Migrant exploitation

The Government has announced its final set of planned changes to combat migrant worker exploitation, but opposition parties say the plan ignores the best tool for combatting migrant exploitation: allowing migrants to change employers.

Associate Minister for Workplace Relations Priyanca Radhakrishnan said the new Worker Protection (Migrant and Other Employees) Bill would introduce tougher penalties for migrant exploitation and provide more legal options for authorities to take action against it at an early stage.

‘‘What we’re trying to do is to ensure that we have a broad suite of measures to address this. It’s not the panacea, there will be other work and we will look at that as and when it’s required.’’

But Green Party spokesperson for Immigration Ricardo Mene´ndez March said the changes were ‘‘underwhelming’’ and likened them to putting a cluster of ambulances at the bottom of a cliff.

‘‘It is not good enough to put in measures once exploitation happens, what we should be focusing on is preventing exploitation from happening in the first place.’’

March said the Government had not made changes to the biggest issue that could address migrant exploitation: the ability for a migrant to leave their current employer for another.

‘‘It is underwhelming that we’re sitting under all this research – and the lived experience of migrants who have come to our select committee to share their experiences – and yet we continue to deliver policy that won’t go far enough to protect migrant workers from exploitation.’’

A Kantar poll of 964 temporary migrants was released alongside the changes and revealed one in five migrants believed they would be deported if they lost their job.

Three-quarters of migrants