Seasonal workers have detailed exploitation at the hands of employers approved to run migrant worker programs by the federal government.
The three workers from Vanuatu and two from Samoa moved to Australia to participate in a seasonal worker program designed to address workforce shortages in rural and regional areas.
They told a parliamentary committee into job security that they had intended to support their families back home, where the economies have been impacted by the pandemic.
But the experience has been marked by squalid accommodation, bullying, exploitative working conditions and a lack of access to support services, the workers told the inquiry hearing on Wednesday.
They said they are working 64 hours a week but earn just $100 after employer deductions which are not explained on their pay slips.
Despite originally being offered a set hourly rate, they arrived in Australia to find they would be paid per tray of fruit picked, the workers said.
"We are here, we work for the farms, we are part of (Australia's) economic development so we should be treated the same as Australians," said Moses, a seasonal worker from Vanuatu.
"If you walk around the supermarket and you see all the beautiful fruits and vegetables, it is because of us. We contribute a lot."
Samoan worker Talipope told the committee he did not earn enough to support himself in Australia let alone his family.
"It would have been better to just stay home, especially with the bad conditions here," he said.
Talipope lives in a small room, shares a bathroom with four others and a kitchen with 60 others, with no fans or air conditioning.
He pays $150 for this accommodation which was organised by his employer.
When he and his roommates became infected with COVID-19 they isolated for 10 days with little support.
Solicitor and advocate Dana Levitt says the employers are making up their own rules and getting workers to sign exploitative contracts which are not translated into their own language.
"Nothing in these contracts would stand up as legal in Australia and yet it is going unchecked," she said.
"The whole scheme is rife with abuse and no one is doing anything about it."
Australian Workers Union national secretary Daniel Walton says Australia's reputation has been smashed worldwide because of the conditions of the farms.
"The government priorities seem to be nothing short of finding more opportunities to allow more employees (into Australia) with less protections and less support," he told the hearing.
"Workers came to Australia expecting to get a fair day's pay for a fair day's work ... and they've turned up and it has not happened."
The committee will hear from the government departments responsible for the scheme on Wednesday afternoon.
