It’s a time of celebration and optimism for most, but New Year’s Day this year was one of tragedy for the family of ni-Vanuatu seasonal worker Moken Maltungtung.

Moken’s older brother, Epa Stieve Maltungtung, was with family at home in Port Vila when he received a call from Australia.

On the evening of January 1, emergency services had pulled Moken’s body from a storage dam at a farm on the outskirts of Carinda in northern New South Wales.

Ten months later it remains unclear what happened to the 31-year-old, but his death is now the subject of a SafeWork NSW investigation.

‘Many questions’ about worker’s death

Moken had been a star striker in his youth, playing on Vanuatu’s under-17 soccer team alongside A-League defender Brian Kaltak.

Epa Stieve described his brother as an active sportsperson and ocean swimmer.

Sources with knowledge of the events said Moken celebrated New Year’s Eve the night before his death and was put to work the following day when he went into the dam.

“There’s a lot of questions coming up about his death,” Epa Stieve said.

Epa Stieve said companies that hired Pacific workers should take care of their employees and implement policies that safeguard them.

SafeWork NSW confirmed an investigation was underway but declined to comment further.

Moken’s employer was P&J Harris & Sons, one of NSW’s largest cotton growers.

It declined to comment on the events of New Year’s Day but said the company “prioritises the safety of its employees”.

The company is not an approved employer in the Australian government’s Pacific Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme but it continues to employ Pacific Island seasonal workers independently.

P&J Harris & Sons added: “We have employed many people with a Pacific Island background, and we continue to receive many applications for employment from people with that heritage.”

There are more than 30,000 seasonal workers in the scheme from nine Pacific countries and Timor Leste, but thousands have absconded in recent years due to poor pay and working conditions.

Moken had previously dropped out of the PALM scheme.

‘Yes boss, I’ll do it’

There were 84 deaths and almost 400 cases of injury or illness reported under the PALM scheme in the four years to July, according to the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.

Car accidents and medical problems were the most commonly reported reasons for the deaths. 

Nineteen deaths remain under investigation. 

Neither the Department of Employment nor the Department of Foreign of Affairs and Trade could provide data on death and injury among absconded workers like Moken, who advocates say have fewer protections.

Valencia Packete, a ni-Vanuatu Australian, runs a boarding house out of her Blackett home in Sydney’s far west for “deflated and discouraged” seasonal workers who have absconded from the PALM scheme.

She told the ABC that the government and individual employers needed to do more to help workers adjust to life in Australia.

Using a smartphone, booking an appointment with a doctor or driving on Australian roads could be more challenging for seasonal workers than people realised, Ms Packete said.

She said awareness among seasonal workers of the dangers of drink driving and workplace health and safety policies was often poor.

Brisbane lawyer Sinaumea Taufao has provided pro-bono legal services in numerous cases of death and injuries among seasonal workers.

“As Islanders, we’re taught to always respect our superiors. Whatever they say goes,” Mr Taufao said.

Ms Packete agreed that it was difficult for Pacific workers to say no, particularly because they feared losing their jobs.

“They’ll say, ‘Yes boss, I’ll do it,'” she said. 

“It puts their safety at risk.”

Seasonal workers getting injured and dying without insurance

PALM scheme workers cannot access Medicare.

They can obtain health insurance cover through their employer, but advocates say few have travel or life insurance.

Mr Taufao said insurance was poorly understood and seen as just another expense on top of sizeable accommodation and living costs.

“In most situations, they don’t have life insurance,” Mr Taufao said. 

“It’s a massive, massive, massive issue.

Ms Packete said it should be the PALM scheme’s responsibility to ensure workers had travel insurance protection before they left their home country.

“I’ve never met any PALM scheme workers who have life insurance,” she said.

A government spokesperson said PALM scheme workers received pre-departure training that provided information about living and working in Australia, including how to access support services.  

The health insurance PALM scheme workers were required to obtain “includes coverage for repatriation of the worker’s remains” if death occurred, the spokesperson said.   

Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Murray Watt last week said he was “open to further changes” to the scheme.

“We have seen unfortunately far too many abuses of the PALM scheme [by employers],” he told a press conference. 

“It is a concerning rise that we have seen in the number of Pacific workers disengaging from the program.” 

Mr Taufao said absconded workers lost their health insurance and many failed to take out new coverage.

“A lot of them come to me after absconding or something has gone wrong and it’s at that point where it’s a little bit too late to do anything,” he said.

Decreased demand for scheme

The government says it is reforming the PALM scheme, adding more country liaison officers to support workers, guaranteeing hours and expanding its welfare outreach through its Community Connections program.

“The PALM scheme Community Connections program delivers on the Australian government’s commitment to PALM scheme worker welfare, wellbeing, and social inclusion in Australia,” the spokesperson said.

The department denied the ABC’s request for a tour inside the program. 

Earlier this year, the government proposed rules mandating that employers guarantee workers a minimum of 30 hours pay each week, but this was scrapped in favour of 120 hours of work averaged over four weeks after lobbying from farmers.

Whether the changes will slow rates of absconding remains to be seen.

Ms Packete said some farmers now preferred direct employment, which was going to create “a lot more issues” for seasonal workers’ welfare.

Having left the PALM scheme, Moken had lost his health insurance cover and had not taken out any other insurance cover. 

P&J Harris & Sons covered the cost of repatriating his body back to Vanuatu, saving his family from footing the bill.