrant workers appear to experience significant levels of violence, abuse and threats,
     • the report details reports of a growing presentation to service providers over the last two years of female PALM workers reporting violence, coercive control and sexual exploitation - increasing risks of homelessness and of deportation due to disengagement from PALM,
     • the report details reports from police that they are seeing an upward trend in Pacific women experiencing sexual, domestic and family violence, but too afraid to make formal statements to pursue further police action against the alleged perpetrators,
     • workplace gender-based violence and harassment has also been an issue experienced both by PALM workers and WHMs - the issue of gender-based violence is not unique to PALM workers but considered widespread in the agriculture sector, and
     • the incidence of these cases is likely to be vastly underreported for a number of reasons, notably risks of retaliation and termination of visa status.
4. That this House thanks the authors of this report for their diligence in preparing this important report, Dr James Cockayne, the NSW Anti-slavery Commissioner, Sophia Kagan, Principal Policy Advisor (Labour Migration) and Fiona Ng, Senior Research and Policy Officer at the Office of the NSW Anti-slavery Commissioner.
5. That this House notes the recommendations of the report to:
   • urgently initiate a trauma-informed and worker-centred investigation of modern slavery risks faced by PALM and other temporary migrant workers working in agriculture, horticulture and meat processing in rural and regional NSW,
   • ensure relevant NSW Government frontline agencies undertake suitable training in modern slavery, as envisaged by section 19(3)(a) of the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (NSW),
   • advocate for the Federal Government to review the visa settings and protection requirements for temporary migrant workers in PALM and the WHM Program,
   • complement the work of the new Migrant Workers Centre to be established in NSW with regional migrant centre hubs, and
   • ensure funding and support to local actors, including to create a more active role in monitoring of conditions and support.
6. That this House calls on the NSW Government to accept and implement in full all recommendations of the report, to work towards realising the human right to be free from modern slavery for all people in NSW.

19 September 2024