National survey of workers in Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme reveals widespread fear of retaliation if they speak up.
The Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme was established to provide economic opportunity for temporary migrants from the Pacific and address labour shortages in specified sectors in Australia.
However, elements of its highly regulated structure have had the unintended consequences of leaving participants open to exploitation without realistic avenues for redress.
These are the disturbing findings of a new survey of 370 PALM scheme workers conducted by the Migrant Justice Institute – a national research and policy organisation supported by University of Technology Sydney Law Faculty and UNSW Faculty of Law & Justice.
The PALM scheme does provide avenues for workers to air their grievances including a dedicated service line within the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations and Country Liaison Officers from the workers’ home governments.
However, the survey found that these safeguards do not work and do not offer aggrieved workers effective avenues for redress.
In addition, tying workers to a single employer leaves them at the mercy of the employer and without any effective ability to bring their working conditions up to the standard Australian workers would expect and to which they are entitled.
For example, the survey found that:
- 64 percent of survey participants would change their employer if labour mobility were allowed
- 30 percent stated they wanted to move because their workplace was unsafe
- 60 percent wanted to move “to be treated better”
The survey also found significant reluctance among workers to report workplace problems despite the avenues available. For example:
- 42 percent of respondents stated that no or few workers would tell anyone if they weren’t paid correctly, other than friends or co-workers
- Only 34 percent said they would tell someone other than a friend or co-worker if a supervisor told them to do unsafe tasks
The reasons given for the workers’ reticence included:
- 64 percent were afraid they might lose their job
- 33 percent were worried about causing problems for co-workers
- 32 percent were afraid they would be given less or worse work
- 25 percent feared their employer may not invite them, family or community workers to work in Australia again
These disturbing findings demand that the government provide greater opportunities for labour mobility for PALM workers.
The only alternative is that many PALM workers will remain trapped in working conditions unacceptable to Australian workers.
The study was conducted by the co-directors of the Migrant Justice Institute: Associate Professor Laurie Berg (UTS Faculty of Law) and Associate Professor Bassina Farbenblum (UNSW Faculty of Law & Justice).
The Report is available at www.migrantjustice.org/2025palmreport
Quotes from workers who participated in the study:
- ‘Palm workers can’t talk because they don’t have any right this is due to the visa status Palm workers are holding. They can’t leave their work if they find hardship at work.’ (Female aged care worker from Fiji in NSW)
- ‘We do as we are told, take whatever you're given and be thankful that you're given a job with good money, compared to what you get in Fiji’ (Female aged care worker from Fiji in in Queensland)
- ‘No options to change employer when you’re being pay less.’ (Man from Solomon Islands working in meat processing in Queensland)
- ‘Palm scheme workers can’t complain because if they lose the job then they will be sent home. they can’t work anywhere else due to the visa status’ (Female aged care worker from Fiji in NSW).
- ‘We think that no matter we do there would be no response’ (Meat worker from the Solomon Islands in Queensland)
- ‘If a PALM worker is injured on job, especially repetitive injuries, they are too afraid to speak up for safety issues’ (Female aged care worker in NSW).
- ‘I'm experiencing bullying with my supervisor, forcing to do the task which resulting me from injury. When I'm got my injury in my hand they would not believe and when I ask a light job, they placed me the job that my hand cannot lift a bin weighing 60kls up. That's why I suffer my mental health because I'm thinking about myself what's happen to me and for the future of my family.’ (Meat worker in Queensland)
- ‘[W]orkers accept whatever is being done... it's a disrespect for you to question what the elders has decided regardless it be right or wrong just accept it’ (Fijian man working in meat processing)
Quotes from the authors:
A/Prof. Laurie Berg, Co-Director of Migrant Justice Institute and Associate Professor at University of Technology Sydney Law Faculty said:
“Unless workers have the possibility to change employers when things go wrong, they won't speak up. 97% of workers in our survey want to work in Australia again. Fear of losing their job, and their ability to participate in the program and return, are powerful forces keeping them silent.
“The federal government has allocated significant resources to worker support in the PALM scheme. But these initiatives are not empowering workers to come forward with concerns about working conditions or even workplace safety.”
A/Prof. Bassina Farbenblum, Co-Director of Migrant Justice Institute and Associate Professor at UNSW Faculty of Law & Justice said:
“These survey findings serve as a wake-up call for businesses who think that Pacific workers in their operations will report problems to auditors or government helplines. The workers want to stay in the PALM Scheme, and return to Australia, and that matters more than poor conditions at work or anything else.
“By tying PALM workers’ visa to a single employer, we’ve placed them in a trap: report problems at work and risk you’ll be dismissed and have to leave Australia and not be invited back, or stay silent and keep your job and the opportunity to return.”
Contact details:
For more information and further comments, please contact:
Laurie Berg – 0433527545; [email protected]
Bassina Farbenblum – 0412105117; [email protected]
