Tens of thousands of women from Pacific Island nations and Timor-Leste have come to Australia under a federal labour mobility scheme, hoping to build better lives for their families — only to find that the very structure of the program binds them to employers in ways that make exploitation not an exception but a predictable outcome. The tied-visa arrangement, which makes a worker's legal status contingent on employer approval, concentrates power in the hands of those most likely to abuse it. This is not merely a policy failure; it is a reminder that when economic need is weaponised through leg
Pacific Labour Scheme Exposes Women to Abuse, Exploitation in Australian Agriculture
Women experience sexual assault, domestic violence including physical abuse, homelessness, and psychological trauma; children left behind suffer emotional distress and developmental impacts.