It's surprising that the ALP have nothing to say about the slave labour racket that is attached to the 1 year extension to working holiday visas. I'm looks like the ALP don't care because backpackers can't vote anyway.
It's no surprise at all that THE GREENS Adam Bandt doesn't have anything to say about it either given his background.
SLAVE-DRIVER: Bad boss Greensparty MP Adam Bandt implicated in unpaid staff scandal
Parliamentary sources familiar with Adam Bandt’s office head-count suggest he has had as many as 9 registered volunteers at any one time registered with parliamentary authorities for the purposes of allocating aph.gov.au email addresses.
Sources told VEXNEWS that previous Bandt advertisements made it clear that at least 10 hours a week unpaid work was expected of the ‘interns’ with several accruing hundreds of hours, representing potentially many thousands of dollars in unpaid salaries and entitlements.
“It is a ticking time-bomb of liability for taxpayers,” one explained, worried that unpaid and exploited Bandt ‘interns’ could leave taxpayers vulnerable to expensive litigation and compensation cases.
SLAVERY is alive in Victoria. It’s a dramatic statement, but it appears to be true. There are people working on farms in rural Victoria for no pay who are tied to the farm for three months. That certainly seems to fit the definition of slavery.
It revolves around the rules for temporary working visas for backpackers. Under Immigration Department rules, backpackers can earn an extra year extension on their visa if they work for 88 days in rural Australia performing farm work. It is designed as a win-win, where farmers get willing workers for the harvest season to pick fruit or vegetables — jobs few locals are willing to do.
And the backpackers get to earn some dollars and an extra 12 months so they can then head to the Great Barrier Reef.
However, The Weekly Times reports this week on a growing number of farmers advertising on the Gumtree website seeking backpackers to work on their farm for free in return for that vital signature to say they have worked the required 88 days.
Those who read this column know that I am a great supporter of farmers. I am not, however, a supporter of farmers who exploit vulnerable people.
True, the worker agrees to work for no pay. But with more and more farms cottoning on to the chance of free labour, many backpackers feel they have no choice. For someone from Southeast Asia, the lure of gaining another year in
Australia is enough to agree to work for free.
Some ads brazenly ask backpackers to pay for food and lodging, as well as providing free labour. Others suggest the backpackers take paid work on weekends to supplement their volunteer role.
One beef farmer asked the backpackers to work at least three hours a night five days a week and proposed they could go to “Melbourne like other backpackers have to earn some more money” on the weekend. Another makes it very clear: “This jobs (sic) is volunteer means I don’t pay salary.”
