Alongside the Labour Hire Authority (LHA), the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) has put the Yarra Valley’s horticulture industry under heavy scrutiny.
The FWO revealed in June 2025 that the horticulture industry in the Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley region had the highest rate of overall non-compliance, with 83 per cent of targeted employers found to have failed to meet obligations under the Fair Work Act.
An FWO spokesperson said their horticulture compliance report showed the non-compliance rates for employers targeted for surprise inspections in 15 regional hotspots under the regulator’s Horticulture Strategy 2021-2024.
“Having identified the nation’s five least-compliant hotspots, the FWO announced a fresh campaign of horticulture sector inspections in the ‘troublespots’, these regions are Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley; Sunraysia; Shepparton, and NSW’s Riverina region and Coffs Harbour/Grafton,” they said.
“The troublespots inspections, which roll out across two years, have a focus on labour hire operators as such operators had notably higher breach rates than growers in every region where both were investigated, if we receive intelligence however, about notable suspected non-compliance by growers we will act.
“The regulator hopes for improvement since the Horticulture Strategy inspections and the deterrent effect of non-compliant employers having faced penalties, back-payments and other enforcement action from us and/or other regulators.”
The FWO targets employers for inspection on its own intelligence, such as a history of non-compliance (including the outcomes of the Horticulture Strategy 2021-2024), as well as anonymous reports, advice of government departments and agencies and more.
The spokesperson said the Horticulture Strategy 2021-2024 found that non-compliance with workplace laws was significantly higher among labour hire providers than growers who employ workers directly.
“For example, 91 per cent of Infringement Notices were issued to labour hire providers. In the top five worst-performing regions, 80 per cent of non-compliant employers were labour hire providers,” they said.
“In the worst-performing region, Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley, 100 per cent of the 23 labour hire providers inspected were non-compliant (compared with 54 per cent of the 13 growers targeted).
“As mentioned above, labour hire providers are a focus of the fresh inspections because of their higher rate of non-compliance.”
Between 74 per cent and 83 per cent of labour hire providers in the other worst-performing regions were found to be non-compliant.
Common themes identified with labour hire providers included:
A lack of record-keeping (leading to difficulty for Fair Work Inspectors in determining workers’ correct pay) .
Cash in hand payments (including allegations involving non-payment of taxation obligations and superannuation guarantee).
Contracted workers not knowing who their employer is.
Workers not wanting to engage with the FWO (including workers deliberately avoiding Fair Work Inspectors undertaking site inspections).
Use of ‘straw directors’ who are not involved in the operation of an entity.
Use of ‘supervisors’ who act as intermediaries (making identification of the ‘true employer’ difficult to determine at times).
Provision of false or misleading records.
Use of social media and group communication applications to interact with the workforce (making it difficult for Fair Work Inspectors to trace or recall communications to workers in the absence of records).
Fraudulent claims of holding a labour hire licence.
Misrepresenting the true employer of labour.
Fraudulent use of ABNs.
The spokesperson said improving compliance in the agriculture sector including horticulture is a priority for the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO), as the sector often involves manual-intensive, often low-skilled, seasonal work, commonly relies on vulnerable visa holders, and often engages with complex supply chains and labour hire arrangements.
“Many workers in horticulture are visa holders, including young backpackers, and these workers are more vulnerable to exploitation, as they are less likely to be aware of their rights and Australian workplace laws,” they said.
“Visa holders may also be reluctant to speak up because of language barriers, or be worried about repercussions for their visas if they speak up about workplace issues.
“However, it is crucial that migrant workers in Australia know that they the same rights and protections under the Fair Work Act as other employees. The FWO does not tolerate the exploitation of any worker, especially vulnerable or ‘at risk’ workers such as migrant workers.”
The FWO has filed 171 litigations against employers involving visa holder workers, resulting in $39 million in penalties, in the eight financial years to June 2025.
Information is available for employees and employers at our visa holders and migrants webpages and it is important that visa holders are aware they can’t get into trouble or have their visa cancelled for contacting the FWO: fairwork.gov.au/find-help-for/visa-holders-migrants.
To address workplace exploitation of visa workers, the Australian Government is also conducting two pilot initiatives, the Strengthening Reporting Protections Pilot and Workplace Justice Visa Pilot.
The FWO spokesperson said one of the best defences for any worker against being underpaid is an awareness of their workplace rights and entitlements.
“Workers can go to fairwork.gov.au and use the Pay Calculator to help determine their minimum wage rates and entitlements, they can familiarise themselves with sector-specific information in our Horticulture Showcase,” they said.
“The FWO has a range of resources including a step-by-step guide to help employees when their pay doesn’t seem right and a free online course to help with difficult conversations in the workplace.
“We’re conscious that some workers may be reluctant to come forward for a range of reasons – so we also have an area on our website where workers can leave anonymous tip-offs about non-compliance issues. The online anonymous report tool includes options to report in languages other than English.”
Any worker who is concerned they have been underpaid and would like some assistance can lodge a request for assistance via the FWO website – or by calling Fair Work Infoline (13 13 94). There is also a free interpreter service on 13 14 50.
The spokesperson said the FWO is committed to building a culture of compliance across the horticulture sector through education and enforcement.
“We know we can’t do this alone, and we’re continuing to work closely with employer groups and unions to highlight how employers can get it right in the first place,” they said.
We encourage horticulture businesses who wish to engage a labour hire operator to familiarise themselves with the information we provide… employers who think they may have underpaid their workers can see our step-by-step guide on how to fix an underpayment.
“When businesses are looking to contract out labour, the FWO expects them to understand the cost of employment. If the price of a proposed contract seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
Employers can find more at horticulture.fairwork.gov.au/sourcing-labour.
