Sour fruit for underpaid pickers

BLUE IN THE FACE

An investigation commissioned by the Australian Workers Union into the blueberry industry on the New South Wales north coast has found labour contractors paid foreign workers rates as low as $60 a day or as little as $3 an hour, the ABC reports.

The McKell Institute research titled “Blue Harvest” found some workers on blueberry farms were exploited by labour hire firms in return for help rolling over working-holiday visas.

AWU national secretary Daniel Walton noted the report only confirms multiple other inquiries — see, for example, Crikey Inq’s report on a 2019 National Union of Workers fruit-picking survey, the supermarket duopoly and migrant exploitation — and has called for a royal commission to safeguard worker rights.

PS: In the latest kick in the teeth for anyone eligible for the below-poverty level JobSeeker rate, the AFR ($) reports that Australians who dipped into their superannuation under COVID-19 rules are now being blocked from welfare support due to the Morrison government re-establishing the liquid asset test in September.

WA COULD BRING BACK THE BORDER

According to The New Daily, Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan has not ruled out delaying the reopening of the NSW border after a Sydney hotel quarantine worker tested positive to COVID-19.

NSW Health notes the woman appears to have been symptomatic while catching public transport between Darling Harbour hotels and her south-west home last weekend, and urgent genomic testing is under way to determine how she became infected.

PS: In another devastating update from America, NBC reports the country has hit an exponential growth with new virus records on Wednesday for daily deaths (2777), new cases (nearly 205,000 just a month after the US single-day record topped 100,000 for the first time) and hospitalisations (100,000).

THREE STRIKES

Following a cabinet stand-off this week, the NSW government is reportedly considering a watered-down version of a health-led drug possession policy that would see young people afforded “three strikes” before facing incarceration, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

While Gladys Berejiklian was forced to declare she had no intention of supporting full decriminalisation after Police Minister David Elliott and Nationals leader John Barilaro took to the airwaves to slam the policy yesterday, Junkee explains that the ice inquiry the government is responding to overwhelmingly backs a treatment approach over criminalisation.

TIME WARP: If this debate feels exhaustingly familiar, remember that it was barely a year ago the Berejiklian government ignored coronial recommendations to introduce pill testing and abolish strip searches in the face of another slew of festival deaths. With summer events set to slowly return, buckle up for more media debates of “law and order vs human health and safety”.