Locals in a rural Victorian town have called for a major rethink of the federal government’s flagship migrant farm work program, after an influx of fruit pickers created a surge in anti-social behaviour so severe it resulted in an official “apology ceremony”.
Red Cliffs, a small town of around 5000 residents located 15 minutes south of Mildura in northwest Victoria’s grape and citrus growing Sunraysia region, became “an unsafe place to live” after it was “inundated” by workers from Vanuatu last year and early this year, residents claim.
Around 100 workers, brought to Australia under the federal government’s Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme, were housed in the town by several labour hire operators, leading to a raft of complaints.
“We’ve had an influx of seasonal workers, which we always do in our town, there’s flare-ups from time to time but mostly it works well,” said one local business owner.
“Since this PALM scheme was introduced there’s been lots of opportunists jump on board running the accommodations. Obviously it’s lucrative to the people that take on and sign [up these workers], and it got to the point where our town was inundated.”
He said unlike previous seasonal workers, the latest cohort showed “complete disrespect” for the community.
“Our town got to a point where the alcohol-fuelled violence and drunken behaviour exhibited through the streets was just normal for them,” he said. “It became so ridiculously out of control.”
In response to the widespread complaints, a special “ceremony of apology” was held at the Salvation Army Centre in Mildura on April 29, with members of a Vanuatu government delegation in attendance.
“This will be done in the manner of Vanuatu custom and take the form of a public ceremonial act of apology and reconciliation,” a PALM scheme community representative wrote in an email to locals.
“It is considered that this is an important and responsible initiative from the Vanuatu workers towards the healing of relationships with the community.”
Pita Foliaki, the Vanuatu government’s local representative for the PALM scheme, said the problems in Red Cliffs were “unique” and stressed the workers, most of whom have since left, later developed “good relationships with the local community”.
A policy change requiring employers to “top up” workers’ pay if they spent eight hours in the field caused a number of farms to pull out of “unsustainable” contracts, leaving many with nothing to do and “turning to alcohol”, he said.
To avoid being sent home, Mr Foliaki said he advised the workers to “swallow your pride” and take part in the apology for the “social disruption” to the community, even though many questioned why “everyone should apologise for the few”.
“The aim was for the 50 or 60 workers not to be sent home,” he told news.com.au, adding that after the apology the local Lions Club “stepped up” to offer the men work.
Minutes from the April 19 meeting that led to the apology ceremony show community members raising a number of concerns about the behaviour of the workers.
“The community has had workers from the Pacific Islands (Tongans, Samoans, Solomon Islanders) as well as a diversity of backpackers in past years and they seem to have fitted into the community satisfactorily,” one community member told the meeting.
“But over the last year, the behaviour of Vanuatu workers in the town has been troubling to the point where it has become a significant social concern — shoplifting, drunkenness, excess drinking of alcohol, late-night noise, obscenity, intimidation towards female shop staff.”
The meeting notes show concerns were discussed that “the focus of attention seems to be on the financial benefits rather than on the wellbeing of the workers and of the community”.
Some suggestions floated for integration of the workers into the community included “take groups to ovals to play ball games”, “introduce the workers to local churches” and “set up a stand at local market to cook traditional foods”, the notes show.
The April meeting came after a number of locals wrote to their local member, Nationals MP Anne Webster, as well as PALM scheme representatives, state authorities and officials from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) about the issues.
“For months on end we have had to deal with disruptive behaviour from intoxicated individuals residing at the Crew House,” one homeowner said in an email to Dr Webster, referring to a large accommodation on Jamieson Ave in the town centre operated by labour hire firm Direct Personnel.
“I’m not sure what the answer is but the previous lodgers were not a problem at all. It’s really not fair for Red Cliffs permanent residents to have to deal with. It’s not the quiet little town we signed up for. We moved from Melbourne to here for a quieter country lifestyle, but it has been anything but that.”
Direct Personnel has been contacted for comment.
Another resident said they had three young children and “my concerns have never been greater”.
“There seems to be an influx in people loitering, drinking, and buying and selling of illicit drugs,” they wrote to Dr Webster.
“I have had people drinking and leaving empty bottles at the entrance to my property, I now padlock the gates closed and have stopped my oldest two children from playing in the park due to the number of people ‘partying’.”
They added: “We have had plenty of backpackers in the past but they have not been of a great concern as issues we faced were dealt with in a fair and timely manner. While I also understand that people may and have every right to enjoy themselves… this seems to be spilling onto our streets.”
One neighbour described “excessive noise and anti-social behaviour” from Crew House, with residents “constantly subjected to extremely loud music with unbelievably heavy bass” at all hours for weeks on end.
Another said her daughter, who lives across the road with her partner, arrived home one evening to find two men “in a drunken state” drinking alcohol at her front gate.
“My daughter was too scared to get out of her car as her partner was not at home and she couldn’t get past the men to get in the gate,” the homeowner said.
“She did phone the police but to our knowledge they never turned up. I am most concerned as now my daughter is worried about living on the property and doesn’t feel safe.”
A spokesman for Dr Webster said the MP was “aware of concerns from the community regarding the behaviour of a group of migrant workers in Red Cliffs earlier this year and worked with the community and PALM scheme representatives to address this at the time”.
Last month, a senior official with DEWR, which administers the PALM scheme, replied to locals’ concerns in a letter on behalf of Employment Minister Tony Burke.
The official said the government was “strengthening our oversight” of the PALM scheme by “expanding its regional presence to provide on-the-ground support to approved employers and PALM workers”.
“This will include expanded capacity to monitor and respond to issues that arise at work sites and accommodation sites across the regions, including within your region,” she said.
“You raise a number of concerns about the personal behaviour of PALM workers including excessive idle time and consumption of alcohol. It is important to note that, similar to any Australian worker, this falls into the realm of personal activity and behaviour which is an individual worker responsibility.”
She added that the PALM scheme had a “community connections program which works to connect Pacific workers with local community groups and Pacific diaspora to help build social scaffolding and mitigate against the risks of worker isolation”.
“This may include social, sporting, cultural events, and religious services to build positive relationships, improve culture understanding and enhance PALM worker experience during their time in Australia,” she said.
But the local business owner said it was “not sustainable” for small communities like Red Cliffs to be expected to integrate and manage large cohorts of workers on a semi-regular basis.
“Most of this happened last year, but there’s nothing to say it won’t flare up again,” he said.
“Unfortunately what we’ve said to [DEWR] is we’ve become like babysitters for your program. It’s a real draw on our community, we don’t have the resources. Like any small community we haven’t got a lot — we haven’t even got a 24-hour police station.”
A DEWR spokesman directed inquiries to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
DEWR describes the PALM scheme as Australia’s “primary temporary migration program responding to labour shortages and supporting Australia’s strategic interests in the Pacific”.
The PALM scheme commenced in April 2022, consolidating existing Pacific worker programs under a single visa stream.
PALM visas are either for short-term seasonal work up to nine months, or long-term non-seasonal work up to four years.
“The PALM scheme helps to fill unskilled to semi-skilled jobs in rural and regional Australia and in agriculture and food processing nationally by offering eligible employers access to a pool of reliable, productive workers from the Pacific Islands and Timor-Leste when there are not enough Australian workers to do the job,” DEWR’s latest annual report says.
The number of PALM scheme participants has “surged from 8000 workers in March 2020 to over 39,000 at June 30, 2023, with 423 participating employers”.
Earlier this week, locals in the northern NSW beachside town of Arrawarra spoke out about impact on their tiny community after their caravan park began housing hundreds of PALM workers, saying they were “outnumbered three-to-one” and “living in fear” amid a rise in violent incidents.
