Reforms to the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme will soon come into effect, providing more regular incomes and better conditions for Pacific labour mobility workers.
But Leader of The Nationals, David Littleproud, is warning that changes come at a cost.
There will be a big change for many Pacific labour mobility workers when reforms to the PALM scheme come into effect next month, including minimum hours requirements, ensuring pay parity with domestic workers and greater transparency around accommodation costs and other deductions.
And for the first time, eligible PALM scheme workers with contracts of more than one year will be able to bring their families to Australia pending employer approval.
The scheme, used to provide a pool of workers to fill labour gaps, largely in the agriculture and food-processing sectors when enough local workers can’t be found, is becoming increasingly popular, with participants rising from 24,500 in May last year to 38,180 in April.
While changes to the PALM scheme support better working conditions for Pacific labour mobility workers, The Nationals warn changes will push up the cost of groceries even further and drive employers away from hiring.
Mr Littleproud said changes to the PALM scheme would force families to pay more for their food at the check-out after Australian farmers inevitably passed on their increased costs to make ends meet.
“Labor’s cost-of-living crisis is only going to get worse as families struggle to pay for their food,” Mr Littleproud said.
“Common sense tells you near-impossible new rules and increased costs on our farmers created by Labor will result in increased costs on food for families.”
Under the federal government’s changes to the PALM scheme, employers will be required to pay workers from nine Pacific Island countries and Timor-Leste a minimum of 30 hours a week, every week.
Mr Littleproud said the union-backed reforms could see many farmers now exit the PALM scheme, with farmers also struggling to find workers.
“The National Farmers’ Federation and the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia previously warned at Labor’s Jobs and Skills Summit that agriculture requires an additional 172,000 workers to get food from paddock to port or plate,” he said.
“The PALM scheme has the potential of just 42,000 workers.
“It is now becoming even more unattractive for farmers to sign up to the PALM scheme.
“At the same time, Labor is refusing to reinstate the Agriculture Visa, which was designed by the former Coalition Government to supplement the PALM scheme.
“When supply goes down, prices go up, which is why farmers are currently planting less, and Australians continue to pay more for food.”
According to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures, the cost of food and non-alcoholic beverages has already increased by eight per cent over 12 months to March 2023.
The nation’s peak farming body, National Farmers’ Federation (NFF), has also criticised changes to the PALM scheme, with the NFF Horticulture Council saying the series of dramatic changes to the rules and requirements placed on employers will see many of them walk away from the scheme.
Horticulture Council spokesperson Rachel Chambers said it was increasingly clear that relevant ministers aren’t working together to ensure the scheme meets the long-term interests of the Pacific and Australian industries it’s meant to serve.
“Farmers are increasingly frustrated that no senior minister is effectively accountable and taking responsibility for fixing the PALM,” Ms Chambers said.
“Instead, we have buck-passing and finger-pointing across portfolios, and farmers and Pacific nations both becoming increasingly dissatisfied with how the PALM is run.”
Ms Chambers said changes to the scheme proposed through consultation and now likely to come into effect risked a mass exodus of participants.
“We’ve warned for years against putting all our eggs in the PALM basket, given how challenging it is for small businesses to engage with.
“Now, instead of making it easier for small business, we have a suite of changes that would effectively lock them out of the PALM.
“Most alarmingly, some of these changes appear to be a proxy for wider ideological industrial relations reforms and fulfilling a shopping list of demands from the union movement.
“From the outside, it appears that the ACTU is running the show, making decisions that will send the PALM into meltdown and damage our ties in the Pacific.
“Australia’s Pacific diplomacy is being outsourced to the ACTU, and they’re botching it big time.”
On Monday, June 5, coming just weeks after consultation into changes to the PALM scheme began, the federal government announced a package of reforms designed to address migrant worker exploitation.
The Minister of Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, Andrew Giles, committed to introducing three important protections for migrant workers: protection against visa cancellation, flexible visa requirements for future sponsorship visas, and a short-term visa to bring claims for wages they are owed and hold exploitative employers to account.
Led by the Human Rights Law Centre, Migrant Justice Institute and academics at UNSW and UTS, the Settlement Council of Australia (SCOA) joined a nationwide coalition of 40 organisations to urge the federal government to implement whistleblower safeguards that would empower migrant workers to report instances of exploitation without jeopardising their visa status.
SCOA Chair Melissa Monteiro said adequate safeguards and protections to stamp out the exploitation of migrant workers are long overdue.
“These reforms will empower migrant workers and hold non-compliant employers to account,” she said.
Photos: Contributed.
SCOA CEO Sandra Elhelw-Wright said they are thrilled with this outcome and commend the federal government for taking measures to improve conditions for migrant workers.
“This is an incredible achievement that has been made possible thanks to the tireless campaigning by organisations and individuals dedicated to addressing exploitation,” Ms Elhelw-Wright said.
“Settlement services play a crucial role in protecting against migrant worker exploitation. Migrant workers may face language barriers and cultural differences that make it challenging to navigate their rights and seek help. Our network of services provides essential information to migrant workers about their rights, labour laws, and available resources.”
New measures make it a criminal offence to coerce someone into breaching their visa condition, introduce prohibition notices to stop employers from further hiring people on temporary visas where they have exploited migrants, increase penalties and new compliance tools to deter exploitation, and repeal section 235 of the Migration Act which actively undermines people reporting exploitative behaviour.
