Far from Home

With special guest:

• Rosie Ayliffe
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

All Hell broke loose on that night in 2016.

When we speak with Rosie Ayliffe about her book Far from Home we hear firsthand how her loving 20 year old daughter Mia was put in harm’s way in a backpacker hostel. We hear how Mia and another backpacker who tried to protect her were both killed by another resident in the middle of a psychotic episode. What made it even worse is that Rosie was far away on the other side of the world in England when this nightmare unfolded. Rosie’s dreams of a future life involving her daughter Mia were gone.

Rosie thought that her daughter was working in a healthy environment on a farm in outback Queensland in order to comply with the Australian government’s visa requirements for an extended stay in Australia. After being told by the local Police in England about her daughter’s tragic death Rosie decided immediately to come to Australia and get to the bottom of what had happened.

When Rosie arrived in Australia she found that there was no registration system for backpackers working to extend their visas. She found that the Australian government had given extraordinary power over young people to farmers living remotely and without any checks and balances. The backpackers had to log 88 days of work in a remote location and the farmer had the sole responsibility of signing off on this requirement. This is so open to corruption and coercion. The backpacker could be nearly finished the 88 days and getting close to the expiry of their visas when the farmer could demand anything to sign the form. If the backpacker refused the farmer would simply get another backpacker.

Considering the importance to the whole agricultural economy of being able to source cheap labour for jobs such as fruit picking in season this gap in regulation is startling and Rosie became a one woman campaigner to get things right. A starting point would be to ensure that farmers provided proper hydration for their workers and toilet facilities when they are called on to do hard physical work.

Rosie is an eloquent spokesperson to get a change in the Australian system and is working to ensure that Mia’s memory will be associated with improvements for the young workers coming to Australia from all over the world.

Rosie Ayliffe

Rosie Ayliffe is the mother of Mia Ayliffe-Chung, who was killed at Home Hill Hostel via Townsville, Australia, in 2016. She is a former teacher, travel writer and journalist.

Song selection by our guest: Take Me To Church by Hozier

Note: This program is an encore presentation of the one aired on 6 May 2021.

Podcast (mp3)