Australian Immigration Daily News

Purpose and structure of the Bill

The purpose of the Migration Amendment (Protecting Migrant Workers) Bill 2021 (the Bill) is to amend the Migration Act 1958 to:

• establish new criminal offences and civil penalties that will apply where a person coerces or exerts undue influence or pressure on a non-citizen to agree to certain work arrangements

• introduce a power to prohibit employers who are subject to a specified sanction from employing additional non-citizens (other than permanent residents) for a specified time period

• require employers to use the Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) system to verify prospective workers’ immigration status and work-related visa conditions

• align and increase penalties for certain work-related offences and civil penalty provisions and

• provide the Australian Border Force (ABF) with regulatory powers in relation to compliance notices and enforceable undertakings for breaches of work-related civil penalty and offence provisions in the Migration Act.

The Bill contains one Schedule, comprised of seven Parts:

• Part 1 establishes new employer sanctions for coercing or unduly influencing a migrant worker to accept certain work conditions

• Part 2 provides for a prohibition on certain employers employing additional migrant workers for a specified period

• Part 3 strengthens obligations for employers to use the prescribed computer system to verify immigration status

• Parts 4 to 6 relate to increased penalties, enforceable undertakings, and compliance notices for work-related breaches

• Part 7 amends existing enforceable undertaking provisions in the Migration Act in line with the new enforceable undertaking provisions contained in Part 5.

Source: Migration-Amendment-protecting-migrant-workers-bill-2021-bills-digest.pdf