The Liberals’ changes to the Residential Tenancy Regulations enable the eviction of vulnerable farm workers when employment is terminated and have been rightly called out by advocates as unfair.
The Regulations are a ‘disallowable instrument’, meaning they can be rejected by parliament through a successful motion to disallow them. The Greens have tabled a disallowance motion in both houses of parliament.
Housing, tenancy and worker advocates have raised concerns that the regulations will result in less protections for farm workers whose accommodation is conditional on their employment.
In their joint submission on the proposed amendments, TasCOSS, Multicultural Council of Tasmania, Shelter Tas, Community Legal Centres, Tenants Union, Unions Tas and the Migrant Resource Centre wrote that ‘the practical effect of the proposed amendments is that on farm workers…will be more vulnerable to exploitation.’
Migrant and other farm workers are a vulnerable cohort in our community and perform work fundamental to the success and economic viability of some of our most valuable agricultural and horticultural sectors. They deserve a fair go and are entitled to be treated with dignity and respect.
These regulations remove protections afforded to other tenants, and would leave our critical farm workers vulnerable to eviction, exploitation and the anxiety and uncertainty that comes with both.
States such as Victoria and NSW have stronger, fairer rights for onsite workers. Stripping Tasmania’s equality for farm workers also risks our state losing its appeal as a working destination.
Migrants, young people in their first job, indeed all farm workers deserve tenancy protections that give them the confidence that they can come to Tasmania to live and work with a reasonable degree of security.
Winding back tenancy protections at the behest of business interests sends the wrong message about the important role farm workers play and the extent to which we, and their employers value them.
