A federal government review of the nation's immigration system could have wide-ranging implications for agriculture, but it won't help illegal workers facing exploitation.
Unions want fairer pay and conditions for immigrants working in agriculture in Australia, with a report highlighting a high number of job ads in foreign languages advertising rates below the minimum wage.
Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey said a survey released this week showed there had been a big improvement in pay rates since a minimum wage was introduced for pickers earlier this year.
But he said 40 per cent of employers were still taking advantage of vulnerable workers.
"One in two employers are now advertising the guaranteed minimum for the start period, but one in every four [workers] were subject to threats or being fired if they didn't meet picking targets," Mr Morey said.
He said there needed to be a "firewall" between the Fair Work Ombudsman and the Home Affairs Office to give workers confidence to make a complaint without being deported.
He said he also wanted to see a new class of visa.
"There should be a visa class that allows people to stay until they've either got their underpayments or a prosecution has been run against a rogue employer who's not doing the appropriate thing," he said.
Illegal worker issue 'outside scope'
John Azarias, who chaired a committee that produced the National Agricultural Workforce Strategy in 2021, is on the panel reviewing the immigration system.
He said there was agreement around the need to give more certainty to illegal immigrants, but it was outside the scope of the review.
"The committee that put together the strategy unanimously recommended there should be a "regularisation" of their status," Mr Azarias said
"It's important not only from a humanitarian point of view but it's also important from a producer point of view because a lot these illegal migrants are excellent workers."
'Up-and-go' provisions
Australian Workers Union national secretary Daniel Walton said an "up-and-go" scheme, that allowed foreign workers to change employers if they were unhappy, needed to be implemented.
"If you're a visa worker working in agriculture and you find yourself on a bad farm you can shift and change employer, which doesn't happen at the moment," Mr Walton said.
The National Farmers Federation has supported the idea.
But National Farmers Federation horticulture council executive officer Richard Shannon said farmers who paid the up-front costs to bring a foreign worker into the country shouldn't be out of pocket if a worker decided to leave.
"We cant have a situation where workers are leaving their sponsor, their first employer, without those costs being recouped," he said.
Licensing labour hire
Mr Azarias said the National Agricultural Workforce Strategy committee also recommended other states follow the Queensland model for regulating labour hire companies, and said it should be coordinated by the federal government.
The Queensland act ensures that labour hire companies and hostels involved in labour hire are registered.
Mr Azarias said there was broad support for giving foreign workers a tax file number to improve the visibility of their hours and their pay.
"Anybody who comes into Australia, whose visa allows them to work, should have a tax file number," he said.
The immigration system review is due to report back to the federal government next year.
