‘We are not in a safe place’: women reveal being abused while producing the food Australians eat

I just worked two weeks in a farm in New South Wales and one of my friends stayed with my kids at home.

With rent, sometimes I pay on time.

Sometimes I call the landlord and say I will pay in two weeks.

I really need my work rights or a different visa that will allow me to study.

No work rights – it’s hard.

Grace* came to Australia to work on a berry farm.

She planned to send her earnings back home but once she arrived at the farm, she realised she would only earn $100 per week and would live in a shipping container.

She decided to leave and work on a different farm, even though this meant her visa would be cancelled.

Five years later, Grace has a temporary visa without work rights, limited access to financial support or health care and has experienced domestic violence.

People like Grace, migrants who enter Australia through the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme , produce much of the fresh food Australians buy from the supermarket.

Our ongoing research speaks to women in the scheme, as well as those who stay behind in their home countries while their partners come to Australia.

Their experiences reveal the need for urgent reforms to end exploitation and abuse.

Tied to their bosses The PALM scheme is a temporary labour migration program run by the Australian government that allows people from Pacific Island countries and Timor-Leste to work in under-resourced industries, such as agriculture and meat works.

There are more than 32,000 migrant workers currently in Australia linked to the scheme.