15/06/2026
Three years ago, we met Roseâs mum.
She came to Australia as part of the Pacific labour force this country depends on, the people picking, packing and harvesting the food that fills our supermarket shelves.
And now she has had baby, her name Rose.
A baby born into a system that somehow never imagined she would exist, because when politicians design labour schemes around cheap work instead of human dignity, they forget workers are human beings.
They need doctors, safety, housing, transport, childcare and legal protection.
ABCâs investigation, Australiaâs invisible mothers, reports there are more than 30,000 Pacific workers in Australia under the PALM scheme. It also reports the Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner warned there were about 7,000 âdisengagedâ Pacific workers people who have left approved employers and are especially vulnerable to exploitation.
For Pacific mothers, pregnancy can mean no Medicare, delayed care, hospital debt, insecure housing, fear, domestic violence, unsafe childcare, and babies born here into legal limbo.
This is where Baby Rose enters the story.
Rose was referred to us because she had almost no access to anything, because the system has built whole categories of people it refuses to properly see.
We helped. We did what we could.
But letâs be honest: it was the bare minimum.
How do you find healthcare, baby supplies, legal advice, food, safety and support for a baby the system has not made room for?
Australia wanted the labour.
But Australia did not plan for the humanity of the people doing the work.
Baby Rose should not need charity to be seen.
She should have healthcare,safety and a future that does not begin in legal limbo.
Pacific workers are not disposable labour.
Pacific mothers are not invisible.
