Each year, thousands of people are exploited in unsafe and underpaid work, endangering their health, their lives and their family’s future. For too long, a person’s ability to take action against an exploitative boss, has depended on their visa or citizenship status.

That’s why the Human Rights Law Centre welcomes the Albanese Government’s introduction of groundbreaking reforms to protect the rights of migrant workers, including:

• A world-first Workplace Justice visa, allowing migrant workers to stay in Australia with permission to work, while they hold employers to account for labour violations and modern slavery.

• A new guarantee against visa cancellation, which ensures that a migrant worker’s visa will not be cancelled if they come   forward to hold exploitative employers to account.

This framework was first proposed in our 2023 Breaking the Silence report, endorsed by over 40 organisations including unions, legal centres, churches and migrant rights groups.

Both protections are available to workers who pursue claims through unions and community lawyers, not just those who report to government enforcement agencies.

Everyone deserves the same rights at work – no matter their nationality or visa status.

“Migrant workers are a part of our community – they are our friends, our neighbours and our coworkers. These hard-won protections – including a guarantee against visa cancellation and a Workplace Justice visa – are just the first steps in ensuring that migrant workers are treated equally at work, and are not held to ransom by bad bosses because of their visa status.”

Sanmati Verma, Legal Director