The first inquest in Australia into a death linked to modern slavery has highlighted a web of exploitative practices.
In her report, which was handed down on 16 January, NSW deputy coroner Rebecca Hosking left no doubt that modern slavery is a reality in Australia.
Twenty-one-year-old Jerwin Royupa died on 15 March 2019 after jumping out of a van moving at about 40 km per hour along a road in rural NSW. He was airlifted to Royal Melbourne Hospital. The cause of death was described as “complications of multiple blunt force injuries.” (Names and locations were redacted in the report for legal reasons.)
Domus 8.7, an agency of the Archdiocese of Sydney for combatting modern slavery, supported Royupa’s family in the investigation of the circumstances of his death.
His sisters, Jessa-Joy and Jamaica, flew from the Philippines to attend the inquest. Jessa-Joy described him as “a sweet and kind guy. He was hard working and caring. He was very loving to our family. Jerwin was also very religious. He was very active in our Christian church in the Philippines, the Sound of Praise church in Mancup.”
She was scathing about how her brother had been treated.
“As the Coroner’s findings make clear, numerous Australian agencies – state and federal –failed Jerwin, both in his life and in his death. The situation Jerwin arrived into was not a learning environment. It was not a safe environment,” she said.
“Yet the Department of Home Affairs approved his sponsors’ application without any due diligence into the legitimacy of his employer’s training program and without any consideration of his sponsor’s employment history.”
Royupa had just finished a degree in agricultural science. Through an agent he found a winery in rural NSW where he could get hands-on work experience and educational training.
He arrived in Australia on 7 February 2019 on a temporary subclass 407 visa. Although his accommodation was adequate, working conditions were horrendous. According to the coroner’s report, the way he was treated ticked many boxes for characteristics of modern slavery.
“It is clear from the ambiguous training content and proposed remuneration, that this proposed training placement exists to benefit primary [sic] the sponsor rather than a genuine training opportunity,” the coroner wrote.
Royupa was promised a “generous monthly allowance” and an educational training program. He received neither. He was living on a property about 12 km from a township and his internet access was restricted. His employer confiscated his passport. He was never paid. He feared falling into debt bondage.
To top it all, Royupa was expected to work 10 hours a day, six days a week. It was hard manual labour under a blazing sun without adequate protection.
Relations between him and his employer became increasingly fraught. He sent texts to local Filipino contacts and his family asking for help and advice. A local rang the Fair Work Ombudsman about Royupa’s abusive conditions on 13 March.
It was too late. On 14 March, the employer bundled him into a van and informed him that he had been sacked and that he was driving him to the airport to return to the Philippines.
On the way, words were exchanged and Royupa flung open the door and leapt out. The driver of an oncoming semi-trailer saw him fly into the air like a rag doll and land on the bitumen. His injuries were catastrophic.
The employer did drive back to see what had happened, but he bad-mouthed Royupa to the truck driver who had pulled up to help. He told someone on his mobile that, “He will be ok, it’s just a few scratches and grazes”. The truck driver was the one who had to ring 000 for an ambulance – the employer was too busy on his mobile. In the words of the coroner, the employer’s reaction was “deplorable”.
Moe Turaga, a slavery survivor working with Domus 8.7, said Royupa’s story is painfully familiar. “I was brought to Australia to pick fruit many years ago and worked for two years without pay,” he said. “Too little has changed since then.”
“I regularly get calls from workers in distress. They are working in substandard – and in some cases slavery-like conditions.
“This happens across a range of visa categories where workers are tied to the one employer. To leave a bad job, they have to find a new sponsor.
“The definition of forced labour is ‘the bad job you can’t leave’ – and that is the situation that the Australian Government is responsible for.”
Public hearings for the inquest were held in Albury in late November and early December 2024. Turaga and Domus 8.7 executive officer Alison Rahill attended the hearings to support the Royupa family as potential victims of forced labour.
While the coroner did not make a definitive finding of forced labour, Domus 8.7’s own assessment of the Royupa’s situation is highly critical.
“The International Labor Organisation recognises 11 indicators of forced labour. When assessing potential modern slavery victims, Domus 8.7 specialists look for up to 135 risk factors across these indicators. In Jerwin’s case, we identified 65 risk factors of forced labour,” Rahill explained.
The coroner made a number of recommendations.
Among them she said the Department of Home Affairs should review its oversight of temporary activity sponsors to ensure that traineeships are not used for labour exploitation.
And she said that NSW Police who work in areas where there is a high risk of forced labour should be required to have modern slavery training.
“There is an urgent need for training law enforcement and frontline workers to address a poor understanding of migrant workers’ rights and the indicators of forced labour,” Turaga commented. “Workers need to be assessed as potential victims of forced labour. Too often law enforcement are fixated on a person’s visa status.
“Migrant workers are often afraid of talking to police. My colleagues and I believe that, in many cases, the Fair Work Ombudsman would be a more effective agency in responding to potential victims of forced labour than law enforcement.”
In a statement, Jessa-Joy thanked Domus 8.7 for “your compassionate hearts, your care and your leadership in advocating for the most vulnerable.”
But she blasted the Australian government. “No family should have to experience the kind of heartbreak we have been through,” she said.
“Jerwin is not the first foreign worker to die in Australia. Australia’s reputation as a safe destination for workers is on the line. You must do better.”
