The policy details the council’s responsibility to ensure all goods and services obtained by council are free from any ties with modern slavery practices.
It also outlines council’s commitments, including training employees to identify and address modern slavery risks, engaging with suppliers to ensure they meet the anti-slavery requirements and reporting suspected offences to the NSW Anti-Slavery Commissioner.
Murray River Council Mayor John Harvie said overseas labour was vital, as it contributed greatly to the region’s economic stability.
“The horticulture industry is a major economic driver in the western part of our council area and is heavily reliant on overseas labour,” he said.
“Murray River Council is committed to ensuring that all workers in our region, including temporary migrant workers, are treated fairly and with dignity.
“Our draft Modern Slavery Policy sets out how council will identify and address the risk of modern slavery within our operations, services and purchasing, helping to ensure ethical standards are maintained in all areas of our work.“
The policy follows the NSW Government’s continued inquiry into the modern-day slavery risks faced by temporary migrant workers in rural and regional areas.
The inquiry began in October last year, with the parliamentary committee calling on councils, organisations and individuals to submit evidence or testimonies of their experiences.
Murray River Council submitted two submissions in the context of the shire.
In its first submission, council noted that overseas workers within the shire were often brought into the country under false pretences.
The workers pay as much as $7000 before arriving in Australia, for a return airfare, tourist visa and the promise of work and accommodation.
For many of the workers, the cost is often painfully high, and so they resort to using loans from family members or banks to pay the money back once they start working in Australia.
Once in Australia, workers discover they cannot legally work under a tourist visa and are pressured to apply for a protection visa, unaware that while they can work under a protection visa, they would no longer allowed to leave the country.
With no understanding of their rights in Australia and being no longer able to leave the country, workers are often stuck being exploited under operators, as they have no-one to to turn to for support in the country.
Council also noted that accommodation for the workers was also often substandard.
In council’s submission, one worker reported they were living with 12 people in a three-bedroom house with only one bathroom, one laundry machine and one refrigerator.
In its second submission, council detailed a case of an operator who recruited workers and then issued them with a $1200 water bill.
The workers, who shared a three-bedroom house, brought the matter to council's attention, as they were already so cautious with water usage they were scared to even shower.
After investigating, council found that for the workers to have achieved the water usage claimed, every tap in the house would have had to be left running for 33 days.
In other communication with the parliamentary committee, council noted that its ability to help workers at a local government level was limited by various factors.
Barriers included a lack of data on migrant workers in the region, property inspection regulations, workers classified as tourists due to their visas and the need for cross-border collaboration.
At a hearing held on Monday, June 2 at parliament in Sydney, Cr Harvie said the council would like to see the system changed to better support overseas workers.
“What we would like to see is the system upgraded in some way to protect these beautiful people from being used, humiliated and trapped in a foreign country,” he said.
“What we’d like to see is these people get some assistance to get on to the right visa so that they can go out and earn money, live a good life, and send money back to repay their debts in the Philippines.
“This is a matter of extreme importance. We have human lives that are being destroyed. Someone has to be responsible for that.”
The parliamentary inquiry is ongoing, with three hearings having already been held to gather evidence from major stakeholders.
Murray River Council's Draft Modern Slavery Prevention Policy is its first step towards eradicating modern slavery practices throughout the region.
Murray River residents are invited to share their thoughts or concerns about the document.
Once the policy has been uploaded to the council website, it can be found at tinyurl.com/5xab5ycd
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