Only because they don't/can't work hard enough. Plenty of people make wage or better on piece rates. Plus there's many jobs that are hourly rate.

It's illegal to pay them below award, saying "most" get below minimum wage is either focusing on the crooks in our industry, or the workers who simply don't know how to work in manual labour. And it's not just visa workers, I've watched Aussies that are trying to pick fruit and I wonder how they manage to keep breathing moving at that slow pace. It's called work, not surprisingly you need to work to pick fruit.

I've grown up in horticultural areas, made it my career, I've worked piece rate and hourly rate I pay my casual staff hourly as it's very slightly skilled and I need them to focus on quality not quantity. They stay in the nearby town in hostels, they can choose which one they give their money to.

You only hear about the bad ones in your city bubbles and you assume it's fact. Have you ever read the horticulture award? I knew I'd get down voted on this, but I'm sick of city people branding us as evil ripoff employers. I'm sure there's plenty of visa workers in coffee shops and kitchens getting paid below award too, so do we brand all them as well?