Operation Flint investigators visited more than 15 farms
Operation Flint investigators visited more than 15 farms in Griffith this week as three federal regulators widened a crackdown on labour hire providers and horticulture employers.
The Australian Taxation Office, Fair Work Ombudsman and Australian Border Force are investigating unlawful practices in the Riverina, with most of the farms visited growing citrus fruit. The agencies said the work sits under the Shadow Economy Taskforce and the investigations are ongoing.
The focus includes underpaid wages, penalty rates and other entitlements including super, failures to withhold and remit pay as you go withholding tax, inaccurate pay slips, non-lodgment of activity statements and income tax returns, incorrect reporting of business income and expenses, and breaches under the Migration Act 1958.
ATO Assistant Commissioner Tony Goding said, “Outsourcing labour doesn’t mean outsourcing responsibility. Farmers need to know exactly who they’re dealing with and how their workforce is being paid and treated. If the cost of labour is unusually cheap, there’s usually a reason behind it.”
Riverina non-compliance under scrutiny
Employers were selected using risk profiling, data analytics, intelligence shared across taskforce partners and community tip-offs. Goding said 44 individuals and entities were prosecuted in NSW last financial year for shadow economy-related offences.
Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said the agency had previously found non-compliance in the Riverina horticulture sector to be rife. During investigations in 15 regional hotspots nationally under its Horticulture Strategy 2021-2024, the Fair Work Ombudsman found the Riverina was one of the top five regions for non-compliance with workplace laws, and that 83% of labour hire employers it investigated there had breached their workplace obligations.
Booth said, “The FWO is back in the Riverina at Griffith, this time with fellow regulators, and we want to see improvement but will be holding to account any labour hire businesses or growers doing the wrong thing.”
ABF Commander Field Operations and Sponsor Monitoring (A/g) Tim Thorley said officers were focused on identifying and disrupting unlawful labour hire arrangements, visa breaches and migrant worker exploitation. He said, “Employers who exploit migrant workers or disregard Australia’s migration laws place vulnerable workers at risk and gain an unfair advantage over businesses doing the right thing.”
