The exploitation of migrant workers in Australia urgently needs to be addressed. The current protections are limited, and migrant workers are often exposed to hazardous working conditions, systematic underpayment, and, in extreme circumstances, modern slavery. According to estimates, up to half of all temporary migrant employees are underpaid. A survey revealed that nearly 30% of respondents earned less than $12 per hour, which is half of Australia’s legal minimum wage. Temporary migrant workers account for 11% of Australia’s workforce (over 900,000 people), the majority of whom are international students and working holidaymakers.
A very small number of people who are underpaid attempt to recover their lost pay. The biggest barrier to claiming underpayments is a lack of “capacity, skill, or awareness on how to recover wages,” as well as a low chance of success. Furthermore, migrant workers are denied equitable access to justice due to structural impediments such as language, economic, and legal barriers. Unless significant policy change is implemented, migrant workers protection will remain inadequate.
Ramadan came to Australia in 2018. He worked in a restaurant and was promised by the owner that he would be sponsored to get a permanent visa in Australia. He was paid in cash and amounts were deducted for accommodation and ‘visa fees’, and what was left, Ramadan sent overseas to his wife and daughters.
The restaurant went through a quiet period in January 2019, and Ramadan’s boss stopped paying him. He asked for the money and his boss told him that if he wanted a visa he should be quiet.
Months passed, and Ramadan’s family kept asking for money- he asked his boss again. His boss said that the business could not pay him and was going to close.
He asked about his visa and was told that it was with the Department of Immigration. He contacted the department however found out that no application had ever been lodged. Devastated, Ramadan came to SMLS for help. We are currently helping him with a wage theft claim, however, his hopes for a visa through his employer are lost.
COVID-19 brought attention to the extreme vulnerability migrant workers are forced into. Since temporary visa holders were ineligible for the JobKeeper and JobSeeker income support programs, many migrant workers were left jobless and without a source of income. As a result, workers who were already vulnerable before the pandemic are much more vulnerable to employers’ exploitative behaviour.
The current framework must be reformed, and government policy must go further to protect and respond to the needs of Australia’s migrant workers’ community. While increased funding for legal services and community organisations is beneficial, simply informing and educating migrant workers about their rights is insufficient, as it unfairly lays the burden of navigating a foreign, inaccessible legal system on the victim. We must prevent exploitation in the first place, as well as providing opportunities for migrant workers who have been exploited to seek recourse.
The Migrant Workers Task Force issued 22 recommendations to address the migrant workers’ exploitation issues. These include making willful exploitation illegal, creating a small claims commission, and expanding the Fair Work Act to include migrant employees. The federal government has committed to implementing all 22 of the report’s recommendations.
Similar policies are being implemented by state governments as well. Victoria has passed new legislation to govern labour-hire organisations, which are often implicated in migrant worker exploitation. In addition, the Wage Theft Act 2020 (Vic) was recently approved in Victoria, which establishes several criminal offences related to underpayment and fabricating data.
While these are positive efforts in the right direction, the reality is that our migration system in Australia contributes to and encourages uncertain and coercive working conditions and exploitation. If we truly want to acknowledge migrant workers as an important and necessary part of the Australian community, we must make recognize these patterns and make changes to the Migration Act.
