The return of a cap on the number of hours international students can work will increase exploitation, University of Wollongong students fear, as a national report reveals that more than one in eight migrants are paid below the minimum wage.
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From July 1, the cap on the number of hours international students will be reintroduced.
Prior to the pandemic, those in Australia on student visas could only work up to 40 hours a fortnight.
According to the National Tertiary Education Union, this enabled employers to exploit students who needed the extra hours to survive, but could not report underpayment or other forms of exploitation for fear of losing their visa.
During the pandemic, this rule was scrapped, allowing international students to work as many hours as they liked.
But, in February, the government reintroduced the cap, albeit at a slightly higher amount. Students will now be able to work for up to 48 hours a fortnight.
UOW marketing undergraduate Aanchal Bagda said this opened the possibility of exploitation.
"Pretty much all international students had to look for multiple ways of earning money - one job does not suffice," she said.
"A lot of students work for cash at really, really low rates, and I feel like this is just going to promote that again."
Earlier this month, the Australian Border Force conducted a snap crackdown at over a dozen hospitality businesses in Wollongong and Shellharbour.
The action was focused on compliance and education for businesses that employ foreign workers and no breaches were found.
"All employees, be that Australian citizens, or sponsored workers, must receive appropriate wages and suitable working conditions," ABF investigations and sponsor monitoring unit NSW Superintendent Brett Totten said.
Twenty foreign workers attended information sessions held by the ABF.
"The ABF Wollongong District Office will continue to collaborate with local businesses and sponsored workers to ensure awareness and compliance of sponsorship obligations within the sponsored worker program," Superintendent Totten said.
According to a report released by the Grattan Institute today, these actions will need to be ramped up, as the end of the pandemic opens the door to increased foreign worker exploitation.
The report found that up to 16 percent of recent migrants are paid less than the national minimum wage.
"It's got to stop," said report lead author Brendan Coates.
Based on ABS surveys, the authors found that worker exploitation decreased during the pandemic, but suspected it would increase as more temporary visa holders arrived in Australia and labour shortages boosted workers' bargaining power.
With cost of living pressures showing no sign of significantly easing, international students are reliant upon part time and casual work to survive while studying.
Sanchit Katyal is studying a masters of information technology at UOW while living and working in Blacktown, Sydney. Originally from Punjab, India, now working as a kitchen hand at a club in Blacktown, he said once the cap is re-introduced he would be living "hand to mouth".
"It's pretty expensive, the rents are sky high," he said. "Travel expenses are still too much, the groceries are also pretty expensive. Everything is costly."
For some students, just finding a job is the biggest hurdle. Rahul Nag said he applied for 20 positions at various McDonalds throughout Sydney, before landing a job at an Optus store.
The Masters in Finance and Business Analytics student from Mumbai then moved to Wollongong to avoid the lengthy commute to classes at UOW, and has been able to pick up a job at Sunglasses Hut. While he has been able to cover expenses, Mr Nag said there was fierce competition for part-time and casual jobs.
"Most prefer part time and casual so those jobs are tough to get," he said.
The federal government is proposing an overhaul of Australia's migration system, described as "broken" in a review chaired by former senior public servant Martin Parkinson. The changes include lifting the skilled migration income threshold to $70,000 from July 1 and more funding for enforcement and compliance to stamp out exploitation. International students will have an extra two years of post-study work rights.
South Coast Labour Council secretary Arthur Rorris said these changes were welcomed, however there was a long way to go.
"What we have found in the last two decades is that the immigration system has been weaponised against international workers and their rights," he said.
"It has been used as a way to facilitate exploitative business models."
The Grattan report outlines the disparities in enforcement, with the Fair Work Ombudsman hitting employers with just $4 million in penalties in 2021-22, compared to the ATO, which penalised taxpayers for $3 billion, and the ACCC imposed $232 million in penalties for breaches of competition and consumer law.
Ms Bagda said she could see one rule for her Australian co-workers, and another for her international student compatriots.
"In the same position, Australian students can work as many hours as they want, teach multiple subjects, take on multiple rules, and they get government assistance, which we don't," she said.
"I don't think it's fair."
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