ACTU president Michele O'Neil is calling on the government to reform a temporary working visa scheme that prevents workers leaving bad bosses and to blacklist dodgy employers who use migration worker exploitation as a business model.
Australia's PALM working visa scheme is a 'modern day slavery risk', advocates say. The system needs to change — and fastAustralia's PALM working visa scheme is a 'modern day slavery risk', advocates say.
It means when things go wrong, such as underpayment, excessive accommodation fees, or other forms of abuse or exploitation, workers don't have the right to change employers. Against this backdrop, a delegation of Fijian officials will arrive in Australia this week to investigate the PALM scheme after 24-year-old Fijian Christine Lewailagi, a worker on the scheme, died in June and her family and friends raised allegations of racism, bullying and exploitation.
He left his employer — and therefore the scheme — because he was being paid $200 a week, which wasn't enough to look after himself and send money to his mother who is looking after his children after his wife died. Ezekiel is from the PNG Highlands, which is currently embroiled in guerilla warfare. His mother was forced to flee the village after his father and two brothers were killed.
And while the ombudsman is investigating the company that exploited him and many other workers, it has phoenixed, which is a clarion call that more needs to be done in this area.O'Neil suggests blacklisting bad employers. "It's as simple as that," she said. "The states say it is a federal program, but they are living in the states and they are benefiting the economy, supporting the towns," he said.Ken Dachi, a community worker and multicultural affairs adviser at Leeton Shire Council in the Riverina, NSW, says a Mayoral Alliance for the Pacific, co-founded by Leeton Shire Council and Welcoming Australia, aims to advance reforms to ensure the scheme provides safeguards to workers as well as benefit employers.
Adele Ferguson Visa PALM Pacific Australia Labour Mobility Visa Workers Temporary Working Visa Michele O'neil ACTU Fiji Papua New Guinea Ken Dachi Commonwealth Anti-Slavery Commissioner
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