"Labour hire firm iComply's collapse leaves PALM scheme workers millions out of pocket", 12 April 2026

Julia worked five seasons with iComply Horticultural Compliance Specialists on farms in southern Queensland.

The Ni-Vanuatu woman, who asked to use a pseudonym, told … she and her fellow seasonal workers from Vanuatu experienced numerous problems with their pay over that time…

"We made complaints about the pay [to iComply] and they said, 'We will pay, we'll pay, we'll pay, we will pay' — that's what they say, but they never do it," she said.

Now, following the company's collapse, iComply's workers face missing out on millions in unpaid superannuation.

iComply's demise was not a surprise to Dan Dempsey, one of the largest recruiting agents for the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme in Vanuatu…

…, the liquidator said iComply may have been trading while insolvent as far back as May 2023…

When it collapsed, iComply was $12.2 million in debt.

The biggest single chunk of debt is unpaid superannuation, with around $4 million owed to former employees…

These include failures to remit workers' superannuation contributions on time, arrears in workers' health insurance premium payments, and various breaches relating to worker placements, accommodation and repatriation arrangements…

Rodney Prestia has been unavailable for comment but in a statement to the liquidator he said the company's failure was the result of several factors…

Demand for Pacific Island seasonal workers fell after a post-COVID boom in numbers, and some said one reason was changes requiring labourers receive at least 30 hours of work each week.

They included weaker demand from farmers, changes to minimum hours for staff, increasing costs of monitoring and audits, and the cost of accommodating workers who were stuck in Australia after a massive earthquake devastated Vanuatu's capital, Port Vila, …

According to Mr Prestia's statement, a major blow came … when a non-compliance notification from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations was reported in the Vanuatu media…