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The recent horticulture workers campaign by the Labour Hire Authority (LHA) has raised workers’ awareness of their rights and how to report unfair treatment by labour hire providers.

With advertising running across digital, social media, radio and press channels, the campaign directed horticulture workers to visit a webpage on the LHA website to learn more. Over the course of the campaign, this campaign landing page was the most-visited page on the LHA website.

The campaign was developed in consultation with a range of organisations that engage regularly with horticulture workers and included advertisements and stakeholder materials translated into nine relevant languages.

The main campaign ran from December to January, with the webpage remaining active over the coming months to enable ongoing access for workers to in-language information.

Compliance and enforcement in horticulture

The horticulture industry continues to be a focus of LHA compliance and enforcement, with recent significant activities including:

• the successful prosecution of A L Star Express Pty Ltd which was unlicensed when it provided workers to pick fruit and vegetables
• the successful prosecution of Honey Bunny Global Pty Ltd for engaging unlicensed providers to source workers for farms in the Cobram area
• a case filed in July for multiple alleged breaches of obligations around company directors by Monorom Labours Power Pty Ltd, which operated in the Yarra Valley and Koo Wee Rup
• the successful prosecution in December 2022 of Ung Services Pty Ltd, which supplied workers to the Yarra Valley, for failing to inform LHA about a new director with criminal convictions.

As well as these enforcement actions, LHA has recently undertaken a range of investigations of horticulture providers, resulting in refusals of licence applications and cancellations of licences.

More information

Visit the Horticulture Worker page for more information about the communication campaign.