Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Before moving general business notice of motion No. 232, I ask that the name of Senator Faruqi be added to the motion. I, and also on behalf of Senator Faruqi, move:

That the Senate—

(a) recognises there is a crisis in Australia in the exploitation of migrant workers;

(b) notes the findings in a report, dated November 2017, Wage theft in Australia: Findings of the National Temporary Migrant Work Survey, authored by Migrant Worker Justice Initiative, UNSW and UTS, that include:

  (i) two-thirds of migrant workers reporting that their employer, at one point or another, failed to provide a payslip – with 44% reporting they had never received a payslip for their work,

  (ii) 28% of workers in the hospitality industry experiencing their employer confiscating their passport,

  (iii) 30% of survey participants earning $12 per hour or less – this is approximately half the minimum wage for a casual employee in many of the jobs in which temporary migrants work, and

  (iv) 46% of participants earning $15 per hour or less;

(c) notes an October 2018 report, by the Migrant Worker Justice Initiative which found that fewer than one in 10 (9%) of migrant workers took action to recover unpaid wages, even though most know they were being underpaid;

(d) commends UnionsNSW and the Immigration Advice and Rights Centre for their Visa Assist program which provides free legal advice and assistance to migrant union members; and

(e) notes that, despite accepting all the recommendations contained in the report of the Migrant Workers' Taskforce, released on 7 March 2019, the Federal Government has failed to act on recommendations 3 to 9, 11 to 13 and 18 to 22.