Vulnerable pregnant women among adrift migrant workers

Perth Now

19-06-2025

A migrant worker handed her newborn baby to authorities because she was not covered by Australian healthcare, had no support network, no money and feared deportation.
It is one of many "distressing" stories of vulnerable temporary migrants who are adrift in the NSW Riverina, including many who have become disengaged from the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme.
A NSW parliamentary inquiry into modern slavery risks faced by migrant workers in rural areas has been told PALM workers are particularly vulnerable to exploitation because their visa does not allow them to change employers.
Some Pacific workers abscond from the scheme and go into hiding as undocumented workers in the fruit-growing region, Leeton Multicultural Support Group chairman Paul Maytom told the inquiry on Thursday.
Mr Maytom said 10 pregnant migrant workers have approached the organisation for help, including one woman who gave her premature baby to authorities after her older child was also taken in as a ward of the state.
"She said, 'I didn't know what to do because I have no money, so I agreed to it, but I want my babies back', Mr Maytom told the inquiry sitting in Griffith.
"That's tough."
Eight workers approached the support organisation about two years ago after escaping an employer in Far North Queensland, where they were packing mangoes for up to 18 hours a day in 35-day stretches.
"We sit there, we listen to that and we really don't know where to go to because they're disengaged workers," Mr Maytom said.
"They've been forced out of the system, they don't know where to go and, in many cases, they're hiding ... from the authorities."
Mr Maytom, who is the former mayor of the Leeton Shire, said he was not aware of local employers who were treating workers poorly.
Many disengaged workers arrive in agricultural regions like Leeton and Shepparton and Mildura, in Victoria, because they've heard of better working conditions.
The inquiry has been told labour hire companies are often bad actors in temporary migrant recruitment, with some forcing workers into debt bondage and failing to pass on wages paid by farmers.
NSW is one of the few states that does not regulate the labour hire sector, which can attract dodgy operators ousted from other jurisdictions.
Ken Dachi, a co-ordinator with migrant support organisation Welcoming Australia, said the PALM scheme could have significant benefits for workers and regional communities, but there were major flaws.
"Vulnerabilities caused by disengagement from the PALM scheme poses the greatest threat to our efforts of fostering social cohesion in the Riverina," Mr Dachi said.
"The triggers for PALM disengagement are numerous ... (there are) heart-wrenching stories of suffering and pain experienced by disengaged PALM workers who are part of our community."
Reports of modern slavery can be made to 1800 FREEDOM (1800 37 333 66)