Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Migration Amendment (Charging for a Migration Outcome) Bill 2015, which deals with the very vexed area of temporary work being conducted in this country by non-citizens who are in Australia on visas which provide for temporary work rights.

This issue perhaps has come most into light in recent weeks and months with the case of 7-Eleven, which was something investigated by Fairfax and Four Corners, which found, across the 7-Eleven chain in Australia, a systemic underpayment of its workers across something like 620 stores. The investigation found that there were thousands of international students—people who were here on that visa, with a work right associated with that visa—who were being exploited in the course of their work. It led to the resignation of the chairman of 7-Eleven in Australia, Russell Withers.

There have also been reports undertaken by Four Corners this year, in respect of persons on 417 visas in the food picking and packing sector, in respect of some of Australia's largest companies. There have been reports of people being routinely harassed and assaulted at work. It was also alleged that women were being targeted sexually, with women being propositioned for sex and asked to perform sexual favours in exchange for visas. All these reports and allegations are deeply concerning. It is why Labor was keen to establish, in the other place, an inquiry into the nature of temporary work in Australia and ways in which we can deal with that.

Visas which provide for work rights obviously have an important role to play. Section 457 visas, which are the subject of this bill and this amendment, clearly have a role to play within our economy where there are skills gaps in the labour market and where it is essential that, in order to give rise to more Australian jobs, we bring in expertise from beyond our shores to fill those skills gaps and allow enterprises to continue. That though, is the point of a 457 visa. Student visas have their purpose as well. Student visas facilitate what is a really important educational export industry in this country, and, obviously, if a student is coming from overseas to study in Australia it is important that they be given the opportunity to work, to sustain themselves, while they are studying, just as any citizen would do if they were studying. Hence student visas provide for those work rights. But it is important that the study comes first and that what those visas are about is facilitating people's study in this country. Working holiday visas also have a role to play. Indeed, I went to Britain on the British version of a working holiday visa between the time I left school and when I went to university. That was a fantastic opportunity for me to experience life in the UK and to work there as part of that. That is an experience that we offer to thousands of people coming to Australia, and in the process that assists our tourist industry.

But what is important in respect of all of these visas is that they are confined to the work which they are meant to do and that they not be used and ultimately abused as a form of cheap labour in this country. I think what underlies all of this ought to be a fundamental principle that, in Australia, you should work under Australian conditions of employment. That needs to be the focus of all of our efforts in this regard. The kind of exploitation that we have seen reported previously in the media is exploitation that we seek to stamp out. Indeed, this bill before us today takes a step in that direction.

I would commend the government on instigating, earlier in its term, an independent review of the 457 system of visas. It was chaired by John Azarius. This, I think, was a really good piece of work. We would not agree with every one of the recommendations that came out of it, but there were a number of ideas which were raised as part of that review, and I understand that one of those ideas is the substance of this legislation. Some of the other really significant points that were made in that review were the suggestion of establishing a tripartite ministerial advisory council—one that consists of government, the union movement and the employer movement—which would be appropriately resourced, well resourced, to oversee what skills gaps there are in the Australian labour market and in that sense be the custodian of where it is appropriate for 457 visas to be issued and where it is not.

Another recommendation coming out of the Azarius review was the proposition of placing a training levy on 457 visas that are granted. That makes sense in two senses. One is that it increases the barrier associated with a 457 visa so that it is not used simply as an avenue for cheap labour. Secondly, it is creating a levy which is directed to precisely the issue that 457s are there to try to address, and that is where there are skills gaps in the Australian labour market.

The Azarius review also went to a range of measures that looked at the question of better enforcement—better enforcement of our labour laws and more streamlined coordination between our industrial system and our immigration system so that there can be better working between the agencies to ensure that there is enforcement of visa conditions but also enforcement of our industrial conditions so that we can rightly say that people who are working in Australia work under Australian conditions of employment.

To go to the specifics of this bill, this picks up one of the recommendations of the Azarius review, namely that it be made unlawful for a sponsor to be paid by visa applicants for a migration outcome and that this be reinforced by a robust penalty and conviction framework. In that context, the sponsor often will be the employer of the person. This is an employer sponsored visa program. Of course, the visa applicant in these circumstances is the employee. Having a situation where it would be unlawful for the employer in this context to effectively charge the employee or to receive a benefit from the employee for a migration outcome is a very appropriate step to take, and we absolutely support this bill in taking that step.

Having said that, we would also welcome, though, as my speech alludes to, the prospect of others of the measures that were raised in the Azarius review and indeed other ideas that are around in this space being taken up in legislation as well. To that end, I would like to foreshadow with you that in the other place—not here but in the other place—the opposition will be moving amendments to this legislation to include other measures which seek to improve the framework that exists in relation to those noncitizens who are engaged in temporary work under visa conditions in Australia.

I want to go briefly through the amendments that we will be putting in the Senate. The first is seeking to apply this bill, this amendment, not just to 457 visas but also to persons on student visas and persons on working holiday visas.

The second is to make clear that, for the penalty regime which is outlined in this bill, which can in some circumstances apply to a degree to the visa applicant, the employee, themselves, that not be able to occur in circumstances where it is clear that the visa applicant has been coerced by the sponsor or a related third party into offering, making, asking for or receiving a benefit or, similarly, if the visa applicant has been the subject of human trafficking, forced labour or slavery offences under the criminal code. In other words, if those people are clearly victims of this situation, they ought not to be the subject of a penalty.

The third set of amendments that we will be moving in the other place is to increase the level of penalties for sponsors in respect of these breaches of the immigration act.

The fourth is to institute a new measure which would say that any person in this country who is working under a student visa or a working holiday visa cannot have an ABN. That is to say that if they are working under those visa conditions then they need to do so under a contract of employment.

The fifth set of amendments will deal with the question of protections for those who are whistleblowers in this space. There was some amnesty provided in respect of those at 7-Eleven who brought forward the cases of exploitation that occurred, but it is often a very difficult situation for people who are on a visa, who may well feel that they are putting themselves at risk in terms of their ongoing ability to maintain their visa in this country, to come forth and raise issues such as these. It is important that there is a robust system of protection for them.

The sixth set of amendments will be to require the minister to table an annual report about the operation and the impact of provisions which are introduced as part of this legislation. And the seventh will be to enable registered employee organisations—unions—to be able to undertake prosecutions for breaches of the Migration Act in this space.

Those amendments will be presented to the Senate. I thought it appropriate as an opposition that we outline those here so that both the government and the public are aware of the way in which we will approach this. As for our dealing with this bill in the House today, we absolutely support this measure. It is an important step forward. It is one of a number of steps forward that we need to take in this space, and we commend it to the House.

Karen McNamara (Dobell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today in support of the Migration Amendment (Charging for a Migration Outcome) Bill 2015.

This bill seeks to make amendments to the Migration Act 1958 insofar as introducing a new criminal and civil penalty structure as punitive means to outlaw the practice whereby sponsors seek payment in return for effective sponsorship of persons seeking employment in Australia. The amendments in this bill will have a broad application across temporary and permanent work visa programs, including the much-publicised 457 visa.

In March of this year the coalition government released its response to the independent review into integrity in the subclass 457 visa program, also known as the Subclass 457 Integrity Review. This review was commissioned by this government upon coming into office in response to much confusion surrounding the practices of 457 visas. This bill refers specifically to one particular recommendation of the review into the 457 visa program—that is, recommending that the practice of payments to sponsors of visa applicants be made illegal.

The Visa subclass 457 integrity review report, released on 10 September 2014, also recommended that payment for a migration outcome be reinforced through a penalty-and-conviction framework. The government supports and accepts this recommendation, which now forms the central component of this bill. This bill extends the implementation of this recommendation to other temporary and permanent work visas, thus not only the 457 visa is affected. In total, the bill covers five temporary sponsored work visas and two skilled permanent employer-sponsored visas. This broad application is a result of the 457 review panel recommending that any sponsored work visa was at risk of charging for a migration outcome.

Currently, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, upon receiving allegations regarding persons offering or receiving money for an outcome, may conduct an investigation. However, at present no penalties exist to deter this conduct—this practice is not currently unlawful. This conduct does, however, risk undermining Australia's migration program through persons and organisations offering or receiving a monetary inducement for a migration outcome.

The payments-for-visas activity and charging for an outcome is unacceptable. Unfortunately, in my electorate of Dobell many restaurant and cafe operators have received cold calls from persons seeking to sign the business owner up to sponsoring a person seeking work in Australia. In the cases I have been advised of, the tout advises that they have individuals from India seeking to come to Australia to work as chefs or kitchenhands, and if a positive migration outcome is received the tout receives payment of up to $5,000 for each individual placed with an Australian employer.

Now, $5,000 per positive migration outcome is a significant amount for the tout. The migration agency who the tout is engaged by also receives their cut of the total payment received. However, under the current legislation such financial gain is permissible for sponsors and third parties who charge for an outcome. This practice is preying on people's desperation and, sadly, it has the ability to cause extensive negative repercussions for Australian wages and conditions. Unfortunately, the people who are often charged payment to obtain employment with an Australian employer are the most vulnerable, seeking to become new citizens trying to do the right thing.

Those born on foreign shores and heading to Australia to start a new life can come unstuck if they encounter an unscrupulous sponsor or third party who charges substantial fees for a migration outcome. It is not unrealistic to see that the most vulnerable new Australians—being those who speak poor, if any, English—are unfortunately those most targeted by those charging to obtain an Australian employment visa.

This bill will provide a strong disincentive for those currently charging for a migration outcome. A framework for criminal, civil and administrative sanctions against those that obtain financial advantage from the sale of a migration outcome will be implemented. Under this legislation, the 'selling' of sponsorship will now become an offence, with punitive measures applicable to those continuing to engage in this practice. The criminal offence of asking for or receiving a benefit in return for visa sponsorship will carry a court-imposed maximum penalty upon conviction of up to two years imprisonment or up to $64,800, which is 360 penalty units, or both.

A civil penalty of a maximum of up to $43,200, which is 240 penalty units, will also apply. The bill also introduces civil penalties for persons who ask for or receive a benefit in return for sponsorship, with a maximum pecuniary penalty of up to $43,200, which is 240 penalty units. Likewise, civil penalties will be introduced for persons who offer or provide a benefit to another person in return for sponsorship at a maximum pecuniary penalty of up to $43,200—240 units. This bill provides that in cases of bodies corporate, partnerships or committees of management of unincorporated organisations that individuals may be found in certain circumstances to be liable for an offence.

This bill also includes a new discretionary power which allows for the cancellation of a visa where there is evidence of payment for visas having occurred. The cancellation not only applies to the specific visa that has been paid for but also automatically applies to visas held by the individual's family members as well. In keeping with other cancellation procedures, the visa holder, and any respective family members who have also had their visas consequently cancelled, will be afforded the opportunity to seek a review of the decision.

Payments for visas also have the potential to reduce genuine employment opportunities for Australians, and this is of major concern to me, particularly as Dobell has a high youth unemployment rate and I am a strong advocate for jobs for our locals. The amendments in this bill secure the employment prospects for Australians, as they ensure overseas workers are able to fill roles that they are suitably qualified for and are not simply obtaining employment in return for making a payment to a sponsor. This bill also ensures employment opportunities in Australia are not reduced, and the impact on Australian wages and conditions is non-existent.

There is another group of people benefiting from this bill, and that is overseas workers seeking employment and a new life here in Australia. The amendments in this bill significantly reduce the ability for exploitation or extortion by the sponsor of their visa. The amendments ensure that only those overseas workers with genuine skills and appropriate backgrounds are achieving employment opportunities in Australia, not those who are willing to pay for these jobs. The bill will strengthen the overall integrity of Australia's migration program and support the genuine intention of visas being granted in the first instance.

There is anecdotal evidence that the exploitation of foreign workers has been occurring for many years, yet nothing has been done to date. The coalition government, however, is committed to rectifying this blight on our skilled migration system and ensuring that protective measures are enshrined in appropriate legislation. The explanatory memorandum to the bill states:

The Government considers that 'payment for visas' activity is unacceptable because it undermines the integrity of Australia's visa programmes. It is not acceptable for sponsors, employers or other third parties to make a personal gain from their position in a 'payment for visas' arrangement and it is not acceptable for a visa holder to become an Australian permanent resident by engaging in 'payment for visas' behaviour. Applicants who have paid for their visa are more vulnerable to exploitation and extortion by their sponsor, behaviour which endangers workers and undermines Australian workplace law.

There is no doubt as to the timeliness of these new strengthening measures, particularly given the recent insights through the Senate committee inquiry into 'the impact of Australia's temporary work visa programs on the Australian labour market and on the temporary work visa holders'. The inquiry investigated the exploitation and extortion of visa workers across Australia. Notably, it has investigated the falsification of wage and employment records by 7-Eleven franchisees, unveiling a culture of the systemic underpayment of wages and entitlements of international students working on temporary visas. Through the inquiry there have been revelations that some franchisees have demanded up to $70,000 from their employees in return for the sponsorship of their visa. As at 30 June 2015 there were just over one million temporary visa holders in Australia. They, just like every other worker in Australia, are entitled to basic rights and protections in their workplace, yet they are the most vulnerable to exploitation. The very fact that they become reliant upon their employer for the continuance of their visa leaves them exposed to threats, extortion and being forcibly overworked and underpaid. These findings are a mere glimpse of why this bill is so crucial.

The coalition government is taking the vital steps necessary to protect these vulnerable workers by removing the ability for sponsors, employers or any other third parties to exert such overwhelming control over visa holders. According to a report by the Migration Council of Australia in 2013, 48 per cent of all 457 visa holders who were included in the survey expressed that their motive for their application in the first instance was their desire to live in Australia or become a permanent resident. Seventy-one per cent of those surveyed had the intention to become a permanent resident at the expiration of their visa. These survey results reflect an inherent genuine desire for visa holders to work and live legitimately in Australia and make a meaningful contribution to the Australian economy and their local community. The Australian Council of Trade Unions, in their submission to the Senate committee inquiry, stated:

This desire for permanent residency is perfectly understandable on the part of those visa holders, but it also makes them more susceptible to exploitation and reluctant to make any complaint that may put their employment at risk. It is a vicious circle where the fact that they are unlikely to report any exploitation that occurs makes them all the more likely to be exploited in the first place.

The Sydney Morning Herald recently reported on a particular student who, upon completion of his studies, was looking for an Australian business to sponsor him. An owner of numerous takeaway businesses made an offer to him: for $45,000 in cash and the acceptance of $11 per hour to work in a shop, he could receive a working visa. By the time this particular student had exhausted all options and returned to that business owner, the cost of his visa sponsorship had jumped to $60,000. This is blatant exploitation and is effectively a form of modern day slavery that must be eradicated. These unscrupulous business owners or third parties must be penalised and brought to account for their appalling 'payment for visa' conduct.

Australia is regarded as an attractive and desirable country to visit live, study work and raise a family. Indeed, our economy needs skilled migration to fill the gaps in the Australian workforce to support our industries and businesses, but this should not be at the expense of workers' rights and liberties, whether they are Australian citizens or migrants. Recently the Minister for Employment, the Hon. Michaelia Cash, established a ministerial working group to consider additional means of educating and protecting foreign workers in Australia, and I commend the minister for her commitment to continued support of our foreign workers. This is a hand-in-glove approach to this bill, not only ensuring that there will now be legal penalties for engaging in 'payment for sponsorship' activities but also creating a real and practical framework to ensure that foreign workers are equipped and confident in their understanding of their rights and obligations while working in Australia. It is a wise and thorough approach to minimising any possible threats to those who may be vulnerable to exploitation.

There are still many foreign workers who have been caught up in a scheme of payment for sponsorship but are too afraid to speak up because of the threats of exposure, reporting and even deportation. Foreign workers who choose to come to Australia to live and work should not be placed under such duress. It is important that they are appropriately armed with the full understanding of their rights and that those who seek to take advantage of them will be held to lawful account.

The working group, however, will continue to be mindful that any practices and procedures that are put in place will not create further burdens or costs for businesses that choose to sponsor foreign workers. The government recognises that it is counterproductive to create further bureaucracy which may become a disincentive for sponsorship to continue. This bill and the minister's working group together create a holistic approach to protecting foreign workers.

I thank the minister for bringing this bill before the House, and I applaud her continued dedication to protecting the fundamental rights of all workers in Australia. We want Australia to continue to be seen as a welcoming destination for foreign workers as their contribution to our workforce and the Australian economy is important. History has shown the contribution of migrant labour to this great country. We must never forget the contribution of migrant labour in building the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme—by far the largest engineering project ever undertaken in Australia. I commend this bill to the House.

Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Quite possibly the worst case of intergenerational theft is the way that the full employment of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s has been allowed to disappear and the generations to come have been left with lives blighted by job insecurity. Unemployment in Broadmeadows, Melbourne, just to the north of my electorate, is higher than Spain and equal to Greece. As the Victorian member for Broadmeadows, Frank McGuire, points out:

Youth unemployment in a community with twice as many Muslim families than any other Victorian electorate living side-by-side with Christian refugees from Iraq and Syria is perilously high—estimated above 40 per cent.

He rightly says:

One of the best anti-radicalisation strategies is a job that helps connect the disconnected.

In Australia job insecurity is being needlessly generated as a consequence of massive migrant worker programs.

In Australia we have unemployment of 800,000 and many more people underemployed, or on Disability Support Pensions, who would work if work opportunities were there for them. At the same time, as the member for Dobell correctly pointed out in her remarks, we have over one million people in Australia on temporary entry permits which give them work rights—over one million!

It is claimed that employers need these migrant workers to do jobs which Australian workers are not qualified or willing to do. The workers are supposed to enjoy salaries and working conditions as good or better than those which Australian workers doing the same work would receive—but the reality is totally different. There are hundreds of cases of exploitation of temporary migrant workers. They are particularly vulnerable to exploitation. Their continued stay in Australia essentially depends on their employer's ongoing approval and many of them, as the member for Dobell also pointed out, aspire to achieve permanent residence in Australia.

I will cite three which were brought to public attention in February 2015 by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union and which illustrate on-the-ground reality as opposed to the theory used to justify 457 and other temporary work visas. The cases involve the food producing company Manildra. At MSM Milling two Filipino workers were held captive, by two Filipino managers, in a house for a day before being allowed out to buy food. At the Nutramix plant at Narrabri, eight Filipino workers were working 10 hours a day, six days a week, for as little as $10 per hour. Six were living in a one-bedroom house and two in shipping containers. They were dismissed from their jobs and forced out of their accommodation in the town in the middle of the night. At the Manildra sugar and starch plant at Bomaderry, 16 Filipinos and 13 Chinese workers were paid as little as $4 per hour and made to work seven days a week.

For years now, I have been drawing attention to the potential for abuse of temporary migrant worker programs. The fact is that there are many millions of people—perhaps hundreds of millions of people—living in poorer countries who would live in Australia in a heartbeat if they could. This understandable aspiration leaves them wide open to exploitation and abuse. They are prepared to come to Australia as temporary workers and work for much less than Australian wages and under much poorer conditions than we regard as acceptable in this country. Sometimes this is because the wages, while undermining Australian standards, are much higher than what they would receive in their home country. Sometimes it is because they believe that being in Australia will give them a foot in the door, they will not have to return to their home country and they will achieve permanent residence—and the member for Dobell made the point about surveys which backs this up.

This fundamental dynamic undermines the whole concept of temporary migrant worker programs. In theory, the workers should not be exploited. In theory, Australia's standards of pay and conditions, workplace health and safety, and the like should not be undermined but in reality they are. I have been raising this issue for years but there has been far too little action to address it. As a consequence, we have reached the shameful state of affairs which has led to this bill.

What this bill does is to outlaw employer sponsors being paid by foreign workers for a migration outcome. You would think that this would be unlawful already, and that such an abuse could not happen, but you would be wrong. The independent review into integrity in the subclass 457 program found that some sponsors in the 457 visa program have been paid by visa applicants in return for a visa outcome. Sometimes this is initiated by the visa applicant. The worker offers the employer an inducement in order to receive a visa. On other occasions it is the employer sponsor who initiates the rort—for example, by paying the worker less than they are entitled to receive or requesting separate payments in return for continuing as a sponsor.

Remarkably, the government has no specific powers to take legal action against such payment for visa activity. This bill will change that. It will make benefits that are asked for, received, offered or provided in return for a migration outcome unlawful—about time. We need to be fair dinkum about addressing fraud in the visa system, so I certainly support the bill. I note that there are other recommendations in the 457 review aimed at restoring the integrity of the 457 visa program which the government has not yet implemented.

I am aware that there is a Senate inquiry into this bill and that it is currently due to report about now. It may be that this bill can be strengthened and made more effective with amendments that go to other aspects of the misuse and abuse of 457 visas. I believe we need to do much more to stem the widespread abuse of 457 visas.

One of the key drivers of intergenerational unfairness is the bringing in of temporary workers from overseas to do work which Australians, and young Australians in particular, should be doing. It is often unfair to the migrant workers themselves. Workplace audits by the Fair Work Ombudsman show that one in five migrant workers in Australia could be underpaid or in jobs they should not be doing. In some cases the workers have been underpaid tens of thousands of dollars. The Fair Work Ombudsman reported in May that in the last three years it has dealt with over 6,000 requests for assistance from migrants on work visas—6,000! They now account for one in every 10 calls to the agency for assistance and have become a major focus for the Fair Work Ombudsman.

At the end of September, Fairfax media reported a joint investigation with Monash University that revealed hundreds of thousands of temporary workers at any given moment were being exploited and underpaid in a widespread black economy for jobs. In food courts, in cafes, in factories, on building sites, in hairdressers and in retail shops right around the nation, hundreds of thousands of temporary workers are being ripped off. A staggering 80 per cent of foreign language advertisements were offering wages below legal rates. Many of them were openly advertised as 'black' jobs.

The Liberal government's non-reaction to this widespread abuse was pathetic. Minister Cash said that 'any proposal to regulate the operations of labour hire companies is best driven by the industry'. Industry self-regulation is code for do-nothing. It has manifestly failed to stop the rorts now and it will not succeed in future. The Liberal Party does not care about migrant workers. It wants to bring as many of them as it can into Australia so employers can exploit them. It turns a blind eye to the racism of the free market. It is the rankest hypocrisy and deepest of ironies that causes it to cry 'racism' and 'xenophobia' at the unions and community groups who are doing their best to put a stop to this exploitation.

There is nowhere near enough scrutiny of 457 visas and other migrant worker programs to stop the exploitation of workers or to safeguard Australia's best interests. In May 2015 the Sunday Age reported that an Italian national was allowed to enter and stay in Australia on a 457 visa despite close family links to an Eastern European crime syndicate that has been under investigation by the Australian Crime Commission and Australian Federal Police. He has since been charged with drug smuggling, rape and indecent assault.

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection has not made or required background or criminal record checks for the tens of thousands of foreign workers who have entered Australia since the 457 visa program began nearly 20 years ago, in 1996. While applicants must declare whether they have any criminal convictions, the department does no checking. Indeed, the focus has been on 'deregulating' and 'streamlining' the 457 visa program, meaning the safeguards against abuses are negligible. At the end of May 2015 there were over 106,000 holders of 457 visas in Australia—way too many for the department or the Australian Federal Police to know what they were doing or how they were being treated.

One of many disgraceful temporary migrant worker scams which has attracted recent publicity has been the treatment of workers at the 7-Eleven retail chain. In September, Adele Ferguson and Sarah Danckert in The Age reported that 7-Eleven franchisees were charging staff up to $7,000 to help secure Australian work visas as a sideline revenue stream. I certainly hope that this bill will put an end to such abuses. The Age reported that some franchisees are running as one-stop recruitment shops, providing a steady stream of heavily indentured students and other workers into 7-Eleven stores.

Workers on 457 visas and foreign students are part of the visa factory scam being operated by some 7-Eleven franchisees. The franchisees charge workers anywhere from $25,000 to $70,000 to sponsor them on a visa. Sadly, this is only the first part of the rip-off. Some student visa holders are then enrolled in courses at private training colleges associated with 7-Eleven franchisees. Fairfax reported that one 7-Eleven franchisee is a campus manager of a private college based in the small office of a migration agent above a shop in the Sydney CBD. The franchisee is reported to have offered places in his education courses, which enable the worker to obtain a student visa, for a $40,000 fee.

What is going on is that the student visa holder enrols in a course at a vocational education institute with links to 7-Eleven franchisees and then works at 7-Eleven or another business run by the 7-Eleven franchisee. The 457 visa holders are sponsored by franchisees to work at the franchisee's store or another business linked to the franchisee. As is now well known, 7-Eleven has not only been the home of an education scam and a migration scam but also been the home of a workplace scam. Workers have been paid for only half the hours they work, which is of course a breach of 457 visa conditions. Students work more than 20 hours a week, a breach of their visa conditions which causes workers to fear repatriation and keep quiet about their exploitation. This scam was not isolated. Potentially thousands of workers have been underpaid millions of dollars by rogue franchise operators. It is all too clear that the 7-Eleven head office turned a blind eye to these scams until Four Corners exposed them publicly. There was systematic wage exploitation and falsification of payroll records of thousands of workers.

We have indicated our support for the measures in this bill, but we want to highlight that there are potentially further integrity measures in relation to temporary work visas, and subclass 457 in particular, which could be included as part of this bill. For example, we could see a new sponsor obligation to ensure that the cost to the sponsor of any training contribution cannot be passed on to a 457 visa holder or third party; an obligation that sponsors be required to include as part of their signed employment contract a summary of visa holder rights, prepared by the department, and the Fair Work Ombudsman's Fair Work Information Statement; and a change to 457 visa conditions introduced to place an obligation on the visa holder to provide the department with their Australian tax file number. There are additional integrity measures for temporary work visas more generally that I think this parliament should be debating.

In summary, Labor supports this bill but will be considering the findings of the Senate inquiry into this bill and consulting further with stakeholders before the debate in the Senate.

Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 43. The debate may be resumed at a later hour.