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News
Back to the news list Agri Labour Aus suspended from government scheme
24 May 2018 - Media Release - Fresh Plaza
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. A federal committee's report states Australia needs a comprehensive suite of new laws to stamp out modern slavery.

The allegations also detail claims by the labourers they were exposed to dangerous working conditions and threatened while working at the MCG Fresh Produce farm. Agri Labour was engaged by MCG Fresh Produce in November 2017 to provide 50 farm labourers from Vanuatu. In a statement to the ABC. Agri Labour's managing director Casey Brown strenuously denied all the claims.

The suspension comes after one of the Vanuatu workers, a member of the National Union of Workers (NUW), filed an action with the Fair Work Commission against the labour hire company.

A spokesman for Workplace Minister Craig Laundy said the department immediately commenced an investigation and reported the allegations of pay breaches to the Fair Work Ombudsman once it was notified of the NUW allegations.

"The department has suspended Agri Labour from further recruitment under the program, pending the outcome of the investigations," the spokesman said.

NUW national secretary Tim Kennedy told the ABC workers claimed they were not being paid correctly, and had experienced "bleeding episodes" after breathing in chemicals on the farm. He claimed a representative of the labour hire provider threatened the workers after they raised their concerns with the union.

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.

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