Bosses who deliberately underpay their staff could soon face jail time as part of a series of hard line reforms designed to protect Australia's most vulnerable workers. The Migrant Workers' Taskforce has handed 22 reform recommendations to the federal government this week, all of which have now been accepted.
The Migrant Workers Taskforce was established in October 2016 after media reports exposed the widespread and systematic exploitation of migrant workers around the country by chains including 7 Eleven convenience stores and Dominos pizza restaurants.
But the president of the Council of International Students Australia Bijay Sapkota says the big chains aren't the only culprits.
"There were lots of cases where same-culture exploitation has been a prominent issue. For example students coming from China being exploited by Chinese employers or students coming from Nepal being exploited by Nepalese employers."
Criminal convictions, jail sentences, and million-dollar fines.
These are just a few of the 22 suggested labour exploitation reforms handed to the federal government by the Migrant Workers' Taskforce.
And each and every one of them has been accepted.
International students and backpackers make up about 650 to 700 thousand workers in Australia, and Migrant Workers' Taskforce chair Allan Fels says a "very large" proportion of them are being seriously underpaid.
