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Real Estate News Releases
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(EMAILWIRE.COM, January 07, 2009 ) Australia - Keen to strengthen the integrity of temporary overseas work visa arrangements in Australia, the countryÂ’s Parliament has passed new laws, one of which allows temporary migrants to stay in Australia for up to four yearsÂ…
Following extensive consultation with industry and unions, the Australian Parliament has finally passed the Migration Legislation Amendment (Workers Protection) Bill 2008, which is designed to give better protection to temporary overseas workers.
Thousands flock to Australia each year through the subclass 457 Australian visa program, program, to undertake fruit picking and other temporary work and this new bill aims to better protect their rights.
The 457 visa is an uncapped scheme driven by the demands of the labour market and enables employers to sponsor overseas workers needed to fill certain skilled positions and allows migrants to remain in Australia for up to four years.
Australia's Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, has welcomed the introduction of new laws.
“Over the last five years Australian employers have increasingly turned to the temporary skilled migration program to bring in the skilled workers they need,” Senator Evans said.
“The resources boom, low levels of unemployment, and the failure of the previous government to invest in the education and training of our own people, have contributed to endemic skills shortages across the country.
“The temporary working visa scheme is only sustainable if the community is confident that overseas workers are not being exploited or used to undermine local wages and conditions,” he added.
The amendments proposed in the Bill outline four main measures to protect overseas workers from exploitation.
These measures provide for expanded powers to monitor and investigate possible non-compliance by sponsors; the introduction of penalties for employers found in breach of their obligations; improved information sharing across all levels of Government and defined sponsorship obligations for employers and other sponsors.
Almost 60 000 primary visas were granted to overseas workers in 2007-08 and while the vast majority of employers did the right thing, there have been concerns about the incidence of employer breaches in the programme.
The recent Deegan report highlighted various employer abuses amongst the sponsors of some 60,000 immigrants issued with visas in 2007-2008.
Indeed, during the period, 192 employers were formally sanctioned with a further 1353 receiving formal warnings. The number of sanctions issued was double that in the preceding 12 months. In 2006-07 just 313 formal warnings were issued.
Under the new laws, specially trained officers will be empowered to monitor workplaces and conduct site visits to ensure that employers are complying with the redefined sponsorship obligations. The powers will be similar to the powers of workplace inspectors under the Workplace Relations Act 1996.
Fines of up to £14,000 are proposed for employers found in breach of the obligations in the Migration Regulations. The department will retain the ability to cancel an employer’s approval as a sponsor or bar them from making applications for approval as a sponsor for a period of time.
The new laws will also enable the Commissioner of Taxation to disclose tax information to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship in order to ensure correct salary levels are being paid to visa holders.
In September of this year, the minimum salary levels for temporary skilled overseas workers were increased by 3.8 per cent after they had been frozen for more than two years.
For more information on Australian properties and the market in general, please visit http://australia.themovechannel.com/
-ENDS-
Notes to editors:
TheMoveChannel.com is a property website that was founded in 1999 as an online resource for buying, selling and learning about property. It now receives as many as 300,000 visits per month and advertises over 50,000 properties in nearly 90 countries, which are listed by over 500 partner organisations.
For further information as well as images and interview possibilities, please contact:
Dan Johnson
Managing Director
www.themovechannel.com
0207 952 7650
TheMoveChannel.com
Jon Moore
020 7952 7658
j.moore@themovechannel.com 
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