Papua New Guineans shouldn't be easily lured into slavery overseas, as Paul was in the article below. We should work our own land and reap the benefits, the true value of our land, instead of looking for fast/easy money.

They say our customary land is idle, undeveloped, a wasted resource because it has no value. A LIE ! Our customary land sustains over 7 million people in thousands of communities. Our land supports an economy worth K40 BILLION a year and provides jobs and cash incomes for our people who work it. It is the resource on which we must build our development on.

Source: ABC Rural

Australia is being urged to take steps to stamp out farm labour conditions described as being akin to modern slavery, with the horticulture industry thought to be most ripe for exploitation.

An Australian Parliamentary Inquiry has been told that consistent cross-border regulation of labour hire contractors should be adopted across industries.

It also heard that broader investigative powers should be granted to the Fair Work Authority.

The inquiry is investigating the United Kingdom's lead in adopting a Modern Slavery Act and is nearing completion with the one and only regional hearing at Mildura, Victoria, to be held on October 30.

A report is slated for release next month.

Escaping slavery in Cairns to land in danger in Mildura

"Paul" was lured to Cairns from Papua New Guinea, with the promise of a TAFE education and good work but was conned by a Far North Queensland banana farmer.

"I was working 6:00am to 6:00pm driving tractors and eating bread and cordial for breakfast and lunch, and boiled mince meat for dinner. I lived in the shed with a dog," he said.

He did not see a cent in pay and instead, when Paul asked the farmer for his pay, he was told it was being saved up to pay for the TAFE course.

After six months Paul discovered dozens of other foreign workers on the farm in the same trouble.

"I drove the tractor over to the other side of the farm to where I knew a Fijian worker was and he told me he'd been there seven years," he said.

Paul managed to escape and in June 2016 banana farmer Sona Singh Bhela of Cairns was jailed for three and a half years for a visa scam involving 43 Punjabi migrants.

But Paul's troubles were not over. He arrived in Mildura, western Victoria, to work on a dozen farms in the district.

Living in squalid, cramped conditions, his pay was less than a tenth of the legal wage.

"I was paid cash and I was left with only $60 to $70. We lived in bunks, four to a room," he said.

"They took our money, the contractors, to pay for fuel, pick up, food and (the farmer) gets all the rent. We are just left with $60.

"They threatened us too and said 'the cops are going to come [so] if you [don't] want to go back to PNG, you'd better show up and stay quiet'."

UK urges broader powers for Fair Work Authority

There is hope such debt bondage as Paul experienced will be stamped out if Australia adopts a Modern Slavery Act.

Giving evidence to an Australian Parliamentary Inquiry looking at a possible Act, the UK-based Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) said Australia should adopt consistent regulation of labour hire contractors across industries and state borders.

The GLAA was established after 23 Chinese workers drowned while picking cockles in a north-eastern England tidal bay in 2004.

In 2015, its powers were extended from agriculture and fisheries to other industries like hospitality where it investigates criminal matters.

The GLAA's Daryl Dixon told the Parliamentary Inquiry that the powers needed to be consistent in Australia or they would not work.

"For example, the Victorian State Government has indicated it will introduce licensing [of labour hire contractors], but other states like New South Wales and Queensland may not introduce licensing with the same standards," he said.

"You might have a labour hire company providing workers into Victoria from a less regulated area where the Victorian Government would not be able to regulate it in the same way."

State horticulture groups offer own solutions

Both Victoria and Queensland are reporting a big shortage of workers, with onions in south-east Queensland rotting on the ground after heavy rain.

It comes after several years of crackdowns on illegal workers and the brutal murder of British backpacker Mia Ayliffe-Chung.

Her mother Rosie Ayliffe has established a campaign to stamp out exploitation in the 88-day visa extension scheme through social media.

But Growcom's Rachel McKenzie said there was no right of reply for farmers who felt wrongly maligned by backpackers.

The Victorian Farmers' Federation has called for an amnesty of illegal workers.

"We're not saying give them permanent residency status or a pathway to permanent residency," said Emma Germano, horticulture president of the VFF.

"But let's get them on a dedicated agricultural visa for a few years so after making money they can bring it back to their communities."

Ms Germano said even though debt bondage and slave-like labour occurred in other sectors, farmers were being singled out.

"At the moment, farmers are being asked to be Border Force and the Tax Office, and it's proving very, very difficult to get that harvest labour onto farms," she said.

Growcom said an illegal worker amnesty was a knee-jerk reaction and instead supports regulating labour hire companies.

"We absolutely do believe that labour hire should be regulated at the national level, and consistent across all states," Ms McKenzie said.

"We have some states developing quite extensive labour hire regulations and other states, nothing."