PACIFIC SLAVES AS FRUIT PICKERS?

Blackbirding: Australia's history of luring, tricking and ... - ABC

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Sep 16, 2017 - Starting from the 1860s, tens of thousands of Pacific Islanders were taken to ... The Pacific Island Labourers Act of 1901 ordered the mass

There has been much talked about slavery in the era of Black Lives Matter. But this is only a drop in the bucket in terms of the total slavery in the world. The focus is on the indigenous races enslaved by the white race in colonial times.

Recently the Prime Minister announced there was no slavery in Australia. Where did he go to school? He ignored the slavery of stock men in the Northern Territory and the Pacific Islanders brought to the sugar cane fields of Queensland.

But there is still a steady stream of Pacific Islanders coming to Australia to pick fruit. We are told that the Australian citizens are reluctant to take up the work. There is probably a stigma surrounding such work as nigger labour.

There seems to be an atmosphere on the farms of Pacific Islanders working well under the poverty level and earning not enough money to send home to families in the Pacific.

They have no unions and would probably be black banned to suggest union membership. We saw on TV lately that on one farm, the workers stay in barracks and pay $150 a fortnight rent. 

The farmers are earning an income from the Pacific workers apart from their labour. Are workers helped in keeping contact with Pacific families?

Are the Pacific Islanders treated humanely? Do they eat decent food? Do they have medical treatment when sick and time off? 

Do they have time off? Have they been allowed to go into town despite the recent protocols on Coronavirus? Are they allowed to charge their phones? Do they pay a fee to use the electricity?

We know the farmers have been suffering during the drought. But let us hope they are not making up for losses by keeping Pacific slaves. Do farmers stand by any workers who end up in custody?

If any workers give trouble, let us hope they are not shipped off to the Pacific, tied to the anchor and dropped over the side. That was done in the late 1800s. 

I recall from high school studies that Pacific Islanders were removed after the Act of 1901. Many were put on ships and dropped off on the nearest atoll over the horizon. Would Pacific nations have records of their people who never returned from cane cutting in Australia?

Many Pacific workers are probably high school and university graduates far more educated than the farmers.