Audit uncovers $300,000 in unpaid wages in regional Australia
A nationwide audit has uncovered more than $300,000 in wages owed to migrant workers in regional accommodation venues as experts warn underpayment and exploitation remains a “widespread” problem across Australia.
More than half of the cafes, bars and restaurants inspected were found to be underpaying or exploiting migrant workers. Advocates say this reflects a deep-seated problem across regional hospitality.
The Australian Border Force operation, which targeted more than 300 regional accommodation venues over seven months, found widespread breaches of sponsorship rules, workers were underpaid and some had excessive working hours.
During unannounced visits, ABF inspectors also discovered cases of some employers illegally deducting migrant workers’ wages.
In one case, a regional Victorian restaurant was forced to pay back more than $50,000 to a sponsored worker after failing to pay penalty rates for two years. A NSW venue has been forced to pay more than $31,000 in wages and superannuation and has been banned from sponsoring additional workers for six months.
The findings from Operation Odin provide a snapshot of the conditions faced by migrant workers in parts of Australia where labor shortages are severe and surveillance may be limited.
Matt Kunkel, chief executive of the Migrant Workers Centre, said widespread exploitation was no surprise and noted regional areas were particularly problematic given they attract workers from overseas seeking opportunities in Australia.
“We see that immigrant workers continue to be exploited in the hospitality industry… this is an industry that employs a large number of immigrant workers,” Kunkel said.
“There’s a lot of backpackers moving around the areas and probably doing fixed wage or cash jobs, and for them it might not be a huge problem because they’re not sticking around. But where you’ve got people coming perhaps with the intention of a more permanent solution, that’s where the exploitation really becomes widespread because it can affect their ability to stay.”
Following the attack, authorities stripped 41 businesses of their ability to sponsor migrant workers or banned them from hiring new overseas workers. Compliance notices were also issued to 35 other businesses.
More than $300,000 in unpaid wages has so far been recovered and investigations into at least 80 regional businesses are ongoing.
Advocates say it can be difficult to challenge exploitation, especially for workers whose visa status depends on their employers or who fear losing income, housing or the ability to stay in Australia.
“There are a lot of people who don’t yet understand the rights and conditions they should receive, so they are vulnerable to dangerous bosses who know they are doing something wrong,” Kunkel said.
“Then there is another group of workers who are more closely tied to their employers, so under these circumstances workers may be receiving threats from their employers that they may withdraw their sponsorship or have them deported.”
The Albanian government passed tougher laws in 2024, making it a criminal offense to use a worker’s visa status to exploit them, imposing hiring bans and providing protections to immigrants who report abuse.
Kunkel said he is very supportive of strengthened laws and called them a “wonderful” tool. But he called for more education to help migrant workers understand when they are being exploited.
“They are starting to make a difference, but in order for them to really make a broad systemic difference, there needs to be ongoing training and support for the people they are designed to protect,” he said.
“It’s great to see regulators cracking down, but what’s needed are broader programs to educate immigrant workers that they have these rights and new protections. You can’t enforce a right you don’t know you have.”
Labor MP Julian Hill, Deputy Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multiculturalism, said the ABF operation showed the law was starting to have an impact and warned more sanctions could still be coming.
“Dodgy employers use underpayment and mistreatment to gain an unfair advantage over businesses doing the right thing, and undercutting and exploitation are driving down the wages and conditions of all Australian workers,” Hill said.
“When migrant workers are exploited, all Australian workers and businesses lose.”
ABF Commander John Taylor said the operation was one of the largest coordinated efforts to address migrant worker exploitation, with officers carrying out unannounced inspections in every state and territory.
Taylor said the results were based on “months of complex investigations, intelligence and [and] special field work”.
More inspections are expected and businesses will be subject to monitoring for up to five years after sponsoring workers.
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