Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Migration Amendment (Charging for a Migration Outcome) Bill 2015. The substance of this bill is important. By getting the policy settings right, we will protect the rights of workers in all our communities. My electorate of McEwen in the north of Melbourne includes farming areas like Seymour. Because we are lucky to have such a vibrant, closely connected, multicultural community, we are all about ensuring that our workers are not exploited, no matter where they come from—whether they are Australian or working under a visa. Concerns have been raised in the electorate regarding the exploitation of overseas workers who are paid at lower rates and employed with lesser conditions than those of Australian workers. In most cases, the individual with the working visa is not aware that they are being underpaid until they speak to people in similar occupations or to industry unions. I guess this was the case with the 7-Eleven workers who have been spoken about so comprehensively throughout this debate.

As I said, we need to get the policy settings right, and this can only occur through proper legislation. The framework must ensure that the rights of workers are protected and upheld. The amendments that Labor have put forward will go a long way to ensuring that outcomes delivered by this bill are both fair and effective. The Abbott Turnbull government, on the other hand, still have not implemented one of their own recommendations: the delivery of policy options to protect vulnerable foreign workers. This is all becoming much too predictable. The Abbott Turnbull government announces it is going to do something, and then it fails to deliver. They are stacking up; they are things like the NBN, the Medical Research Future Fund and now policies to protect workers and Australian employment conditions.

This bill will be strengthened by the proposed amendment to expand its scope to all overseas workers, whether they are on 457 visas, working holiday visas or student visas. Strengthening the penalty regime associated with the bill demonstrates to workers, employers and families that we take the issue of workplace rights and conditions very seriously. Increasing the penalty amount for visa sponsors found to be in breach of the Migration Act will have some deterrent value. Including specific provisions that remove the liability of workers who are victims of exploitation is fair. This measure, along with the increased protection for whistleblowers—one of the most important things that we can do—will encourage victims to speak out. By doing that, by allowing and giving people the opportunity to speak out, we will be able to work very closely on removing the scourge of people being exploited by employers.

The proposal for the minister to table an annual report about the operation and the impact of the provisions of the bill will help to evaluate its overall effectiveness. Evaluation of the provisions of this bill, along with the associated transparency that an annual report will provide, would become increasingly important as our free trade agreements—the TPP, the ChAFTA and any other bilateral agreements—are rolled out.

With higher unemployment in Australia and higher-than-average unemployment in my electorate of McEwen, it will become even more important for the government to consider more recommendations coming out of the Azarius review. A key recommendation was to establish a tripartite ministerial advisory council, which would include the government and representatives from unions and employer movements. The role of that council would be to consider in what circumstances—where and when—it would be appropriate for 457 visas to be issued.

Having an oversight body like this would limit the opportunity for exploitation to occur and ensure that informed decisions are able to be made for Australia's workforce planning—that is, we could identify which areas have skills gaps and then consider ways to plug those gaps. If the need is immediate, do we need to bring in overseas workers? If it is not too immediate, do we undertake retraining and reskilling of the Australian workforce? There are plenty of people out there who can be retrained and reskilled—people who have been affected by this government's decision to shut down the automotive industry, putting many thousands of people out of work. In fact, I think if you look there would be nearly hundreds of thousands of people who are out of work in the automotive and ancillary industries.

These are important decisions, and it is reasonable to assume that a tripartite council could make the right decisions for Australia's future. I would like to think that a workforce planning strategy that supported local Australian workers would be a key platform of any employment framework.

The initiatives in this bill are a good first step in trying to address exploitation and fraud in the visa system. But the further measures and amendments that we have suggested will only strengthen the overall effectiveness. By supporting this bill, we not only take steps to protect workers on visas but also take a real step towards protecting employment and workforce planning for Australia's future in a transparent and accountable way.

There have been many stories relayed tonight about foreign workers who have been asked to pay as much as $70,000 up-front. People who have left countries like India to study hairdressing here in Australia, who have worked hard to support themselves and a child while they have studied, but who find out at the end of it that it is difficult to find a job. And then they are told, on applying to potential employers for full-time work under a 457 visa, that they need to front up with $50,000 to $70,000. That is not right, it is unfair, and we should be doing everything we can to stop these things from happening.

We only have to look at the transport sector to see the issues that we have with people who are out here being underpaid, not getting the proper wages and conditions that they should expect and being forced to live in cramped accommodation that is just inappropriate. As previous speakers have mentioned, people are being forced to live in shipping containers. This has happened right across this nation. I have seen it out in Victoria, where people were brought in to work on large trailer manufacturing. They were paid next to nothing; they were charged exorbitant rates to live in shipping containers and have their food supplied and things like that. These people have been exploited just so business can make huge profits on the products that it makes.

We need to stop this. We need to make sure that it does not continue, and that is why I think that we need to support the amendments that the opposition has put forward. It is one giant step in making sure that this scourge of people being exploited that faces our society is ended. With that, I support the Migration Amendment (Charging for a Migration Outcome) Bill 2015.

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