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Share on Twitter Migrant workers would be better protected from being pressured into exploitative work under new laws to crackdown on unscrupulous employers.  A new bill has been unveiled for consultation by the federal government, proposing new criminal offences and civil penalties to safeguard workers on visas. The government is attempting to present a firm stance on stamping out the exploitation ahead of the introduction of a new agricultural visa.   READ MORE Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said the proposed bill sends a strong message that wage underpayment and other explo...

Date Time New penalties proposed to protect migrant workers from coercive exploitation The Government has released for public consultation an exposure draft of the Migration Amendment (Protecting Migrant Workers) Bill 2021 that proposes new criminal offences and civil penalties to further protect migrant workers from exploitation. Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, Alex Hawke said the proposed Bill sends a strong message from the Australian Government that wage underpayment and other exploitative practices against migrant workers are unacceptabl...

But new amendments to the Migration Act now allow the federal government to lock people in immigration detention indefinitely. Refugee advocates say that the changes have been made following court decisions forcing it to release asylum seekers. The Federal Court last year ordered the release of a detainee who had been held for six years.  The 29-year-old Syrian man has lived in Australia since 1996, but when he failed the character test contained in section 501 of the Migration Act 1958, his visa was cancelled.   The man’s lawyer, Alison Battisson from Human Rights for All, successfully...

Long-term, often indefinite, mandatory detention has become Australia’s first resort, rather than its last. Indefinite detention is considered arbitrary – and therefore unlawful – under international human rights law. Decades of medical research across the world – including studies commissioned by the Australian government – have consistently warned the wearing uncertainty of indefinite detention is deeply damaging for those so held. But this week the Australian parliament, with almost no debate, codified the indefinite detention of refugees and asylum seekers, including without cha...

The government’s explanatory statement says the law gives the minister oversight to protect human rights. “The minister has a personal discretionary power under the Migration Act to intervene in an individual case and grant a visa ... to a person in immigration detention, if the minister thinks it is in the public interest to do so. What is and what is not in the public interest is for the minister to decide.” The bill was supported by Labor members. But rights groups argue that while the legislation notionally provides protections against returning refugees to a place where they face h...