New RMIT Report Exposes Exploitation of PALM Scheme Workers in Australia's Meat Industry

New RMIT Report Exposes Exploitation of PALM Scheme Workers in Australia's Meat Industry

A new report from the RMIT Business and Human Rights Centre (BHRIGHT) reveals the severe exploitation faced by migrant workers under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme in the Australian meat industry.

Titled Meat the Reality: Unpacking the Exploitation of PALM Scheme Workers in Australia’s Meat Industry, the study provides a powerful empirical investigation into the harsh conditions, restricted freedoms, and systemic inequities experienced by Pacific Island workers.

Led by Ema Moolchand (PhD candidate, RMIT) and Professor Shelley Marshall (Deputy Dean, School of Law), the report combines in-depth legal analysis with photovoice methodology, capturing workers' lived realities through their own photographs and testimonies.

Findings: A workforce trapped in exploitation

Despite important recent reforms to the PALM scheme in 2024, the study found that many Pacific Island workers in Australia’s meat processing sector remain trapped in exploitative conditions. The research highlights:

  • Restricted freedoms – Workers are tied to a single employer and face immense barriers if they wish to change jobs, reinforcing a system akin to indentured labour.
  • Severe underpayment – PALM workers earn less than colleagues on other visa schemes, despite often doing the most physically demanding work, a disparity fuelled by racial stereotypes about their strength.
  • Unpaid work and excessive hours – Many are forced to work unpaid overtime, undertake unpaid leadership roles, or serve as drivers for their colleagues with no extra compensation.
  • High-cost, low-quality accommodation – Workers are placed in isolated rural areas and forced into overcrowded, high-rent housing with automatic deductions from their wages.
  • Lack of access to workplace protections – Despite government promises, workers continue to struggle with illegal wage deductions, lack of tenancy rights, and limited representation from their home countries’ attachés.

Professor Shelley Marshall said the report's photographic evidence provides a haunting insight into the daily reality of these workers: “The workers we interviewed feel trapped—literally and figuratively. They work long shifts in harsh conditions, rarely seeing daylight, with little agency over their lives. Their photos depict exhaustion, isolation, and injustice.”

Co-author Ema Moolchand emphasised the broader implications: “This research shows that PALM scheme workers are facing systemic exploitation, not just isolated incidents of mistreatment. Their dependency on their employer makes them highly vulnerable to abuse.”

A call for urgent reform

The report calls for comprehensive legal and policy changes to ensure PALM workers have access to fair pay, safe working conditions, and the freedom to leave exploitative employers. Key recommendations include:

  1. Reforming migration laws to improve worker mobility and provide clear pathways to permanent residency.
  2. Strengthening workplace protections under the Fair Work Act and increasing penalties for exploitative employers.
  3. Introducing fair housing policies that uphold tenancy rights and prevent exploitative rental deductions.
  4. Enhancing regulatory oversight, including greater enforcement by the Fair Work Ombudsman and the Anti-Slavery Commissioner.
  5. Developing decent work opportunities in Pacific Island countries to reduce workers' vulnerability to exploitation abroad.

Launching the report, Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) President Michele O’Neil supported its findings, calling the PALM scheme “a modern slavery risk” that must be urgently addressed.

About the research

This study is the first major empirical investigation into PALM scheme workers’ experiences following the Australian Government’s 2024 policy reforms. It employs the innovative photovoice method, giving workers the power to document their lives through photography and personal testimony.

The research was conducted with the assistance of the Pacific Island Council of South Australia (PICSA) and is co-supervised by Dr Matt Withers (Australian National University) and Professor Shelley Marshall (RMIT University).

Meat the Reality: Unpacking the exploitation of PALM Scheme workers in Australia’s meat industry

February 2025

Ema Moolchand, Shelley Marshall

RMIT Business and Human Rights Centre

11 February 2025

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11 February 2025

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