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The government’s response to the 7-Eleven pay scandal has been slammed as appalling by both Lawyers and the independent panel head reviewing the matter, Professor Allan Fells. The department of immigration simply expects students forced to breach visa conditions and suffer underpayment of wages to come forward and trust that the department will do the right thing.

Immigration minister Peter Dutton has worked out that the despite evidence of systematic abuse of foreign workers who now fear speaking out against underpayment and being trapped in what has been described as an ‘indentured labour scheme’ for years, that there is no need for a blanket reprieve.

The minister announced that leniency could be granted on a case-by-case basis.

This move effectively lets 7-Eleven profit from the abuse as victims of the abuse are unlikely to come forward to claim full payment.

The government's partial reprieve comes after law firm Maurice Blackburn and Labor leader Bill Shorten wrote to Malcolm Turnbull urging him to grant a widespread amnesty to workers exploited by 7-Eleven franchisees, as one of his first acts as Prime Minister, according to report in the Sydney Morning Herald.

As the housing boom in most Australian states continue, the demand for tradesmen is at a ‘crisis’ level – particularly the demand for bricklayers. This has had builders calling for easier and quicker access to tradesmen under the sc457 program - according to a report in the Australian Financial Review.

Three years ago, bricklaying cost was about $900 per 1000 bricks. Now it has topped $1500 and heading towards $2000, due to a severe shortage of bricklayers, particularly in Sydney.

Some 80 representatives of the housing and building industries gathered at Rooty Hill RSL in Sydney's west last week to discuss the issue shortage of bricklayers and called for easier access to sc457 workers.

"It's great to have the building boom, but you need to build the houses", Nathan Thurston, the marketing manager of leading NSW home builder, McDonald Jones Homes told the AFR. "You need the arms and the legs to get people into their homes sooner."

Brickworks managing director, Lindsay Partridge, said that the Austral Bricks order book was "extremely strong."

The importance of Twitter in today's world cannot be underestimated.  As a means of connecting to the world, having an opinion or listening to others, Twitter is as instant as it gets.  

Liana Allan, the Convenor of Migration Alliance, has today overtaken the DIBP's total number of followers.  The results below speak for themselves.

If RMAs would like Liana Allan to retweet their stories please include the handle @lianaallan when posting onto Twitter and Liana Allan will post to her audience. 

Members of the Migration Alliance are encouraged to nominate for positions to the board of our sister organization, the Migration Institute of Australia on MA’s “United Profession” ticket in the upcoming elections for MIA’s Board of Directors. 

Nominations for the MIA Board are open until 6 October 2015. 

The form that can be used to nominate for the Board can be found at the following link: