Order Description
Australia has certain restrictions in place for visa holders, including tourist and student visas.
Australia also has a skills based stream of visas called 457 visas which enable businesses to
sponsor workers to come into Australia to perform specific roles which are recognised as indemand.
There are significant obligations on employers to ensure that employees have requisite
work rights to be employed in Australia, and that they comply with visa requirements and
restrictions. Despite this, there are often headlines about exploitation of overseas workers in
Australia. A recent example is the alleged underpayment of many 7 Eleven employees, which has
been complicated by the fact that many of these workers have also allegedly been working in
breach of their visa restrictions (for example employees on student visas working more than 20
hours per week). How should the government respond to these recent issues? Are additional
restrictions warranted? Should there be more focus on enforcement measures? Is the issue
specific to visa holders, or is the problem more widespread? Or put another way, is the
exploitation of visa holders more likely than the exploitation of local workers? Would a change in
the law assist in this regard?
The order is an essay response to a developing area of workplace law and avenues for its progression – demonstrating an understanding of the ways law develops over time and the reasons behind such change.
