Shearing teams, harvest contractors, and aerial sprayers could be swept into a new labour hire licensing scheme if it is not designed carefully, farmers have warned, as Labor promises to stamp out dodgy operators if it is re-elected.
Premier Chris Minns used Labor’s Labor Day dinner on Thursday night to vow that a re-elected Minns Government would finalise a bill within 100 days to license labour hire providers in every industry.
Under the scheme, host businesses would only be able to use registered providers. Businesses would be given education to help them comply, and providers who break the rules would face penalties.
The scheme would cover all public and private sector supply chains and would be consistent with the national principles on labour hire licensing.
“The NSW Government has zero-tolerance for the exploitation of workers, and this commitment builds on the work we are doing to stamp out dodgy labour hire firms,” said Minister for Industrial Relations Sophie Cotsis.
The pledge follows an independent probity investigation into the Western Sydney Airport Metro project, which led to a major contractor being sacked.
The Kimber Report found several labour supply companies had been set up within days of each other at the same home address, with the same director and secretary. They were using encrypted messaging apps to send invoices and supporting documents.
The investigation found suspected underpayment of workers, insurance fraud, tax fraud, and unaccounted invoices worth more than $10 million.
Farmers, unions, businesses, and the Modern Slavery Committee have raised similar concerns about labour hire providers in horticulture and other sectors.
Farmers want rogue operators found out
NSW Farmers said exploitation had no place on farms, and that unscrupulous labour hire operators harmed workers, legitimate businesses, and the reputation of the wider industry.
“A small number of providers are cutting corners, undercutting legitimate businesses and dragging down the reputation of the whole sector,” said NSW Farmers Horticulture Committee Chair Chris Stillard.
“They need to be found out and shut down.”
“Exploitation has no place in agriculture.”
“Growers who do the right thing should not be undercut by operators who don’t, because that hurts workers and honest businesses alike.”
Mr Stillard said growers relied on labour hire to get crops picked, packed, and to market.
“They need confidence the providers they engage are legitimate, and a licensing scheme can help provide that confidence if it is designed and implemented properly, in consultation with industry,” he said.
But the farm lobby has a warning about how the scheme is written.
“Farming runs on specialist contractors,” Mr Stillard said.
“When a farmer engages a shearing team, harvest contractor or aerial spraying business, they are paying for a job to be done, not simply hiring workers.”
“These businesses bring their own equipment, expertise and supervision and are engaged to deliver a defined result.”
“If the definition is too broad, thousands of legitimate rural businesses could be caught up in a licensing system that was never intended for them.”
NSW Farmers still wants a nationally consistent scheme rather than a patchwork of state-based systems.
“A national approach remains the most sensible long-term solution because labour hire providers and workers operate across state borders,” Mr Stillard said.
“If NSW proceeds with its own scheme, it needs to recognise licences issued elsewhere and avoid creating another layer of duplication and unnecessary regulation.”
“Farmers already carry a significant cost and compliance burden, and a labour hire licensing scheme that simply loads more fees and paperwork onto legitimate farm businesses would miss the point,” Mr Stillard said.
Growers and unions on board
The Australian Fresh Produce Alliance (AFPA) welcomed the commitment.
“Industry has been seeking this reform for some time therefore a commitment to introduce a bill within the first 100 days of a re-elected government is a clear and welcome signal,” said AFPA Chief Executive Officer Veronica Papacosta.
“NSW businesses rely on good labour hire providers, and a licensing scheme that aligns with the national principles will improve worker protections, provide compliant businesses with improved visibility and supply chain integrity.”
Unions NSW said rogue operators had been setting up shop in NSW after being shut down elsewhere.
“Until now, dodgy labour hire operators have come to NSW when they’ve been banned everywhere else,” said Unions NSW Secretary Thomas Costa.
“We have seen appalling abuses, with workers paid as little as 2-3 dollars an hour to do backbreaking work.”
Joint analysis by the McKell Institute and Unions NSW in August found at least 171 businesses with cancelled or refused labour hire licences elsewhere in Australia were operating in NSW.
Unions NSW has helped labour hire workers recover tens of thousands of dollars in underpaid wages. They include a Taiwanese working holiday maker underpaid $40,000 on farms in regional NSW, and a group of women from Kiribati recruited for aged care on the Mid North Coast who were moved into an abattoir under threat of visa cancellation.
“This licensing reform means workers on building sites, berry farms, aged care facilities and other workplaces will know their employer has passed a basic test of honesty and propriety,” Mr Costa said.
“It stops honest businesses being undercut by shonks.”
Mr Costa also took aim at One Nation.
“Pauline Hanson has spent 30 years scapegoating migrant workers rather than fighting exploitation,” he said.
“But Labor is going after the people who are actually dragging wages down: the shonks who rip off workers and rip off the taxpayer.”
What comes next
The Government says the scheme would build on existing measures, including data sharing with the ATO, Border Force, and AFP to stop dodgy companies closing down and setting up again, a mandatory Labour Hire Code of Practice, a Supply Chain Compliance Program, and the NSW Migrant Workers’ Centre.
It says it will keep consulting with unions, industry, and workers, and will look at schemes running in other states to see what is working well and what needs improving.
“Every worker deserves fair pay, access to their entitlements, and to work and live in a safe environment and a labour hire licencing scheme is an important step in ensuring safer workplaces for labour hire workers,” Minister Cotsis said.
NSW Farmers said it would work with the Government on the detail.
“We will work constructively with the Government on the detail of any NSW scheme, while continuing to advocate for a nationally consistent system as the long-term solution,” Mr Stillard said.
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