THE Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, has introduced a Bill into the Senate that sets out a new framework to better protect temporary overseas workers in Australia.
The Migration Legislation Amendment (Worker Protection) Bill 2008 will strengthen the integrity of temporary working visa arrangements including the Subclass 457 visa program which in 2007-08 saw almost 60 000 visas granted to overseas workers.
“Over the last five years Australian employers have increasingly turned to the temporary skilled migration program to bring in the skilled workers they need,” Senator Evans said.
“The resources boom, low levels of unemployment, and the failure of the previous government to invest in the education and training of our own people, have contributed to endemic skills shortages across the country.
“The temporary working visa scheme is only sustainable if the community is confident that overseas workers are not being exploited or used to undermine local wages and conditions.”
The amendments proposed in the Bill outline four main measures to protect overseas workers from exploitation. These measures provide for:
• expanded powers to monitor and investigate possible non-compliance by sponsors;
• the introduction of penalties for employers found in breach of their obligations;
• improved information sharing across all levels of government; and
• better defined sponsorship obligations for employers and other sponsors.
The new laws will enable specially trained officers with investigative powers to monitor workplaces and conduct site visits to determine whether employers are complying with the redefined sponsorship obligations.
The powers will be similar to the powers of workplace inspectors under the Workplace Relations Act 1996.
Fines of up to $33 000 are proposed for employers found in breach of the obligations in the Migration Regulations. The department will retain the ability to cancel an employer’s approval as a sponsor or bar them from making applications for approval as a sponsor for a period of time.
The obligations to be specified in the Regulations will be the subject of consultation with stakeholders and finalised in the coming months.