00:00I spoke with a young woman who just last Thursday has received one of these brand new so-called
00:09justice visas.
00:10Her story is a very interesting one.
00:12She arrived in Australia on a student visa.
00:14At the end of her studies, she obtained a two-year graduate employment visa and she
00:19started working for a very large company.
00:23Now, at that place of employment, she experienced sexual harassment at the hands of her manager.
00:29And she says that she felt that she was targeted by this manager because he identified her
00:34as somebody who was vulnerable because they were on a temporary visa and thought he could
00:39get away with it and she wouldn't complain.
00:42However, she did decide to complain and she has commenced legal action.
00:49But this has meant that her employment has not continued and she hasn't obtained sponsorship
00:54from her employer.
00:56And she's now at the end of her two-year graduate visa and was facing the prospect of having
01:02to leave this week, the country this week.
01:05And just last Thursday, she got a reprieve.
01:07She got one of these 12-month justice visas.
01:11This is important not just for her.
01:13It's also very important for accountability and transparency more generally in Australia
01:18because she'd been told by the tribunal member, if you leave Australia, we're not going to
01:23continue with this sexual harassment employment dispute.
01:28So there would have been no accountability for this employer and for this manager if
01:34the justice visa had not been granted.
01:36And which other types of workers have obtained this visa, Damien?
01:39Well, I spoke to the young woman's lawyer from the Human Rights Law Centre and she told
01:45me about two other workers that she's been working with.
01:49One who had been employed by an employer she describes as notorious for never paying superannuation
01:57to employees and her client was owed tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid super and
02:04was on her way to the airport again at the end of her time here in Australia when she
02:09was at the very last moment granted one of these visas.
02:12The lawyer also told me about an extremely disturbing case and she's still yet to hear
02:16whether she's obtained a visa for this man.
02:19He's working in regional Queensland, he's working as a packer and he has, according
02:25to his lawyer, been working for $3.50 an hour for the last two years and that money has
02:31been paid into an overseas bank account.
02:33So she's still waiting to hear whether she's got a justice visa for him so he can pursue
02:39his legal rights.
02:40What are the pathways for obtaining redress for exploited workers?
02:44Ros, there are two main pathways.
02:46You can go through the Fair Work Ombudsman and that's been a pathway which has been in
02:53existence for a while and that's been pursued by some migrant workers because if they choose
02:58to investigate your case, again deportation won't take place while they investigate your
03:04case.
03:05But the far more common avenue has been to go to the Small Plains Tribunal of the Federal
03:12Circuit Court but that's of course a very complex and difficult thing for somebody who
03:19might have just arrived in the country recently for them to do.
03:22You need all the paperwork, you need all the contracts, you need all the timesheets and
03:27of course you're up against an employer who knows exactly what they're doing often when
03:31it comes to workplace exploitation.
03:33So how could these pathways be improved then?
03:37Well in terms of the court process, there are calls to change the system to allow currently
03:48when a worker goes to one of these courts, each side bears their costs, the employer
03:55and the worker.
03:56Now the proposal is that if a worker wins, they should be able to claim the legal costs
04:03and that would allow more lawyers to get involved in this sector and actually put in the time
04:08and effort to try and get across these contracts, these timesheets, all this complex paperwork
04:14which is often part of the smokescreen put up by dodgy employers.
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