Foreign farm workers enslaved by labour hire wage thieves

Tuesday 15 March 2022

The Senate Select Committee on Job Security has heard more evidence that foreign agricultural workers have been exploited.

Matthew Collard, the MD of a Victorian strawberry growing firm, said that one of its foreign workers had earned more than $900 during a week in late 2021. However, he said the worker netted just $100 after paying taxes and deductions to labour hire company MADEC. The committee also heard from two Samoan workers who said they felt that they had been ‘punished’ after giving evidence at an earlier hearing.

From The ABC:

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About the author

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.