Australian Immigration Daily News

Wage theft and slavery-like practices continues to exist in our modern day society.  This is especially evident among specific groups such as temporary migrant workers.

According to the recent “Wage Theft in Australia” report, temporary migrant workers comprise up to 11% of the Australian labour market.  The Report States that in 2017, findings from the National Temporary Migrant Work Survey revealed that a substantial proportion of international students, backpackers and other temporary migrant workers were paid roughly half the legal minimum wage in their lowest paid job in Australia.

Migrant workers’ ability to seek remedies for underpayment is also an indicator of the efficacy of Australia’s labour law regime and institutions.

Establishment of Modern Slavery Expert Advisory Group

To assist with the project, Establishment of Modern Slavery Expert Advisory Group was announced by Assistant Minister Wood. Ten Australian experts in combating modern slavery and supply chain management have been appointed to the Government’s Modern Slavery Expert Advisory Group (Expert Advisory Group).

Announcing the appointments, Assistant Minister for Customs, Community Safety and Multicultural Affairs, the Hon Jason Wood MP, said the Expert Advisory Group was a world leading initiative that brought together key experts with practical knowledge and expertise in combating modern slavery.

“The Expert Advisory Group is being established at a time where the effects of COVID-19 are being felt across global supply chains and are significantly impacting workers, particularly those already vulnerable to exploitation.”

“This new body will provide strategic advice to Government to support the effective implementation of Australia’s Modern Slavery Act and drive best-practice responses to eradicate exploitation in our supply chains,” Assistant Minister Wood said.

https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/jasonwood/Pages/modern-slavery-expert-advisory-group-appointments.aspx

Panel of Experts:

• Liana Allan, Founder, Migration Alliance
• Kate Baker, Senior Sustainability Specialist, Telstra
• Måns Carlsson-Sweeny, Head of Environmental, Social and Governance Research, Ausbil Investment Management
• Sebastian Conley, Sourcing Operations Manager, Country Road Group and David Jones
• Ro Coroneos, Senior Manager, Risk - Supply Chain, Lendlease Corporation
• Chris Crewther, Former Chair, Modern Slavery Inquiry (Hidden in Plain Sight), Foreign Affairs and Aid-Sub Committee, Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, Australian Parliament
• Dr Kate van Doore, Senior Lecturer, Griffith Law School
• Katie Knaggs, Group Ethical Sourcing Manager, Costa Group, and representative of the Australian Fresh Produce Alliance
• Sonya Rand, Sustainable Development Manager, Bunnings
• Sunil Rao, Lecturer, La Trobe University Law School

Our congratulations to the panel on their appointment. 

What exactly is “Modern Slavery”

Modern slavery describes situations where offenders use coercion, threats, or deception to exploit victims and undermine their freedom.

Practices that constitute modern slavery can include:

• human trafficking
• slavery
• servitude
• forced labour
• debt bondage
• forced marriage, and
• the worst forms of child labour

Modern slavery is a term used to describe serious exploitation. It does not include practices like substandard working conditions or underpayment of workers, although these practices are also harmful and may be present in some situations of modern slavery. For further information on workplace rights and obligations in Australia, please visit the Australian Government Fair Work Ombudsman website.

https://www.fairwork.gov.au/

Registering organisations for investigation

The Commonwealth Modern Slavery Act 2018 (the Act) entered into force on 1 January 2019. The Act established a national Modern Slavery Reporting Requirement (Reporting Requirement) for large businesses and other entities in the Australian market with annual consolidated revenue of at least AUD$100 million.

The Reporting Requirement supports the Australian business community to identify and address their modern slavery risks and maintain responsible and transparent supply chains. Entities required to comply with the Reporting Requirement must prepare annual Modern Slavery Statements (statements). These statements must set out the reporting entity’s actions to assess and address modern slavery risks in their global operations and supply chains. The Australian Government publishes these statements through this online register. The Act also requires the Australian Government to publish an annual Modern Slavery Statement covering Commonwealth procurement and investment activities. This initiative highlights the Australian Government’s commitment to lead by example in the fight against modern slavery and will help to mitigate modern slavery risks in public procurement and investments.

To register an entity for investigation, please visit:

https://modernslaveryregister.gov.au/

Why should practitioners care?

Wage theft is endemic among international students, Working Holiday Makers, and other temporary migrants in Australia. Wage theft is prevalent not only among fruit and vegetable pickers, as reported in multiple government inquiries, but even more so among waiters, kitchen hands and food servers.  The worst paid jobs remained in fruit and vegetable picking and farm work. Almost one in seven participants (15%) earned $5 per hour or less and almost a third (31%) earned $10 per hour or less. Other cohorts also experienced wage theft with prevalence or severity. For example, temporary migrants working at petrol stations/ convenience stores, car washes and in retail experienced particularly severe underpayment.

Where can practitioners get more information?

Liana Allan, the Director of Legal Training Australia has arranged for a special webinar called "Wage theft, underpayments, and Employer Sponsored Temporary Visas" to be delivered by Ross Ahmadzai (Immigration Lawyer) on 1st December 2020.

The webinar will address the scale of unremedied underpayment of migrant workers in Australia.

There is also a pressing need for remedial mechanisms that are accessible to individual migrant workers against a culture of impunity, predicated on employers’ assumptions that migrant workers will remain silent, these mechanisms are critical to detecting wage theft and holding employers accountable.

This webinar also will cover the wage theft issue for temporary workers, sponsorship obligations, sanctions and ways agents can help their clients to implement strategies to prevent wage theft.  This workshop will also assist agents to advise on what can be done regarding wage theft.

Migration Agents will receive one point towards their re-registration requirements.

To book in, please visit:  https://legaltrainingaustralia.com/webinar-cpd/

Actions that practitioners should immediately undertake

To assist in preventing wage theft and modern-day slavery, practitioners should advise their clients to implement and review the following:

• Business sponsors should conduct regular audits of payroll to ensure entitlements are paid
• Business sponsors address underperformance and scale back remote working arrangements where it is safe to do so
• Provide a source of information on standing down employees for part/fixed periods
• Provide information to foreign nationals and business on where to seek for help

If you need further information or assistance, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.