Injured farm worker left homeless as labour hire firm collapses
A Tongan mechanic, who came to Australia under a Pacific worker scheme, is stuck in visa limbo after suffering a workplace injury and experiencing homelessness and unemployment when the labour hire company he worked for collapsed.
On Christmas Day, Davis Lausii found himself sleeping in a park in rural New South Wales. A Tongan mechanic who had arrived in Australia under the government's Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) program, Lausii was recovering from a serious workplace injury that left him unable to work for months. On Christmas Eve, he was informed that the accommodation provided by his employer would no longer be paid for, leaving him without options as he spent four days in a borrowed car.
This experience, he said, was the most painful as he had no friends or family nearby. Lausii's story is one of many affected by a labor hire firm's collapse, raising concerns about the support provided to PALM workers in such situations.
Written by urgent.news from ABC News AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
