Pacific envoys gather to tackle visa exploitation risks

Pacific island envoys in Australia will gather to discuss a labour scheme that has been criticised as being a breeding ground for slavery-like conditions. Tens of thousands of islanders are in Australia as part of the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme that provides visas for short and long-term stints working in areas like agriculture, horticulture and meat processing. The federal government has committed to improving the scheme and ensuring employers comply with regulations as workers and human rights groups raise concerns about exploitation. Employment Minister Murray Watt will host the heads of missions from the nine Pacific island countries and East Timor that are part of the scheme in Canberra on Monday. Engagement helped bolster the scheme's success and strengthened Australia's relationships across the Pacific, he said. Changes to protect workers' rights included a minimum hours requirement for employers to pay workers for at least 120 hours over four weeks to ensure they can cover accommodation and other costs. Compliance monitoring for employers and other safeguards have been put in place to minimise the potential for exploitation in with scheme, Senator Watt said. "The Albanese government has zero tolerance for worker mistreatment in the PALM scheme," he said. "We continue to monitor these reforms as they roll out and check in with our partner countries to get their feedback on how they're working." The roundtable follows United Nations Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery Tomoya Obokata investigating the scheme as part of a recent tour to Australia. He found credible evidence of excessive wage deductions, unreasonable requirements, racial discrimination, dangerous working conditions, harassment and sexual and gender-based violence. That workers couldn't move between employers heightened the risk of exploitation, he said, recommending this restriction be scrapped. The federal government is reviewing the minimum hour threshold, accommodation standards and allowing workers to jump across jobs. Pacific islanders endured shocking exploitation including severe injuries, horrible living conditions and significant underpayments, Immigration Advice and Rights Centre principal solicitor Joshua Strutt said. The annual PALM meeting was held in Brisbane in November and Fiji's employment minister led a delegation to Australia in October.