How to stop the exploitation of migrant workers in Australia - Podcast

The serious problem of migrant worker exploitation shot to prominence in 2015, when a joint Fairfax Media and Four Corners report uncovered widespread underpayment of 7-Eleven employees.

Recent governments have taken some steps to reduce exploitation, such as increasing maximum penalties for firms that knowingly underpay their workers and making improvements to the small claims process. But these changes don’t go far enough, and progress has stalled since the pandemic.

Our new report, Short-changed: How to stop the exploitation of migrant workers in Australia, provides solutions to stamp out the exploitation of migrant workers.

Trent Wiltshire, Deputy Program Director, discusses the report with co-authors Brendan Coates, Program Director, and Tyler Reysenbach, Associate.

Trent Wiltshire

Migration and Labour Markets Deputy Program Director
Trent Wiltshire is the Deputy Director, Migration and Labour Markets, in Grattan Institute’s Economic Policy Program. He previously worked at the Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance, as Domain Group’s economist, and at the Reserve Bank of Australia.

While you’re here…

Grattan Institute is an independent not-for-profit think tank. We don’t take money from political parties or vested interests. Yet we believe in free access to information. All our research is available online, so that more people can benefit from our work.

Which is why we rely on donations from readers like you, so that we can continue our nation-changing research without fear or favour. Your support enables Grattan to improve the lives of all Australians.

Donate now.

Danielle Wood – CEO