23 May 2018

The Federal Government has suspended labour hire company Agri Labour Australia from further recruitment under the Seasonal Worker Program, amid allegations the company underpaid labourers from Vanuatu working on a Victorian farm.

The allegations...claims...labourers...were exposed to dangerous working conditions and threatened while working at...farm, west of Shepparton.

...Agri Labour's managing director Casey Brown strenuously denied all the claims.

...[W]orkers claimed they were not being paid correctly, and had experienced "bleeding episodes" after breathing in chemicals on the farm.

...it was the understanding of his company that the workers were being paid appropriately by their employer...

Thousands of workers come to Australia from the Pacific each year to undertake seasonal work on farms across the country, hoping to earn good money to take home to their families.