Australian migrant workers experience a system of second-class treatment
The reality of life in Australia for many temporary migrants is to be exploited at work. We have known this for years. What the Migrant Justice Institute’s landmark new report makes undeniable is the scale of that exploitation, and the fact that it is not incidental. It is systemic. Second-class treatment of migrant workers on temporary visas has become embedded in Australia’s labour market, and despite improved legislation, tightened visa rules and renewed enforcement intensity, the day-to-day experience of migrant workers remains a stain on our community.
Off the Books: Inside Australia's Hidden System of Migrant Worker Exploitation – based on the largest survey of temporary migrant workers ever conducted in Australia – confirms that exploitation is structural and often deliberate. Two-thirds of migrant workers are paid less than they are owed under the Fair Work Act. More than a third are paid below the National Minimum Wage. High rates of casualisation, sham contracting through ABNs, falsified payslips and unpaid superannuation are leveraged by employers to conceal underpayment.
Critically, the research confirms that the more severely a migrant worker is underpaid, the more likely they are to experience indicators of modern slavery. More than one in three participants (34%) reported experiencing at least one forced labour indicator, including being made to work in unsafe conditions, excessive hours or different hours than agreed, long periods without breaks, being tricked about the job, and being unable to leave a job they wished to leave. The findings confirm that forced labour sits on a continuum of labour non-compliance, and that businesses and regulators serious about preventing modern slavery must start by identifying and addressing systemic underpayment.
“These are not isolated cases of bad employers. This is a system that produces vulnerability at scale, and enables willing employers to exploit it,” said the Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner, Chris Evans. “That demands a national response, not another round of piecemeal measures.”
Vulnerability is not a quality migrant workers bring with them. It is produced by the system they enter – by the conditions that limit lawful work, by financial pressures that push international students into exploitative and unlawful work, by sham contracting through ABN arrangements that strip away employment protections, and by a fear of reporting that silences workers who risk losing their jobs or their visa status.
“Piecemeal band-aid measures will not change an entrenched culture of exploitation,” the Commissioner said. “Increased enforcement will help individuals, but it will not change the system. We require a reset. The vulnerabilities that allow exploitation to flourish must be extinguished to allow fair treatment for migrant workers.”
The Commissioner is calling for a national cabinet, whole-of-government response to fundamentally end the conditions that leave migrants exposed to systemic exploitation – bringing together immigration, workplace relations, higher education, and anti-slavery policy. This includes a review of the structural pressures on international students through visa fees, tuition fees and access to safe, lawful work.
The report’s recommendations, many aligned with the Commissioner’s existing priorities, include mandatory risk-based due diligence under the Modern Slavery Act, a national labour hire licensing scheme, intelligence-led enforcement targeting known concealment indicators, and stronger whistleblower protections including expanded access to the Workplace Justice Visa.
“Addressing systemic underpayment is foundational to preventing modern slavery,” the Commissioner said. “If exploitation is systemic, our response must be systemic too.”