More than 80 per cent of horticulture businesses in some of Victoria’s biggest growing regions were in breach of laws to protect workers, inspectors have found, after a nationwide crackdown on the sector.
In a three-year investigation, Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) inspectors also found widespread breaches in prime horticulture areas in NSW.
The report, released on Wednesday, singled out labour hire firms as the worst offenders, despite states increasingly regulating the sector.
It says Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley regions had the highest rate of overall non-compliance, with inspectors finding 83 per cent of employers failed to meet obligations under the Fair Work Act.
The next-worst breach rates were in NSW’s Riverina (72 per cent), Victoria’s Sunraysia and Shepparton regions (70 per cent and 63 per cent respectively), and Coffs Harbour and Grafton in NSW (61 per cent).
Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth. (Supplied: Fair Work Ombudsman)
Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said inspectors visited 360 farms, investigated 512 businesses during crop seasons and issued $760,405 in fines to employers who failed to meet their pay slip and record-keeping obligations.
Labor hire firms hard to ‘pin down’
She also said labour hire firms used by farmers were most resistant to workplace laws, with 91 per cent of 166 infringement notices going to labour providers.
“The vast majority of the wrongdoers are labour hire employers and they are often quite difficult to pin down,” Ms Booth said.
“The workers themselves often don’t know who their employer is and [they are] just generally being treated very badly.
“This is particularly troubling because many of these workers are migrants. They are often temporary visa holders.”
However, there were some positive signs from the three-year campaign.
Qld farmers turn compliance around
Queensland’s Wide Bay and Moreton Bay were the nation’s most compliant, with only 18 per cent and 8 per cent failing to follow the law, which was a turnaround from recent years.
Ms Booth said most farmers in these areas directly employed staff rather than using labour hire, and regulator Queensland Labour Hire Licensing Compliance Unit was also in place, plus there had been leadership from employer groups via the Fair Farms programs, which audits businesses.
Fair Farms, which runs training and certification and help growers improve their workplace compliance, was set up by farmer group Growcom with support from the Fair Work Ombudsman, the federal Department of Agriculture and horticulture group AUSVEG.
Victoria also has a Labour Hire Authority and labour hire licensing schemes exist in South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory, which works with these agencies to stamp out lawbreakers.
Ms Booth also said in January the FWO signed an enforceable undertaking with RJ Cornish & Co Pty Ltd, a fruit grower in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley, following unlawful wage deductions of nearly $127,000 from 112 employees.
The company was inspected in March last year as part of the regulator’s horticulture strategy.
The horticulture strategy also included more than 96 joint site inspections with other regulators, including Australian Border Force, Australian Taxation Office and WorkCover Queensland.
