The Sydney Morning Herald
Matthew Moore and Malcolm Knox
August 28, 2007

CONDITIONS in remote Australian workplaces, where two foreigners died within three days in June, are so harsh that a leading immigration expert says they are “akin to slavery”.

A Herald investigation has exposed blatant breaches of the 457 skilled visa scheme and uncovered hidden details of the deaths of the two workers in the Northern Territory and Queensland, and of a third north of Perth.

The investigation highlights disturbing exploitation of overseas workers, too afraid to speak out, under a scheme that allows employers to sponsor thousands of foreigners to come into Australia and do jobs locals cannot or will not do. It reveals the “extremely ugly face” of the 457 visa system, according to the immigration expert Professor Bob Birrell, from Monash University. read more..

The Sydney Morning Herald
August 28, 2007

Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews is standing by the 457 visa program after claims employer abuse of the scheme has led to the deaths of vulnerable foreign workers.

Unions ramped up criticism of the scheme and Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd called for better monitoring after reports three 457 visa holders had died in the past five months.

Filipino farm supervisor Pedro Balading was thrown off the back of a truck and killed on a Northern Territory cattle station in June, not long after complaining he was being forced to do menial work in breach of his visa conditions. read more..

IRIN
August 22, 2007

Sixteen-year-old Sushma does not want to reveal her true identity for fear that the traffickers who sold her into the notorious brothel area of Kamathipura in Mumbai, India, could track her down and kill her.

“I should have listened to my village schoolteacher who told me not to be taken in by false promises of a job abroad,” she told IRIN, expressing regret that she had left her village in Banke, nearly 600km southwest of Kathmandu, without even informing her parents.

“There are so many innocent village girls who have been lured by traffickers with false promises of earning a lot of money in a foreign country,” said Sushma. read more..