Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. What steps has the Albanese Labor government taken to stamp out migrant worker exploitation after a decade of inaction?

Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank my friend the member for Werriwa for this question and acknowledge her keen interest in dealing with this scourge. She knows, as all of us on the side of the House know, that there is a crisis in exploitation of migrant workers in this country. Too many workers have been forced to confront vulnerabilities that are created or exacerbated by failings in our visa system. Unscrupulous employers and facilitators in the labour market have misused visa rules to exploit workers. According to the Grattan Institute, up to one in six recent migrants are being paid less than the minimum wage.

Of course, this didn't happen overnight, and it didn't happen all by itself. When the Leader of the Opposition was the minister responsible he oversaw a complicated, slow and unplanned mess when it came to how people enter this country. Also on his watch, despite all the tough talk, immigration compliance disappeared. It licensed an exploitation that's hurting every Australian, including businesses doing the right thing and Australian workers, whose wages and conditions are being undermined. It's also a handbrake on productivity growth and economic growth more broadly. This is a problem that those opposite ignored for years. The Report of the Migrant Workers' Taskforce was handed to the former government in 2019. When the then immigration minister finally introduced a bill to respond to the recommendations of the report, it was never brought on for a vote.

In this government, we are doing things differently. We are working each and every day to undo a decade of neglect when it comes to protecting migrant workers from exploitation. Right now, we are taking immediate action while looking ahead with my friend the Minister for Home Affairs for future reform to engineer this out of our system. Border Force have just completed an operational blitz in inspecting 300 businesses, repaying the investment of $50 million in enforcement.

We've introduced the Migration Amendment (Strengthening Employer Compliance) Bill into the House to target dodgy employers and help migrant workers speak up. This will implement the key recommendations of the Migrant Workers Taskforce. Yesterday, the shadow minister acknowledged that the bill has broad support, and so the opposition has given in-principle support. I hope that they will stick to their principles on this, because we know the shadow minister has a record of flip-flopping when it comes to his principles when it comes to migration. He can't decide whether we should have more or fewer skilled migrants—depending on the audience he's speaking to, of course. A month ago, he said, 'We should be doing everything we can to support skilled workers to make their homes in Wannon,' but this week he's telling migrant workers to go home. Yesterday, he said, 'You come in, you fill skill shortages and then you go home.' It seems he's got one set of principles when it comes to his electorate and another for the rest of the country. Let's see whether he can stick to his principles when it comes to a vote. (Time expired)