Australia’s Supreme Court of Victoria has imposed penalties totalling AUD 220,104.96 (USD 151,012) on a horticulture labour hire company for making unlawful changes to its directors.

The court also fined two directors of Monorom Labours Power — which provides horticultural workers to Koo Wee Rup, Australia’s largest asparagus-growing district, and the winemaking region of Victoria’s Yarra Valley —  a total of AUD 43,784.32 (USD 30,040).

The ruling follows legal action launched by the Labour Hire Authority in August 2023, in which it accused Monorom of failing to notify the LHA of multiple changes to directors and secretaries and said that one director was not a “fit and proper” person to operate a labour hire company.

“Monorom contravened the Labour Hire Licensing Act 2018 (Vic) by not informing LHA that director Saravong Tath had ceased to be a fit and proper person due to his being an officer of a company that was under external administration within the preceding five years,” the LHA said in a press statement.

Under the act, labour hire companies operating in Victoria must inform the LHA when changes in their officers occur and whether their officers are “fit and proper” to operate a labour hire business, it said.

The court ordered Tath to pay penalties totalling AUD 40,825.92 (USD 28,010.30) for his involvement in the contraventions. Visal Leab, another company director, was penalised AUD 2,958.40 (USD 2,029.73).

“Ensuring we have fit and proper people running Victorian labour hire companies is an important way of protecting workers and improving the industry’s integrity,” Labour Hire Licensing Commissioner Steve Dargavel said in a statement.

“Labour hire workers in the horticulture industry are among Victoria’s most vulnerable, so the industry is a key focus for our expanded compliance and enforcement programme,” Dargavel said.

LHA oversees Victoria’s labour hire licensing scheme, which was introduced following findings of widespread exploitation and unlawful activity in the industry.