Rowan Holzberger (Forde, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in support of the Migration Amendment (Combatting Migrant Exploitation) Bill 2025. I am just looking around the chamber. I am not sure that anybody who is here this morning had the absolute experience of sitting through the member for New England's speech on this bill last night. Even people who have been here for a long time, who are used to the long rollicking performances that the member gives, may have been a little bit stunned by some of the things which he mentioned. Apart from the fact that it could be characterised as an impassioned speech against multiculturalism, it managed to somehow drift from the Inca empire to calling Australian workers 'lazy'. But I think, fundamentally, he missed completely the point of this bill, which is: it is not about saying which employers are good or bad but about saying whether or not an employer is accredited to be a sponsor for a skilled visa. Hopefully, that might allay some of the concerns that the opposition has about this bill. I would urge them to reconsider their opposition to this bill and support it.

Or maybe it was the member for Riverina, who very typically said people in the city don't understand what it is like to work in the bush. But I know, Deputy Speaker Claydon, that you and I both worked in the bush, we both worked on farms and we spent a lot of our time out in there in the sticks. And we know that, by and large, farmers are really just trying to do their best and that most of them are trying to do the right thing. But as is always the case with government programs—with immigration in particular—the public needs to have some sort of comfort that we have control over how it's working. So allowing the public to know that employers out there are being held accountable for their part in the arrangement gives some sort of comfort to the whole community that the system works. Because, as the member for Mallee said in her contribution, migrant workers aren't an option; they're essential. In order for that to proceed, you would think that the opposition would support this bill to give the sorts of guarantees which people in the Australian community are looking for.

Ultimately, despite all of the other contributions, it was the member for Nicholls who really belled the cat on where the opposition are coming from in this, when he criticised us raising the TSMIT—which, at a quarter to 10 in the morning, might be a little bit more of a conversation than it was going to be at 7.30 last night when people were ready to go home. The TSMIT sounds all very complicated, but it really just means 'temporary skilled migration income threshold'. It may have been replaced now, but it means that that's the amount which an employer has to pay in order to bring in a skilled migrant. From 2013 to 2023 it remained at $53,000, and the member for Nicholls criticised the government for lifting it. We lifted it to where it would've been had it kept up with CPI to about $70,000, and he said that it had soared. He characterised that it had somehow got out of control and had now made it uneconomical for companies to bring in overseas temporary migrant workers. I think that really does show where they are coming from here.

I would hate to characterise it as a deliberate feature of their economic architecture to keep wages down, but they said it themselves. And it makes me think that maybe they want to use temporary migration as another part of the architecture to keep wages down. Because, if you're keeping the TSMIT down at $53,000 and if you're saying to employers that they can bring people in from overseas to work for $53,000, you are keeping wages down and you are suppressing wages. It makes me think that they are deliberately trying to do that in so many areas, but in the most despicable way. They are out there causing division and beating their chests about migration while, at the same time, wanting to bring in workers so that they can be, effectively, exploited in order to drive down the wages of all Australians.

The reason why this issue is so important for the Labor Party is that, in many ways, this is the history of the Labor Party. This is our origin story—combating migrant exploitation. The member for Moreton said it much more eloquently than I could when she described the process of bringing in South Sea Islander workers during the late 1800s. She said that the people not only lost their wages but lost their lives. I could be corrected, but I think she also said something like 30 per cent of the people who were brought into that unthinkably horrible operation lost their lives due to European diseases. So it was from both stopping that outrageous practice out of the sense of justice that working people have but also protecting the wages and conditions of Australians that the Labor Party was formed. That was our birth. And here we are 150 years later still fighting the same fight against forces that are more concerned about the dollar than they are about justice or Australian workers. It is in our DNA to stand up for workers who have been brought to this country, for two reasons: (1) some employers are just trying to get that cheap labour and (2) the opposition will do anything they can to drive down wages and conditions.

Here we are, 155 years later—the latest example is a young woman who came into my electorate office, having been exploited at work. She had come here to work in aged care and had become involved in a dispute regarding the workplace treatment, and, acting as a union delegate, she was dismissed. She believed that her dismissal was related to advocating for her workplace rights and is now pursuing a claim in the commission. She was somebody who was working 12 hours a day and being paid for six hours a day. It is like a modern horror movie. It's something that—I'm sure none of us here can imagine what it is like to be in Australia on a temporary visa, working as a virtual slave for an employer that is humiliating you, that is degrading you and that is hanging over your head the threat of whether or not they remove your visa and kick you out of the country that you have come to love and that you want to make your life in. None of us can appreciate what that is like. It must surely be terrifying.

When we came to government in 2022, like in so many areas, we inherited a burning wreck of a migration system—a burning wreck that had failed in family reunion and that had failed in skilled migration—and the government commissioned the migration review, which I was very happy to be a part of. Having worked in the community for years, making a statement like 'burning wreck' doesn't really convey the pain and pressure that people were placed under because of a poorly resourced department and also because of poor policy. It was that awful mix of poor legislation and poorly applied legislation.

The migration review, which I was very happy to be a part of locally—I remember we organised local businesses and community leaders and local multicultural leaders to feed into that process. Arising out of more than just that process and arising out of Labor's deep commitment to protect the rights of migrant workers and to protect the rights of us all—protecting the rights of migrant workers protects the pay of everybody in the community, which might sound self-evident to us, but those on the other side know that, if you undermine the wages of migrant workers, you undermine the wages of the whole community. Coming out of that philosophy, we commenced that migration review, and, coming out of that, here are some of the measures, in this bill.

There are two things here particularly—the whole point of this legislation is to create a register so people like the young woman that came into my office will be able to easily search for another employer who is able to continue to sponsor her. That's essentially what this bill does. This bill also builds on previous bills which crack down on unscrupulous employers. This is where I think—I really do want to be bipartisan as much as I can in this place, but here there is a fundamental difference of values and philosophy. This is probably the best example of the hypocrisy of the opposition—they beat their chest a lot about law enforcement, but they don't fund it. On a slightly different topic of the NDIS, the measures that we've introduced around the NDIS to crack down on fraud mean that we are now reviewing more claims every day in the NDIS in one day than the previous government did in a year, which is an example of the sort of chest-beating that we've come to expect from the opposition, who talk a tough game but are completely missing on the field. Just as it is with migration, they are out there constantly beating their chests, but they totally underresourced the Australian Border Force. They totally undercooked the legislation to allow the Australian Border Force to crack down on unscrupulous employers. Yet again that burning wreck, that smoking wreck of a migration system left to us—it's in their DNA to turn a blind eye to the companies that are doing this. It's left to us to fix it. In fact, that 2019 report from the Migrant Workers' Taskforce recommended tougher penalties and a better resourced Australian Border Force—and what did you think they did? Absolutely nothing. They sat on their own report and left it to us to clean up the mess.

In summary, this bill is the latest in a long line of measures the Albanese Labor government has undertaken to put out the bin fire that is our migration system. The hypocrisy of the opposition is exposed the most when it comes to migration. While they are out there stoking division and people's fears, they benefit from a system where people come in and get exploited because they can drive down the wages and conditions of Australian workers.

These changes are the latest in a long line of Labor Party initiatives stretching back 150 years, where the Labor Party has stood up for Australians by standing up for the Australians who come here to work and who come here to make a life. This government has brought in new measures to crack down on dodgy employers. We've raised the income threshold under which you can come into Australia on a skilled visa. This bill makes it easier now for that young woman who came into my office, desperate to stay in Australia but also desperate to fight for the rights of the workers she left behind when she was sacked, to find an employer who is properly accredited and who is going to sponsor her dream.

The opposition are out there talking about mass migration. They're out there marginalising already marginalised communities. They're out there punching down on some of the most vulnerable people in our community. They should take a good hard look at themselves. The result they got at the last election will be the result they get in future elections because they are now talking to the fringe. The real Australia out there that believes in justice and the Labor Party that has always believed in justice is the community that won't tolerate an opposition that washes its hands of looking after the most vulnerable in our country.

Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to support the Migration Amendment (Combatting Migrant Exploitation) Bill 2025. I support this bill, as all of us on this side of the House do, for many, many reasons. When we look at the history of migration to Australia, we know it's been at the core of our labour force, from the first settlers that came here—and when you think of the history, you think of convicts being brought to Australia and forced into labour for a number of years before they became free settlers. Then there was a mass promotion to bring free settlers here to populate and work the land. When you think of the history, even people from Fiji came to work with the sugarcanes in that period, in those early days when we first planted sugarcanes in northern Australia. We then had mass migration from Europe, for our manufacturing and for our factories. Then we went a step further and considered southern Europeans as white Europeans; prior to that, they weren't considered white—people from my race, for example. They were brought out from 1949 onwards to fill the factories of Australia and do hard labour.

If you look at the history, we have continuously relied on migrant workers, whether it be to populate the nation, fill certain skills or just fill the shortfalls in labour. From time to time, that changes, and, of course, governments should always be monitoring what the needs of the nation are in terms of skills, workforce and population to be able to benefit the nation. I think this government, the Albanese Labor government, is tackling those hard issues.

One of the things that is fundamental to workers—regardless of where you're from and whether you've been here for eight or nine generations or whether you've just arrived—is to ensure that we do all that we can as legislators to ensure that those people aren't being exploited. That is very important. That's a fundamental human right. People have the right to work under the same conditions as everyone else, to receive the same pay and to be able to flourish at their jobs and have the same opportunities as anyone.

It's very important that we also ensure that bringing in migrant workers is not just an exploitation of being able to bring in cheap labour. That is really important. I've said many times in this place—and I think even I mentioned it yesterday—that, in 1949, when we were going to make agreements with southern Europe, Italy, Greece, the former Yugoslav republic and other places to bring workers over, there was a debate in this place. One side of the debate was that these migrant workers should be brought in on less pay. That was the debate in 1949 in this House. It was the unions and Labor that argued strongly against that because we could see that would be a spiralling to the bottom. Again I'll repeat what I've said many times: can you imagine, if that had gotten through back then, what sort of nation we would be today? Just think about where we would be today. We'd be a very different country. We wouldn't be as egalitarian as we are. So it gives me great pleasure to see bills that protect workers' rights, especially people who are in vulnerable positions—migrants who are brought out to do certain work.

Now, I'm not saying that's the case. The majority, 99.9 per cent, I think, would be genuine, people that have a real need in their business. They have a real need for a particular skill or a niche market and cannot fill that position, so therefore they'll bring someone from overseas. We've seen that over the years.

Back in the day—I spoke about the fifties et cetera—we looked at the numbers that were required in factories and what we needed to populate the nation and brought people over. Immediately, they were put on permanent visas and could stay here forever. Much simpler, much easier—it was a different world back then. A lot of those workers coming in were for unskilled labour.

Today we have a completely different migration policy. It's intertwined with work skills, points in regional areas and state governments having certain needs that other states don't have, and it is very, very complicated. What we want to ensure, though, is that, when we are bringing someone in from overseas to fill a particular position, that need is a real need, not just an excuse to be able to bring someone in at a cheaper salary or wage. That's why I was very pleased when we increase the base salaries for migrant skilled workers from $53,000 to $70,000. That brings it up to a level where our average wages are, because, as I said, you could quite easily see a spiralling to the bottom.

It gives me great pleasure to support this bill, as I said, for many reasons, including as the Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration. I understand the vital contribution, from what we see on the committee, that migrants make to our economy. I think all of us would agree with that. There is no doubt that migrants have made enormous contributions to our society. I understand the need to better protect and advocate for those migrant workers, who come in on migrant visas to fill positions.

The committee is currently conducting an inquiry into skilled migration—which is perfect, when you think about it. It matches with this bill. We know the economic, social and cultural value that skilled migrants bring to our nation, but we also know that the system isn't perfect. We still need to do more work to refine and modify, to ensure that everything is done to address our skills shortfalls, to ensure that those migrants are protected so they feel comfortable and safe and also to ensure that our future needs as a nation are being met. For example, in South Australia we're on the cusp of an incredible, cutting-edge manufacturing technology revolution through the AUKUS deal and through defence building in South Australia. We know that there are skills we don't have at this point that we must fill.

When we're looking at migrant workers or skilled migration to Australia, we should also be looking at the other side of it, and that is the future—the training of our students, of our young people, to give them the expertise in those areas to fill those positions. It's only my pet project, but I personally would go a step further: if you are going to bring someone in from overseas to fill a particular position, you should also be training two local people at the same time to give them the skills and expertise to fill those positions in the future. But that's my personal view.

We know that migrants bring enormous skills to this nation; they also benefit the economy. Every migrant that comes in has needs. If they have a family, they'll buy food, they'll invest, they'll buy furniture et cetera, which keeps our economy going. That's another area where there is a fine equation that has to be weighed up—the economy, the unemployment rate and the intake of migrants. As I said earlier, when you think of our history of migration, you see people from all over the world—every corner of the world—that have made Australia their home. With them they bring their skills and their abilities to contribute to our economy.

Recently I was speaking to a big construction company in South Australia that specialises in heritage buildings, and they were telling me: 'We have no stonemasons at all. It's one of the most difficult positions to fill when you're reconstructing a heritage building.' The only place they could get a stonemason, who are absolutely skilful workers, was Albania. We worked very hard to help this person get his visa. He's set up his own company now. He came over as a skilled worker and has now set up his own company, employing 20 or 30 people, doing stonemasonry in South Australia. What a great story! He came over as a skilled migrant on a temporary visa for a period of time to fill that position. We assisted him, and he ended up getting a permanent visa. He's now an Australian citizen, his kids are at university and he's employing 20 or 30 people doing stonemasonry—one of the only such companies in South Australia. There are hundreds and hundreds of stories like that. But that particular person was working in secure employment with a good employer that looked after him and paid him the correct rates—in fact, above what the minimum wage was for stonemasons. In his situation, everything went well for him.

We've also heard horror stories. There are some horror stories where people don't know where to go or what to do. For example, a few years back I was contacted by some migrant workers from India who had had their passports taken away from them in a particular restaurant. They were too scared to complain and too scared to knock on someone's door to ask for help until a third party came to our office. We put them on to the then miscellaneous workers union—UWU, as they're called today—who assisted them. In fact, that particular business was shut down. Some of those migrant workers returned to India and others stayed here and made their home in Australia. But there are horror stories around—only a few, but they happen—and we should be doing all that we can to wipe those horror stories out and assist successful skilled migration to Australia to fill the positions that we have needs in, to assist the economy but also to ensure that we build our own skills as well. That's why I commend this bill.

Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to make my contribution to the debate on the Migrant Amendment (Combatting Migrant Exploitation) Bill 2025, currently before the House. The Albanese government has made a commitment in the Migration Strategy, released in December 2023, to develop the skills-in-demand visa. The passage and implementation of this bill will continue the government's commitment to strengthen and maintain the integrity of the temporary skilled migration system.

The bill is needed to enhance protections and oversight mechanisms through the establishment of a public register of approved sponsors. The intention for the public register is to ensure that there is a limit to the exploitation of temporary skilled migrant workers and provide these workers with a resource to check that the sponsoring employer is legitimate. Unfortunately, I've seen too many people in my electorate office who've fallen prey to unscrupulous employers who promise things that are untrue, and when the worker arrives in Australia the conditions they are expected to work in are not up to Australian workplace standard conditions or the wages are not what they should be.

Often when they come to Australia these temporary workers have families with them. They are promised well-paying jobs and quickly find themselves here at the mercy of circumstances that were not what they were expecting. They can be trapped in this country, not only by the poor conditions and pay but also by concerns about the expectation from family and friends at home, particularly that what they are doing is going to enhance their family's and their own circumstances. This leaves them very vulnerable to mental health challenges and it makes it difficult for them to find suitable and reasonable accommodation and the other basics of life.

The development of this register will help combat worker exploitation and provide a resource to check that a sponsoring employer is legitimate. This is very important in order to maintain the integrity and transparency in the skilled migration program and to make sure Australia is valued in other places in the world. This bill will develop a public register that includes: the name and type of the approved sponsor; the sponsor's Australian Business Number, or ABN; the postcode associated with the approved sponsor's ABN; and the number of the sponsor's workers and their occupations. This will encourage transparency, monitoring and oversight.

The Albanese government's migration strategy has been informed by more than 450 submissions received as part of the review of the migration system. There has been extensive consultation with business, unions and other stakeholders. Targeting reforms to temporary skilled migration will address skills needs in our economy and promote worker mobility to areas where workers are required and where the economy needs more support. The review process included written submissions from individual migrants and visa applicants. The consultation also included eight round tables with peak organisations, unions, and senior state and territory government officials. I note that the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee said that most submissions broadly supported the provisions and the recommendations and that the bill should pass the Senate.

The aim of the register is to encourage public transparency and will be a resource for temporary skilled migrants to check that their sponsoring employers are legitimate. This is very important for Australia's reputation, both overseas and amongst our local diasporas here in Australia. It is important that rigour in this is in place to limit exploitations at the hands of those who seek to exploit and do things that are worse for their employees. Through the inclusion of postcodes, migrants will be able to consider their ability to move and find new employers near where there are already established community links and accommodation. This information also improves the practical nature and usefulness of the register.

Already proved standard business sponsors will be automatically included in the register without the need to request this at the time of applying. Data will be regularly updated to ensure its relevance and will complement the public register of sanctioned sponsors already published by the Australian Border Force. Employers will be advised at the time of the sponsorship application so that they understand their details will be included on the register. The register will only draw on already publicly available information that has been provided for their ABN. Furthermore, any disclosures of information will be consistent with the requirements of the Privacy Act 1988. There will be no personal identification for the nominated workers included in the register's documentation.

This bill addresses the recommendations made in the report of the Migrant Workers' Taskforce, as well as additional measures to tackle exploitation of vulnerable workers on temporary visas. The exploitation of temporary visas hurts all workers, drives down all wages and worsens conditions for everyone. This bill also establishes new criminal offences and associated civil penalties to deter employers from using a visa condition or status to coerce, unduly influence or unduly pressure someone in a workplace. There is a new mechanism to prohibit an employer, if they're found to have breached any of these conditions of employment, from hiring any additional people on temporary visas for a period of time. There are also increases to the maximum criminal and civil penalties for all current and proposed work related offences provisions in the Migration Act. And it provides Border Force with the tools to address employer compliance.

There are revisions to the regulation-making power in the Migration Act to ensure worker exploitation must be taken into consideration if there is a need to cancel a visa. Higher penalties and additional powers for the Australian Border Force will be included. The bill increases the maximum penalties available under the Migration Act for work related breaches. Penalties will almost triple: for civil penalties, up to $99,000 for individuals and $495,000 for bodies corporate. In addition, the ABF will gain new compliance notice and enforceable undertaking powers.

These measures are designed to drive employer compliance under the Migration Act, which was unfortunately deprioritised over the past decade. The ABF will receive $50 million over the next four years to assist them to improve employer compliance as well as other immigration compliance priorities. Disappointingly, the former Liberal government failed to implement the key recommendations in the Migrant Workers' Taskforce report, which they sat on from 2019.

These new powers, it's good to say, are already reaping results. Last month, under strong new laws introduced by the Albanese Labor government, a Western Australian business became the first in the nation to be publicly named and shamed by the Australian Border Force for exploiting vulnerable migrant workers. It was the first prohibition notice introduced under the SEC Act. The company came under scrutiny late last year in relation to misleading information in their migrant worker sponsorship application and were subsequently sanctioned for serious noncompliance.

ABF officers across the country are actively scrutinising the status of employers' sponsorship agreements, as well as regularly making unannounced visits to workplaces to protect workers and expose employers who are exploiting migrant workers. We should note that not all employers behave like this. If we don't do something about those that are doing the wrong thing, it tars everybody with the same brush, so good employers will be happy with this legislation as well.

To maintain the integrity of the skilled migrant system in Australia, it's important that employers are approved by the Department of Home Affairs. The amendments in this bill will allow for the implementation and maintenance of the public register of approved work sponsors on the Department of Home Affairs website. This will ensure transparency and, more importantly, protection for the rights of temporary skilled migrant workers, who do so much to assist the Australian economy and Australians in general. I commend the bill to the House.

Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I speak in support of the Migration Amendment (Combatting Migrant Exploitation) Bill 2025. Over recent years there's been a lot of misinformation about migration. Some of it has just been through misunderstandings, but much of it has been deliberate, intended to sow division within communities, to score cheap political points or to divert attention away from the real issues that are causing social struggles.

The fact is that migration has been critical to Australia's development, and this has been particularly so since World War II. In the years since then, there has been an influx of migrants. Immediately after World War II, we saw a huge number of British and European migrants come to this country. In the decades that followed, that changed, with people coming here from many other parts of the world.

The reality is that today we often speak of Australia as being a successful multicultural country, with, indeed, almost every country in the world being represented by people who now live here. In the past four decades, under Labor and coalition governments, we have seen, I understand, some seven million or more people come and permanently settle in Australia. Yet I accept that Australians want a controlled immigration program. They want an immigration program that serves Australia's needs and that they can have confidence in. Importantly, they want an immigration program that is not rorted, yet that is what has been happening over recent years, during which, because of widespread conflict overseas, desperate people fleeing war or persecution have been prepared to do whatever it takes to come to Australia.

These are, indeed, vulnerable people who are then taken advantage of by, sometimes, people smugglers who put them through life-threatening journeys, and if they do manage to reach Australia, they then are often taken advantage of by employers or job recruiters. Often people of their own culture are those very job recruiters—people who promise them work on the basis that they can secure employment for them but who then exploit them in the process. If I get time, I'll talk a bit more about that later on.

In 2016, the coalition government established the Migrant Workers' Taskforce, and I commend them for doing so. They established that taskforce in response to revelations of serious migrant worker exploitation. An inquiry was then held, chaired by Professor Alan Fels AO, with Deputy Chair David Cousins AM. The findings of that inquiry were released in the Report of the Migrant Workers' Taskforce in March 2019. A paper released by Australia Policy Online, which I believe articulates what the real issue was so well, had this to say in comment on the taskforce report:

Wage exploitation is of great concern to the Australian community. It is damaging to Australia's reputation and may lead to negative flow-on effects to the proper functioning of the labour market and the economy. It is unfair not only to migrant workers, but also to other employees who are undercut on wages and job opportunities, and law abiding employers trying to compete on price. Australia prides itself on being a country where the principle of fairness underpins our economic and social relationships. However, migrant worker exploitation is a direct repudiation of this.

…   …   …

Migrant workers who are in Australia on a temporary basis may have poor knowledge of their workplace rights, are young and inexperienced, may have low English language proficiency and try to fit in with cultural norms and expectations of other people from their home countries. These factors combine to make them particularly vulnerable to unscrupulous practices at work … Fears about the consequences of approaching government agencies are common among migrants from less democratic countries than our own.

The paper says a lot more, of course, but I think those sentiments sum up what the issue is and what we are responding to today—that people have indeed been exploited for much too long. That exploitation can take the form of underpaying wages; forcing workers to work extended unpaid hours; threatening to cancel a worker's visa if they complain or raise concerns about their work conditions; coercing workers to hand over their passport, as the member for Adelaide referred to earlier; forcing workers to work in unsafe or poor health and safety conditions; cramming workers into inadequate housing; and even physical threats. In June, a parliamentary inquiry in New South Wales heard from a GP in Wagga Wagga that hundreds of women were 'seeking abortions that they would not normally want' in order to keep their work visas. That is the extent to which the exploitation seems to have manifested itself. It is because of those concerns that we have this legislation.

The taskforce I referred to earlier, commissioned by the last coalition government, found issues that I believe were widely known throughout the community—issues that I think everyone in the chamber would have come across at some stage or another. The number of worker exploitation cases that have been exposed over the years is a matter that should be of concern to this parliament. The taskforce provided 22 recommendations in their report; yet, three years later, the last coalition government had done nothing with them. It commissioned a report and then just sat on it, as it did with Graeme Samuel's review into the EPBC Act. It seems that the last coalition government was very good at kicking the can down the road on these important issues by commissioning reports that would obviously delay any response from the government, and then, once they'd received them, did nothing. Once again, it is up to Labor to fix the problem, and that is what this legislation does.

This legislation sets up a register of approved work sponsors. In doing so, it will provide transparency, accountability, and enhanced protections for temporary skilled migrants. It will also support temporary skilled migrant workers who need to find a new sponsor if that need arises. And, as other speakers have made absolutely clear, this legislation arises after extensive consultation—consultation by the previous coalition government and then by the Albanese Labor government; consultation that went far and wide throughout the community and included community groups, business, and so on.

This legislation goes a long way towards stamping out some of the problems I referred to earlier. It may not fix every problem, but it's a start in the right direction. I have no doubt that worker exploitation will continue. In fact, worker exploitation isn't simply limited to skilled migrants who come from overseas; it occurs on a regular basis in many other sectors. However, the fact remains that skilled migrants make up the largest cohort of migrants to Australia. We face skilled workforce shortages again because the last coalition government did nothing about training up Australians. Instead, they decimated TAFE while simultaneously paying huge sums to shonky training organisations. The Albanese Labor government is fixing that as well, with free TAFE training. But, logically, it will take some time before those trainees are work ready. I understand that, to date, over 725,000 people have enrolled in free TAFE courses. I commend them for doing so, and I look forward to them filling those skill shortages for which we're currently having to find people from overseas.

In the interim, however, we do have a skilled workforce shortage, which must be met. If it's not met, then the whole community will suffer. If we don't bring in skilled tradespeople, we can't build the very houses that everybody is screaming out for at the rate at which they need to be built. If we don't bring in skilled tradespeople or skilled professionals from overseas we won't be able to fill the health and medical workforce shortages that we're seeing right around the country, particularly in the country regions, where, I understand, that, if it weren't for the skilled professionals that we are bringing in from overseas, there would be communities without doctors and nurses.

Look at the aged-care sector. Again, if it weren't for the skilled people coming in from overseas, it is very likely that many of those centres would be unable to operate and the vulnerable older people that we have in this country who are looking for aged care would not be able to get it. On one hand we have a real need that must be met, and on the other hand we have a shortage of the skills that are required to provide the services that people need. We need to find a way of fixing that that is appropriate in terms of both meeting our migration statistics and our migration intake and ensuring that those people who come into this country are then given work and paid accordingly and are not in any way abused as people have been on so many occasions.

In concluding my remarks, I'll make this point. Worker exploitation is, as I said earlier, not just isolated to migrant workers; it occurs across the board. There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that migrant workers who come here are exploited much more so than others. I used some examples earlier on of why that is the case, but I'll simply make this point. Imagine someone fleeing a war-torn country under circumstances in which they risk their lives and then reaching Australia. They would do anything they need to do in order to stay here, not only to protect their own life but also to be able to earn a few dollars so they can then send that back to family members who they left in their home country. These are vulnerable people who are at the mercy of unscrupulous operators, and we have seen example after example of that here in Australia. It is not to say that all employers are unscrupulous, but we need to ensure that those who are unscrupulous are no longer able to do what they are doing.

I have heard the concerns from members opposite that this legislation goes too far and that too much information is going to have to be provided to authorities with respect to employers who take on migrant workers. I say to members opposite that those employers who are doing the right thing have nothing to fear. This legislation is no different to any other piece of legislation which regulates activities in this country or provides laws. Laws are always provided only in order to control the minority who do the wrong thing. If it weren't for the minority who do the wrong thing, we probably wouldn't need any laws whatsoever. This is simply another example of where the government need to act to protect vulnerable people as we have done in so many other areas of government policy. I commend this legislation to the House.

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This country has been built on three aspects: first, the immense contribution of First Nations people, who've been here for tens of thousands of years; second, the British colonial settlement that was established in the aftermath of Captain Phillip's arrival; and, third, the waves of migration that came to this country post World War II. We are blessed for having had those waves of migration. Those migrants have made an immense contribution to our culture, economy, sport, arts, education, law, finance and commerce and to our nursing and allied health professional workforces. Where would we be in terms of our doctors, nurses and regional and rural hospitals without migrant workers?

But this government is once again fixing up the coalition's mess. The coalition made a number of decisions—consciously, while averting their eyes—in the way they carried out their policy on migration. Some of it was to do with wages and some of it was to do with migration. Migration is critical to our economy. Every business in every city of this country knows that. The business community knows that. BCA knows it. ACCI knows it. The National Farmers' Federation knows it. But those opposite seem to subconsciously or consciously not recognise it.

Workplace exploitation of migrant communities can take a number of forms: underpaying workers, pressuring a person to hand over their passport or threatening to cancel a person's visa—employers really can't do that, but they threaten anyway. There can be pressure to work more hours than the visa conditions allow and pressure to engage in unwanted sexual acts, and there wouldn't be a federal MP that hasn't had stories like that given to them at a mobile office, on the phone or in their office. There can be pressure to accept poor living conditions, and I've seen up to 15 or 20 people living in appalling conditions at the hands of unscrupulous employers in suburbs in Ipswich. And there's poor housing, with a lack of access to running water or electricity.

We've had to do a number of things since we came in, in terms of strengthening the laws, and the Migration Amendment (Combatting Migrant Exploitation) Bill 2025 is yet another one of them.

It's not like the coalition government didn't know what was going on. Back in 2016, they commissioned the Migrant Workers' Taskforce supremo, or chief, Allan Fels, who has a long history of business involvement in the community, to undertake an inquiry looking at employer-employee relationships in terms of the migrant community. He found that employers engaged in deliberate and systemic underpayment of migrant workers. He made 22 recommendations to the previous coalition government in March 2019. That inquiry started in 2016. They came to power in 2013. The federal government—Kelly O'Dwyer was the responsible minister at the time—accepted all 22 recommendations. And then what did they do? Absolutely nothing—no legislation, no regulations. There was a commitment to do something, knowing there was widespread and entrenched systemic abuse and exploitation of workers, and they did absolutely nothing.

Who could forget the underpayment scandals? Who could forget the 7-Eleven scandals, where as little as 47 cents an hour was paid to workers who were migrants? There was the systemic underpayment of wages, poor living conditions, poor housing in which they had to live and a lack of payment of superannuation. There should be no tolerance of undercutting workers' wages and conditions, but that's what happened. So we had to undertake some work when we came to power. We undertook a migration strategy, which we released on 11 December 2023. We outlined some reforms that were undertaken.

That built on the work that was done when the former minister for home affairs, back on 2 September 2022, announced that three eminent persons would undertake an independent review of our migration system to make sure it was meeting the existing challenges that we faced. It came out with strong recommendations, and the report was presented to the government on 21 March 2023. As part of that review process, there was a discussion paper and we considered 483 submissions. The reviewers undertook eight roundtables with peak organisations, unions and senior state and territory officials. Business was involved in the review. And what did the coalition do in opposition? They were quiescent. They did nothing in government and were quiescent in opposition. So we had to undertake important changes.

I have heard people opposite speak in relation to this particular bill. It is almost like they forgot every review that has been undertaken. Let's go through a couple of them. The Grattan Institute released a report on 23 May 2023, which found that exploitation of migrant workers was rife. Recent migrants were twice as likely to be underpaid, up to 16 per cent less than the national minimum wage. The Immigration Advice and Rights Centre did a report that they released in November 2024 which found that migrant workers were 40 per cent more likely to face worker exploitation than Australian workers.

Let's get this straight. If people can undercut wages and they can exploit cheap labour, what happens? It weakens the bargaining of Australian workers to get decent wages and conditions. It harms those businesses, and there are many, who do the right thing. It damages our international reputation for being a place where you can come and work, and it undermines really deeply the community's confidence in our migration system. They are the consequences of allowing migration exploitation to continue in workplaces around the country, whether it be on farms, in hospitality, in hospitals, in schools—wherever it may be.

Sometimes I cannot understand the coalition parties. They are supposed to be parties who believe in free enterprise and in supporting the business community. If you are harming businesses that do the right thing, why would you allow that to continue? They did nothing. They were in power from 2013 to 2022 and did nothing. They had the report from Graeme Samuel on the EPBC Act for five years and did nothing. They had the report from Alan Fels over three years and did nothing. Talk about a government of inertia and idleness and ignorance—ignorance and looking the other way on worker exploitation in migrant communities.

We had to strengthen the rules. We increased the penalties. We did it through our strengthening employer compliance bill and we made sure we established new criminal offences and associated civil penalties to deter employers from using migrant visa conditions or statuses to coerce undue influence or undue pressure on people in the workplace. We established a new mechanism to prohibit employers from hiring additional people on temporary visas, and we increased the maximum criminal and civil penalties. We did a whole bunch of stuff to strengthen the situation.

Those opposite were again quiet, quiescent and did nothing about it. One of the things that they did, and they did it as a deliberate design feature when they were in government, was to keep the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold, the TSMIT—the amount of money you had to pay a worker—at the same rate, $53,900, from 2013 for over nine years, effectively with inflation undercutting wages and thereby conditions in this country. That is what they did, therefore undercutting Australian wages and conditions as a 'deliberate design feature'—to use the words of Mathias Cormann, the former finance minister. That is what they did for nine years. And I have heard speakers in this chamber reference it to the glory days almost—the glory days of keeping wages low.

We increased the TSMIT when we came to power, and rightly made sure that we protected wages and conditions, not just for migrant workers but for Australian workers generally. Today, yesterday, I heard those opposite lauding the fact that they kept the TSMIT low at $53,900. It is now $76,500. That is what it should be, and employers should pay those sorts of wages. We want the system to have integrity. We do not want people being paid less than they deserve. That is exactly what the coalition members are supporting.

With the legislation before the chamber, those opposite would have the public believe that we will be putting some massive impost on business. As the member for Makin said, this is just a reporting mechanism and making sure we have a website that does the right thing and allows people to get information to work out, if you get a sponsored visa, who's a good employer and who's a bad employer and making sure the market does its work. It's almost like they do not believe in individual freedom for migrant workers. Where are the John Stuart Mill devotees in the small-l liberals opposite? They don't believe it. Where are the devotees to Adam Smith in those opposite? Well, Adam Smith—he's just a statue you see in Edinburgh. You don't worry about him. I don't think they ever read any of the liberal and conservative devotees of free enterprise, because what they're doing is opposing individual choice for migrant workers. That's what they're doing. They're not just undercutting wages and they're not just harming the Australian business; they're undercutting wages and conditions.

Those opposite will come in here and have a vote later today, they will not support Australian workers or migrant workers, and they will not support businesses. Once again, the Liberal and National parties show that they're party of the far right, not the party that supports free enterprise, individual autonomy and the right to choose. Do they really believe in some sort of feudalism in terms of the workplace? Is that their view? I'm telling you they should all go and have a look at John Stuart Mill's works and Adam Smith's works. The Wealth of NationsI commend that to you, by the way. It'd be a good thing for you to have a look at from time to time. Put it in the caucus room of the opposition and have a flick through it from time to time. You might end up voting for legislation like this from time to time and doing the right thing.

What this bill does is establish a legislative framework for a public register of approved work sponsors to be published and maintained on the Department of Home Affairs's website. Why is this necessary? To make sure we have better targeted temporary skilled work visa programs. It's important for transparency and oversight, for people to make a choice and for the public to understand who's a good employer and who's a bad employer. It might change people's behaviour. It might make a bad employer think about becoming a good employer from time to time, whether it's on a farm or in a pub, whether it's in a hospital or, can I say, in retail. So how about the Liberal and National parties for once support the business community in the way they voted in this chamber?

Later on this morning, they'll have a chance. Do you support workers? Do you support business? Or are you going off to the realms of the far right—not believing in your philosophical or economic treatises that were by the people you claim you're devoted to? There are no moral moorings or economic understanding in the coalition parties if they vote against this legislation. Through their ignorance and their actions during the time they were in government, they opposed a good national economy. They opposed decency in the workplace. They opposed good wages and conditions in jobs.

As the member for Makin rightly pointed out, we will always bring in migrants to the community in a regulated steady approach. But we've had to do it in terms of what we've done in this country because they didn't invest in education or TAFE. They didn't train enough people up. We had to establish Jobs and Skills Australia with the identification of the workforce shortages and needs. Today we're going to vote to make bad employers good employers and allow people choice. The party of free enterprise and liberalism, the party that believes that people should have the right to choose and have free will, today will come across, sit on that side of the chamber on that side of the chamber and vote against everything they claim they believe in.

Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I understand the member for Pearce would like to present a copy of her speech for incorporation into Hansard in accordance with the resolution agreed to on 6 November 2025.

Tracey Roberts (Pearce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

() (): The incorporated speech read as follows:

Thank you, Deputy Speaker

The Migration Amendment {Combatting Migrant Exploitation) Bill 2025 marks a significant and necessary advancement in strengthening our temporary skilled work visa program whilst protecting migrant workers who contribute so much to our nation. I am firmly in support of this bill and the progressive reforms it brings under the Albanese Labor government's migration strategy.

This legislation represents a crucial step forward in strengthening protections for migrant workers and ensuring our temporary skilled work visa program operates with the highest standards of fairness, transparency, and accountability.

Australia has long been a nation built on migration. From the earliest days of settlement to the diverse, vibrant communities we cherish today, migrants have played an indispensable role in shaping our identity and fuelling our economic success. The hardworking people who come to our shores bring with them skills, aspirations, and the hope for a better future—not just for themselves and their families but also for the communities that warmly welcome them.

Yet, despite their contributions, too many migrant workers have been subject to exploitation and unfair treatment. The temporary skilled work visa program, while essential to meeting the needs of our economy, has at times been exploited by unscrupulous employers, leaving workers vulnerable and undermining the integrity of our migration system.

This bill acknowledges those challenges and responds with a practical, accountable solution: a publicly accessible register of approved work sponsors.

This register empowers migrant workers by providing an accessible tool to verify that their sponsoring employer is legitimate and compliant with regulatory standards. Too often, workers face uncertainty about who is sponsoring them and whether their jobs are genuine or safe. By publishing the name of each approved sponsor alongside their Australian Business Number, business postcode, number of sponsored workers, and the occupations being sponsored, the Department of Home Affairs offers transparency that was previously lacking.

This is more than just a list—this is a shield for migrant workers. It is a safeguard that enables workers to make informed decisions about their employment and shields them from exploitation. Abuse thrives in darkness; transparency shines a light and deters misconduct.

This register also supports government oversight and enforcement. It offers regulators an up-to-date, publicly verifiable source of information, enhancing their ability to detect and prevent misuse of the visa system. It complements existing compliance tools, strengthening the integrity of our visa programs.

By ensuring that only reputable employers can sponsor workers, we protect the reputation of Australia's migration system and help maintain community confidence. Australians rightly expect that migrant workers are being treated fairly and that the jobs filled by temporary skilled visa holders are genuine, necessary, and lawful.

Moreover, this bill aligns perfectly with the Albanese Labor government's broader migration strategy, which aims to create a smarter, fairer visa system that better meets Australia's economic needs.

As the Member for Pearce, I know firsthand the importance of skilled workers to our regions. Wanneroo is known as the "food bowl of the north" due to its long history of agriculture and its role as a significant food producer for the Perth region.

Today, Wanneroo's agricultural industry is booming, feeding not only its local population, but also the greater region of Perth. In fact, Wanneroo contributes 38 per cent of the total gross value of agricultural commodities produced in Perth and accounts for a significant percentage of vegetables and fruits grown in the region.

Wanneroo provides 17.5% of Western Australia's total vegetable production, the vast majority being sweet corn and more than 90% of the tomatoes and avocadoes. It is also a key region for exporting vegetables such as carrots, cauliflower, and Chinese cabbage to Asia.

From healthcare professionals in our hospitals to tradespeople building infrastructure, to market gardeners in our agricultural regions, migrants fill critical gaps. Their skills help businesses thrive and communities grow.

But this relationship must be built on mutual respect and trust. Workers come here to contribute, not to be exploited or used as a means to bypass fair employment standards.

This register also sends a strong message to employers: we value your compliance with laws that protect workers and our communities, and the government will be watching closely.

Those who exploit workers will be increasingly exposed and held accountable.

It's also important to remember the broader human aspect of this issue. Every migrant worker who is exploited represents a failure of our system and a breach of our values. They deserve dignity, fairness, and safety. This bill supports their right to feel safe in their workplace and in our society.

By reducing exploitation, we also foster better workforce stability and encourage skilled migrants to stay and contribute long-term, supporting Australia's future economic growth and social cohesion.

In an age of digital transparency, governments must harness information to protect vulnerable people and strengthen systems. Opening this register is a proactive step that not only helps detect problems but prevents them from occurring in the first place.

The information disclosed in the register strikes a careful balance between transparency and privacy. It provides key data needed by workers and the public without exposing sensitive or commercially confidential information.

The Albanese Labor Government has consulted extensively with stakeholders including migrant advocacy groups, employers, and unions to ensure this legislation meets the needs of all parties involved.

To my fellow parliamentarians, I say this: supporting this bill means affirming Australia's commitment to a migration system that is fair, transparent, and accountable. It means standing up against exploitation and ensuring our visa programs work as intended—to strengthen our economy and support workers' rights.

Australia can be proud of its multicultural legacy and the migration system that supports it. But pride alone is not enough. We must act decisively to address the vulnerabilities faced by our migrant workers. This bill is a vital part of that action.

In closing, the Migration Amendment (Combatting Migrant Exploitation) Bill 2025 is a practical and important reform that improves protections for migrant workers and enhances the integrity of our temporary skilled visa program and I commend this bill to the house.

Thank you.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the bill be now read a second time.