Foreign workers kept like slaves on Australian farms, watchdog finds

The workplace watchdog's interim findings include disturbing cases of exploitation.

Foreign workers are being kept in slave-like conditions on some Australia’s farms, according to the interim findings of a three-year investigation into exploitation in the horticulture industry.

An industry gathering in Brisbane was reportedly told of some of the confronting findings after Fair Work Ombudsman visited hundreds of farms across the country, according to ABC News.

Investigators had encountered situations where workers were so reliant on labour hire providers for their visas that “a person is virtually bonded like a slave,” ABC News reported.

Jennifer Crook, the ombudsman’s assistant director in compliance, reportedly said: “We have had cases where [workers] are driven to their accommodation via ATMs and asked to provide money in advance for bond, transport and accommodation costs”.  

“We saw backpackers being lured to regional centres by dodgy labour hire operators, treating them poorly, bullying and sexually harassing them and ripping them off to the tune of hundreds - and sometimes thousands - of dollars per person."

The multibillion-dollar agricultural sector is heavily reliant on overseas workers, but has been dogged in recent years by allegations of underpayment as well as substandard living and working conditions.

An SBS News investigation following the death of Fijian worker on a Shepparton farm last month found some workers in the region claimed to have been being promised wages and living conditions that were never delivered.

Issues around payment were among the most common encountered by investigators, Ms Crook said, with rates often based on the amount of fruit picked and not set out in a written agreement. 

Problems were compounded by difficulties in catching unscrupulous operators, who had often moved offshore, she said.

An Ombudsman spokeswoman told SBS News the Harvest Trail Inquiry Report was being finalised for release and publication. 

“The Fair Work Ombudsman will consult with key stakeholders on its findings prior to the release of the Report,” she said.