Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1697629836414.pdf (Australia)
130 Little Collins Street Melbourne Victoria Australia, 3000 Telephone: +61-3-9251 5271 Facsimile: +61-3-9251 5241 jim@victas.uca.org.au Committee Secretary Joint Standing Committee on Migration PO Box 6021 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 E-mail: jscm@aph.gov.au Supplementary Submission by the Justice and International Mission Unit, Synod of Victoria and Tasmania, Uniting Church in Australia to the Inquiry into the Seasonal Worker Programme 9 February 2015 The Justice and International Mission Unit of the Synod of Victoria and Tasmania, Uniting Church in Australia, would like to make this supplementary submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Migration inquiry into the Seasonal Worker Programme.
As stated in the original submission, the Unit remains highly supportive of the Programme, but believes safeguards against the exploitation of workers on the programme need to be strengthened and some need greater enforcement.

This supplementary submission will address the Term of Reference of the Inquiry of: • The visa regime for seasonal workers, including compliance and related issues.
Additional Recommendations The Unit makes the following additional recommendations to those made in the previous submission: • The Department of Employment ensure that people on the Seasonal Worker Programme actually do have access to community groups and a union that will not only provide them with support if they believe they are being subjected to illegal treatment by their employer, but also check the accommodation the workers are provided with if it is provided by the employer.
• The Department of Employment should provide public guidelines on making a complaint about an employer on the Seasonal Worker Programme that outline when the complainant can expect their identity will be kept confidential from the respondent to the complaint.
• Regulatory action should be taken to require the Department of Employment to publish details of when disciplinary action has been taken by the Department of Employment, the Fair Work Ombudsman, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection or other relevant authority against an employer on the Seasonal Worker Program, including any breaches of the law or outright illegal activity.
Such information assists future potential employees of bodies assisting them to be better informed of any issues with an employer.
1 Inquiry into the Seasonal Worker ProgrammeSubmission 43 - Supplementary Submission Table of Contents Additional Recommendations ..................................................................................................... 1 Seasonal Labour Solutions ........................................................................................................ 2 Publication of Disciplinary Actions by the Department of Employment ....................................... 5 Seasonal Labour Solutions Since making our submission in December, the Justice and International Mission Unit rang to lodge a complaint with the Department of Employment that Hillston Uniting Church had been listed in a Seasonal Labour Solutions work contract with the implication it, along with the Hillston Baptist Church and a local soccer club, were contacted and agreed to provide support to the people employed by Seasonal Labour Solutions.
The members of the Hillston Uniting Church report they were not contacted and were unaware that it was implied they had been by the contract.

In fact the numbers listed for all three community groups in the work contract were disconnected numbers.

I was told that the Department would follow up and get back to me.

I received no return phone call from the Department.
Instead, I received the following e-mail the same day from Seasonal Labour Solutions: From: Sent: Thursday, 3 December 2015 11:43 AM To: Cc: Subject: Pastoral Care Dear Thank you for your call last Friday.

I wish to re emphasis that at all times our sole intention is to create and provide the tools and contacts that gives the workers the best possible chance to assimilate into the Australian community as best as possible.

The support provided by church and congregations is very important.
In this particular case, we understood that such initial contact with your organisation and thus its involvement, had been organised by the previous contractor to whom we were initially supplying the workers.

He in turn was supplying the workers to the Farmer.

We now supply directly to the farmer.

We do apologise for any confusion.

Moving forward, with new groups, we will ensure this is done directly with the church.

This will be undertaken by our .


2 Inquiry into the Seasonal Worker ProgrammeSubmission 43 - Supplementary Submission We understand there has been an issue with workers who need to attend work on Sundays becoming agitated with the fact that they cannot attend church on Sundays.

At all times workers are advised of this fact initially in Vanuatu, then in letter of offer and upon arrival, it is further emphasised that Sunday work may be necessary and that the Seasonal Program programme work takes priority.
Perhaps the congregation has support groups or pray meetings outside of Sunday times.

If this is so then any details you can provide would be appreciated.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards Seasonal Labour Solutions It would appear the Department contacted Seasonal Labour Solutions following my phone call to them and left it to the business to respond to us.
The Unit believes this is not an adequate response to a business on the Seasonal Worker Programme not having put in place pastoral care arrangements as required by ‘Seasonal Worker Programme Implementation Arrangements version 3.0’.

The Unit accepts it could be coincidence that the very day it calls the Department of Employment about Seasonal Labour Solutions, the company responds by e-mail to the Unit following up a previous phone call directly to the company.
The Committee should ask the Department of Employment their procedure for dealing with complaints about employers in the Seasonal Worker Programme.

Under what circumstances does the Department reveal to the employer who has made a complaint without checking with the complainant if this is acceptable to them?

When would the identity of the complainant be kept confidential?
Under what circumstances does the Department follow up with the complainant to establish if the matter has been resolved to the satisfaction of the complainant?

Further the Unit was provided with the following e-mail between Seasonal Labour Solutions and their previous subcontractor Prasad Management Pty Ltd by Prasad Management Pty Ltd.
In our opinion it suggests Seasonal Labour Solutions was requesting that the Department of Employment be misled as to the true nature of the accommodation that the workers on the Programme were to be housed in, so that Seasonal Labour Solutions could charge each worker $150 for the accommodation each week.

The Unit is not aware of what the follow up to the e- mail was and if alternative photos of the accommodation were taken and supplied to the Department or if the accommodation was improved.
However, this e-mail confirms our concern that photographs of the accommodation are an inadequate safeguard in the Programme and the 3 Inquiry into the Seasonal Worker ProgrammeSubmission 43 - Supplementary Submission Committee should recommend that a local community group or union provide a double check on the standard of the accommodation to alert the Department to any concerns in the standard of accommodation provided by the employer.
From: Sent: Wednesday, June 17, 2015 7:50:11 PM To: Cc: Subject: SLS Client Contract and Accommodation Issues Good Evening , I welcome you as a client of SLS and look forward to beneficial times for both parties.

Please find attached the following: 1.

Contract between SLS and Prasad Management Pty Ltd If you have any queries please come to me in the first instance and if necessary we will contact .

If it is acceptable in its current form, please sign and email the executed copy back to me.
I will then have counter sign it and send to you a fully executed contract.

2.

Accommodation Photographs has advised me he will call you to discuss, but he was under the impression that the accommodation was of a higher standard and this is what we have expressed to the government.

The photographs at present do not present well for the agreed charge of $150 per week.
Is there any way we can get some better photos’ perhaps after the kitchen and so forth are cleaned In addition we need more internal photo’s which better depict what the accommodation is like, in a most favourable light!

Without these it will hold up the process.


Thought I would just give you the heads up so you can discuss with Again , welcome and I look forward to speaking to you soon Many Thanks Seasonal Labour Solutions 4 Inquiry into the Seasonal Worker ProgrammeSubmission 43 - Supplementary Submission The Committee should ask Seasonal Labour Solutions and Prasad Management Pty Ltd what was the follow up on the issue of accommodation as a result of the above e-mail.
The Committee should ask the Department of Employment what checking it has done on the standard of accommodation provided by Seasonal Labour Solutions.

Publication of Disciplinary Actions by the Department of Employment The Unit is in possession of testimony given by a worker on the Programme dated 20 March 2015 about his experience on the Seasonal Worker Programme.
He made allegations of , we excessive and unlawful deductions from wages by his then employer, assume from Australian Employment Agency (AEA) Pty Ltd, although the worker does not name the company he was employed by directly (only ).

He states that his contract, with 13 other men, was to last from 8 December 2014 to 7 March 2015.

The initial work was picking mangoes in Mareeba, Queensland.
The worker alleged that later, while picking tomatoes for Tatura in Victoria, he was being paid $51 a week intro his bank account after deductions by We have been advised by others that after this complaint, the Department of Employment took action against AEA Pty Ltd and they were removed from the Programme.

We have been unable to verify this information, as there is no public information available if such disciplinary action is taken against an employer in the Programme.
However, we note that the joint submission to the inquiry from the Department of Employment, Department of Immigration and Border Protection, Department of Agriculture and Fair Work Ombudsman makes no mention of any employer being removed from the Programme for unlawful deductions.

It does mention letters of caution being issued and corrective payments being made by employers (pp.21, 39).
The submission stated that (p. 22) “Of the matters finalized since August 2008, all have been resolved without the need for formal enforcement outcomes such as an Enforceable Undertaking or litigation.” Australian Employment Agency Pty Ltd (formerly known as Australian Regional Employment was listed on Agency (South Australia) Pty Ltd) with the contact name of the Department of Employment’s website on 7 May 2014 as an approved employer participating in the Seasonal Worker Programme, but not on the 20 April 2014 page, thus it appears they were initially approved around this time.
They were subsequently listed on the Department’s website until 16 April 2015, but do not appear in 2016.

As subsequent 2015 cached website pages are unavailable it is not known when they were first de-listed.

Australian Employment Agency Pty Ltd is owned by Hasbeen Pty Ltd and was formerly owned by Gunabee Pty Ltd and the Director of the company from 1 August 2014 was .

was also associated with Australian Regional Employment Agency Pty Ltd (AREAPL).
AREAPL may not have been a suitable employer for the Seasonal Workers Programme having applied for winding up with ASIC in 2010 subsequent to a 2009 ACCC 5 Inquiry into the Seasonal Worker ProgrammeSubmission 43 - Supplementary Submission investigation into employment related contraventions of the, then, Trade Practices Act 1974 resulting in a three year Undertaking signed by Coincidentally on 24 November 2014, AREAPL posted on their Facebook site that they were recruiting workers to pick mangoes in northern Queensland, the same date the contract for the worker whose testimony we have states his contract under started as part of the Seasonal Workers Programme.
It would be helpful if the Department of Employment listed the ABN of the approved employers on their list, to avoid any doubt about similarly named labour hire businesses and where the contact people are not directors of the businesses in question.
If disciplinary action was taken against AEA Pty Ltd by the Department of Employment or the Fair Work Ombudsman or other relevant regulatory authority, this should be publicly reported, especially if the breach of the requirements of the Programme was so severe AEA Pty Ltd may have been removed from the Programme.

Publishing significant disciplinary actions, or where courts or tribunals have found breaches of law, by employers on the Programme, serves to provide caution to future employees of the employer.
It will also provide a deterrent effect for some employers against breaching requirements of the Programme to avoid being publicly named.

Thus publication of disciplinary actions acts as a harm reduction measure.
However, we note again the joint submission by the Department of Employment, Department of Immigration and Border Protection, Department of Agriculture and Fair Work Ombudsman that of the matters finalized in relation to exploitation of workers on the Programme none since August 2008 have involved Enforceable Undertakings or litigation.
An example of where such public disclosure of disciplinary and judicial actions are made is the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation in their annual reports, see for example Appendix 4 of: http://assets.justice.vic.gov.au/vcglr/resources/f2699c7c-311d-4409-bb9b- 9f122e0d44f5/vcglr_annual_report_2014%E2%80%9315_web.pdf The annual report lists the company, the nature of the breach, the date on which the disciplinary or judicial penalty was imposed and the nature of the penalty.
Previous annual reports (such as the one from 2010-2011) would even list the names of individuals against which disciplinary or judicial penalties were applied.
AREAPL they appeared to continue to operate after AEA Pty Ltd left the Seasonal Worker Programme and being deregistered with ASIC on 15 November 2015, as shown below: 6 Inquiry into the Seasonal Worker ProgrammeSubmission 43 - Supplementary Submission While the company website (http://www.area4work.com.au/) is “no longer accessible”, its Facebook site advertised for more workers as recently as 17 January 2016, see and the screenshot below.
7 Inquiry into the Seasonal Worker ProgrammeSubmission 43 - Supplementary Submission 8 Inquiry into the Seasonal Worker ProgrammeSubmission 43 - Supplementary Submission It is concerning if AREAPL Pty Ltd has been able to continue to operate as a labour hire business if the allegations by the worker from 20 March 2015 were true and if the business has been continuing to operate even after deregistering.
In the case of the associated entity Australian Employment Agency Pty Ltd they are currently under external administration after a liquidator was appointed on 30 September 2015 as shown below: We believe this case further highlights the need for a national licensing system for labour hire businesses in the horticultural, agricultural and food processing sectors to provide greater certainty that labour hire businesses in these sectors are operating in compliance with the law.
The Committee should ask the Department of Employment if any employers have been removed from the Seasonal Worker Programme for breaches involving underpayment of workers or unlawful deductions?

The Committee should ask the Department if AEA Pty Ltd was subject to removal from the Programme for breaches of the requirements of the Programme?

If so, what were the nature of the breaches?


Dr Mark Zirnsak Director Justice and International Mission Unit 9 Inquiry into the Seasonal Worker ProgrammeSubmission 43 - Supplementary Submission