Suspected visa scams have brought up to 100,000 workers into Australia using false claims that have choked the system, fuelling fears about illicit labour as the government launches a sweeping review of the migration regime.
The schemes have left Australia with a growing underclass of workers who are waiting on a legal system that takes 812 days on average to decide each case, according to a new warning about labour trafficking.
Former Treasury secretary Martin Parkinson. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
The federal government has cleared the way for an overhaul of the visa rules by naming former Treasury secretary Martin Parkinson to review the system, but a second inquiry is being prepared to investigate the migration scams.
Parkinson said it was “indisputable” the migration system was not working.
“I think it’s incredibly complex and it’s very hard for potential migrants to navigate, it’s very hard for employers to navigate and it leaves open the risk that, in some cases, migrants are exposed to exploitation,” he said.
