Skip to main content

Site navigation

  • University of Technology Sydney home
  • Home

    Home
  • For students

  • For industry

  • Research

Explore

  • Courses
  • Events
  • News
  • Stories
  • People

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt
  • Study at UTS

    • arrow_right_alt Find a course
    • arrow_right_alt Course areas
    • arrow_right_alt Undergraduate students
    • arrow_right_alt Postgraduate students
    • arrow_right_alt Research Masters and PhD
    • arrow_right_alt Online study and short courses
  • Student information

    • arrow_right_alt Current students
    • arrow_right_alt New UTS students
    • arrow_right_alt Graduates (Alumni)
    • arrow_right_alt High school students
    • arrow_right_alt Indigenous students
    • arrow_right_alt International students
  • Admissions

    • arrow_right_alt How to apply
    • arrow_right_alt Entry pathways
    • arrow_right_alt Eligibility
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for students

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Apply for a coursearrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt
  • Scholarshipsarrow_right_alt
  • Featured industries

    • arrow_right_alt Agriculture and food
    • arrow_right_alt Defence and space
    • arrow_right_alt Energy and transport
    • arrow_right_alt Government and policy
    • arrow_right_alt Health and medical
    • arrow_right_alt Corporate training
  • Explore

    • arrow_right_alt Tech Central
    • arrow_right_alt Case studies
    • arrow_right_alt Research
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for industry

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Find a UTS expertarrow_right_alt
  • Partner with usarrow_right_alt
  • Explore

    • arrow_right_alt Explore our research
    • arrow_right_alt Research centres and institutes
    • arrow_right_alt Graduate research
    • arrow_right_alt Research partnerships
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for research

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Find a UTS expertarrow_right_alt
  • Research centres and institutesarrow_right_alt
  • University of Technology Sydney home
University of Technology Sydney home University of Technology Sydney home
  1. home
  2. arrow_forward_ios ... Newsroom
  3. arrow_forward_ios ... 2024
  4. arrow_forward_ios 02
  5. arrow_forward_ios New Australian law is a victory for migrant workers

New Australian law is a victory for migrant workers

8 February 2024

The Australian parliament has passed an important law decriminalising undocumented workers and confirming that workplace protections apply to all workers regardless of their migration status.

Empty cafe chairs with customers being served in the background

Urban cafe with customers being served in the background. Image: UnSplash

New protections for all workers

The law also strengthens accountability of employers that exploit migrant workers, and takes the first step towards visa protections for exploited workers who take action against their employers. These reforms implement recommendations made over years of research by law professors Laurie Berg at UTS and Bassina Farbenblum at UNSW. They are also co-directors of the Migrant Justice Institute, Australia’s first national research and policy organisation advancing the rights of migrant workers.

For years, Berg’s research has revealed that undocumented migrant workers’ exclusion from labour laws intensifies the vulnerability of this group of workers in Australia. The new law provides that workplace protections now apply to all workers regardless of any breach of the Migration Act (for instance working without a visa). This includes application of workers’ compensation for injuries at work, as well as anti-discrimination and sexual harassment protections. The new law repeals the criminal offence of working in breach of visa conditions or working after the expiry of a visa.

The law introduces new offences for employers. One criminalises employers who coerce migrants to work in breach of their visa conditions. Further offences criminalise employers who coerce migrants to acquiesce to unacceptable arrangements (such as underpayment, unwanted sexual conduct or poor accommodation) either under threat of dobbing them into immigration (if they are undocumented workers) or under threat of some other adverse impact on the worker's immigration status. This creates a criminal offence where an employer, for example, threatens a backpacker that they won't sign off on work documents they need to get another working holiday visa unless the backpacker acquiesces to sex with the employer.

Finally we have legal confirmation that workplace protections extend to every worker in Australia, regardless of immigration status. Now, the government must act to enable workers to assert their right without fear of losing their visa. Without further visa protections, exploited workers will remain in the shadows and employer will continue to evade their labour obligations with impunity.

The final Bill included Government amendments that further strengthened these new offences by adopting many recommendations Berg and Farbenblum made in submissions to the Senate Inquiry into the Bill, including:

  • Inserting a broad definition of ‘arrangement in relation to work’ into the Bill, to capture and stop the myriad ways that employers may exploit migrant workers. This change will now ensure that employers cannot lawfully coerce workers to accept or agree to a broad range of exploitative conditions including work-related and non-work related activities (including arrangements in relation to unsafe housing, surrendering a passport and sexual favours).
  • Ensuring that Directors and other third parties who are ‘accessories’ to unlawful behaviour can also be be added to the new Prohibited Employer list. This will now ensure that these individuals cannot evade accountability by simply closing the business and setting up a new similar company (corporate phoenixing).
    The government has also committed to introducing the robust new visa protections for migrant workers that Berg and Farbenblum proposed in their Breaking the Silence report, in collaboration with Human Rights Law Centre and a broad coalition of community, union and business partners. These include a guaranteed protection against visa cancellation for migrant workers who bring labour claims, and a pilot short term visa to enable migrant workers to pursue labour claims at the end of their stay. 

The new law contains a new discretionary protection against visa cancellation, which will require a decision maker to take into account certain matters – such as a visa-holders experience of workplace exploitation – before deciding whether to cancel their visa. The government has indicated that this will complement future stronger non-discretionary protections, meaning that migrants pursuing labour claims and meeting certain conditions cannot have their visa cancelled. Berg and Farbenblum’s research indicates that visa protections like these may be a game-changer in bringing migrant worker exploitation out of the shadows and holding unscrupulous employers to account.

Share
Share this on Facebook Share this on Twitter Share this on LinkedIn
Back to News in Faculty of Law

Related News

  • Workers prepare food in a restaurant kitchen
    New protections herald hope for migrant worker exploitation

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation and the Boorooberongal People of the Dharug Nation upon whose ancestral lands our campuses now stand. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands. 

University of Technology Sydney

City Campus

15 Broadway, Ultimo, NSW 2007

Get in touch with UTS

Follow us

  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Facebook

A member of

  • Australian Technology Network
Use arrow keys to navigate within each column of links. Press Tab to move between columns.

Study

  • Find a course
  • Undergraduate
  • Postgraduate
  • How to apply
  • Scholarships and prizes
  • International students
  • Campus maps
  • Accommodation

Engage

  • Find an expert
  • Industry
  • News
  • Events
  • Experience UTS
  • Research
  • Stories
  • Alumni

About

  • Who we are
  • Faculties
  • Learning and teaching
  • Sustainability
  • Initiatives
  • Equity, diversity and inclusion
  • Campus and locations
  • Awards and rankings
  • UTS governance

Staff and students

  • Current students
  • Help and support
  • Library
  • Policies
  • StaffConnect
  • Working at UTS
  • UTS Handbook
  • Contact us
  • Copyright © 2025
  • ABN: 77 257 686 961
  • CRICOS provider number: 00099F
  • TEQSA provider number: PRV12060
  • TEQSA category: Australian University
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • Disclaimer
  • Accessibility