Every year, tens of thousands of backpackers pick up jobs in regional Australia in order to extend their working holiday visas. Eighty-eight days of work, such as picking fruit, buys them a second year on their 417 visa. It is a system that is crucial for many of Australia's agricultural businesses. One of them is Qualipac Farms in Queensland's Locker valley. Troy Qualischefski is an owner and director.
"Without these people our horticulture industry won't operate. So we gotta make sure that our industry is our tidy and that we have got a good reputation that these people want to come here and not go to New Zealand, or any other country."
But according to a two-year investigation, the industry is rife with exploitation by employers. Natalie James is the Fair Work Ombudsman.
"A lot of backpackers working in Australia had a positive experience. But we were very concerned that we did find cases, many cases of either non-payment for work at all underpayments, sham contracting and unlawful deductions from their wages for things like accommodation and transport."
In a survey of more than four-thousand people who had worked regionally, 59 per cent said backpackers would be unlikely to complain for fear of losing their visas. Sixty-six per cent felt employers took advantage, and underpaid them. Those findings were supported by a group of workers, SBS spoke with in Sydney's Kings Cross.
"The first job we worked at we were drastically underpaid. It was $4.80 a bucket. Nobody could do more than two-and-a-half in an hour. Sometimes you couldn't even make that. Not a single person on the farm -- and there were about a hundred people working -- could make minimum wage. I worked on another farm where I made a reasonable amount of money, but on that farm the farmer was very abusive. Like he would say really unacceptable things that in any other line of work, in any western country, you could be prosecuted for that I would say. [Another worker:] It's kinda like we need to qualify for our second year, so they know that they can take advantage of us."
More than a third of those surveyed by the Fair Work Ombudsman, said they received less than the 17-dollars-70 per hour minimum wage. Fourteen per cent revealed they paid in advance to get work; and 6 per cent said they paid their employer to sign off on visa paperwork. Tony Mahar, from the National Farmers Federation, is frustrated that some employers are giving the entire system a bad name.
"Well it's isolated pockets that are exploiting workers and giving a bad experience, which is really unacceptable from the Australian farm sector. We want people to have a positive, rewarding experience on Australian farms and exploitation, bullying, underpaying is really not part of that story and it must be stamped out."
The report warned of a business model built on the exploitation of foreign workers, most of whom are unaware of their rights. The biggest concern was for those from Asia, who are being targetted on websites and social media. A raft of recommendations, designed to tighten up the industry, are being made to the government. Fair Work Ombudsman, Natalie James, says the reforms will be cracking down on unscrupulous employers.
"We want to make sure that an employer that refuses to sign off on the paperwork after the 88 days, that there's some sort of punishment for that. We want to make sure government that government is operating in a joined up way, in a coordinated way to make sure visa holders are aware of their rights; and to make sure that employers are aware that there is strong enforcement action that is going to happen if they're caught out engaging in this unscrupulous and exploitative behaviour."
