A group of Pacific workers who breached their visa conditions are fighting to get them back, although advocates say it should never have reached this point.

An interstate human rights law firm and Queensland motel manager have joined forces to help vulnerable farm workers aft er the motel manager discovered her guests were living off a few dollars a week.

One of Australia’s largest labour hire firms oversaw foreign workers pocketing just $100 per week after it deducted hundreds of dollars in additional costs.

On Wednesday, seasonal workers detailed exploitation at the hands of employers approved to run migrant worker programs by the federal government.

Nationals senator Matt Canavan has likened his own government’s controversial Pacific Island seasonal worker program to indentured labour and a cartel, with visa holders unable to easily switch jobs in an environment that was ripe for abuse.

When a group of Pacific Islanders fled their abusive employers in Western Australia, embarking on a long journey across the top of the continent to escape rampant wage theft and appalling working conditions, the authorities sprang into action. Within days, specialist Border Force officials raided the home of one of the chief suspects.

Australia’s Seasonal Worker Program is in crisis, with at least 1200 Pacific Island workers absconding from their employers over the past year, more than five times the number the previous year, as key sectors of the agriculture industry face catastrophic labour shortages.

Lawyers for seasonal workers from the Pacific Islands are proposing a class action against Australian labour hire companies, saying that some are suffering widespread exploitation and wage theft.

Australia’s already-stalled seasonal-worker program is under challenge from a proposed class action by Pacific Island workers against labour hire companies accused of exploitation and massive wage theft, a move that threatens more disruption to the bumper harvest season.

Opposition has called on the Australian Government to consider restarting its program of reconnecting South Sea Islanders with their families in Pacific countries like Vanuatu and Solomon Islands.

Tuesday’s announcement of a free trade deal with the United Kingdom was cause for celebration for many around the country. Amongst those most thrilled with the development were British backpackers, both current and future, for whom the deal marked the end of farm work as a pre-requisite for the extension of working holiday visas.