Australia: New Measures to Address Worker Exploitation

The Australian government has announced additional funding of AUD 50 million to facilitate the review and development of legislative powers and enforcement tools that will assist visa holders in exploitative workplaces. The proposed measures include implementing legislation to strengthen employer compliance to make it a criminal offense to coerce an individual into breaching visa conditions; remove existing legislative provisions which penalize visa holders for working in breach of visa conditions where they have been coerced to do so by an employer; and increasing the timeframe that a Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) subclass 482 visa holder can be without an employer from 60 days to six months, among other measures. These compliance measures are intended to complement the previously-announced migration system reforms, which will provide all TSS visa holders with a pathway to employer-sponsored permanent residency and a reduction in the time required (from three years to two years) to qualify for an Employer Nomination Scheme subclass 186 visa under the Temporary Residence Transition stream.