Australia: land of the visa scam

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Another foreign worker visa scam has been uncovered by the mainstream media. This time it involves Australia’s meat industry, which has been accused of “lies, bribery and prostitution” in the “recruitment of the Australian meat industry’s foreign workforce”:

  • “Foreign meatworkers might have been involved in a form of visa fraud in a process overseen by a network of middle men who, for a fee, promise a path to permanent residency. In the process, it has been alleged that false claims are made about the foreign workers’ English language skills and meat industry experience”.
  • “Dozens of migrant workers unable to provide satisfactory answers have received “natural justice” letters, a forerunner to visa denial and deportation”.
  • “A six-month investigation by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald has uncovered much more than just dubious recruiting. Industry insiders, documents and photographic evidence have shown how some labour hire operators have potentially corrupted the approvals system by paying bribes to some meat industry managers and, in a few extreme cases, providing them with alcohol and prostitutes as inducements. And some skills assessors entrusted by the government to certify applicants also have financial skin in the game of bringing labourers from overseas”.
  • “The visa applications of many foreign abattoir workers have been tainted with false information provided by the recruitment syndicates that have taken a crucial place in the industry in the past 15 years”.
  • “An Australian meat industry figure involved in aspects of the Home Affairs probe agreed some foreign workers had ‘never been anywhere near a f—ing abattoir. The whole thing is a sham’, he said”.
  • “Recruitment syndicates have been known to put one good English-speaking worker in front of Australian company representatives for the purposes of the job interview, then substitute another for the trip to Australia”.

Abattoirs are merely the tip of the iceberg with visa fraud, exploitation and wage theft also commonplace across the agricultural, hospitality and aged care industries (among others).

But rather than clean up the system, the slave driving Morrison Government has given Australian employers even easier access to cheap, exploitable foreign workers under the guise of ‘skills shortages’.

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It’s time to cut through the bull and require all work visas (other than the well-regulated Pacific Islands Seasonal Work Program) to be paid at least at the 75th percentile of earnings (preferably higher). This would equate to a minimum salary of $90,500 currently, which would rise over time with earnings:

How much Australians earn

The 75th percentile would set a migrant pay floor of $90,500, which would rise in line with earnings.

Setting a pay floor at this level would ensure that work visas are used sparingly by Australian businesses to employ only highly skilled migrants with specialised skills, not abused by businesses as a tool for undercutting local workers, reducing wage costs, and eliminating the need for training.

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Labor should (but sadly won’t) stand up for Australian workers and take such a policy to the upcoming federal election. Accordingly, Australian wages and working conditions will continue to be eroded by cheap, exploitable foreign competition.

About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.