By Unions NSW

This report on workplace exploitation and the experience of migrant women living in Australia on temporary visas identifies an unacceptable level of sexual harassment, exacerbated by visa status, and calls for immediate policy action. The report makes recommendations to create a safer and more equitable working environment for migrant women.

The study underscores the need to implement policy changes that target intersecting issues experienced by migrant women in Australia. Migrant women on temporary visas are forced to endure sexual harassment in silence due to numerous factors, including uncertainty regarding their immigration status, precarious work, and racial and gender workplace discrimination. The research also underscores the need to allocate more resources to developing services to provide advice, education, and training to empower migrant women to report sexual harassment.

Key findings

• 51% of respondents reported having experienced sexual harassment at work.

• Sexual harassment was commonly reported in the construction, hospitality, horticulture, retail, and cleaning industries.

• 82% of respondents who worked in the construction industry experienced sexual harassment.

• Participants experienced a range of repercussions when they tried to defend themselves, rejected the behaviour or reported the harasser’s conduct.

• 48% working in the construction and horticulture industries decided to leave their job because they felt unsafe.

• 50% of those who experienced workplace sexual harassment were concerned that reporting could result in losing their job, and 75% did not report the incident.

Recommendations

1. Migrant worker centres should be established in each state.

2. Culturally appropriate education and training should be developed in each state in collaboration with migrant worker groups.

3. Implement a legal framework and policies to protect migrant women.

4. Develop reporting pathways that reflect the needs of migrant women.

5. Introduce reforms to ensure migrant women have access to existing legal avenues to address sexual harassment.

6. Facilitate migrant women's access to employment opportunities.

7. Provide temporary migrant women with visa protections to ensure they can report sexual harassment without fear of visa cancellations or other negative impacts to their immigration status.

8. Remove the requirement for working holiday makers to undertake ‘specified work’ in regional areas.

9. Remove the working hours cap on student visas.

Sydney: Unions NSW, 2024. 56p.

By Alexandra Gannoni and Samantha Bricknell

The Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery National Minimum Dataset (HTMS NMDS) is a national data collection on suspected victim‑survivors and perpetrators of modern slavery in Australia. This report describes the findings of the HTMS NMDS pilot data collection, conducted over six months from 1 July to 31 December 2022.  

Statistical Report no. 48. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.2024. 41p.

By Jo Spangaro, Nigel Spence, Jacqui Cameron, Kelsey Hegarty, et al.

Around one third of refugee women in Australia are estimated to have experienced domestic violence (DV) and many face multiple post-migration challenges. Universal screening for domestic violence, and response, is recommended for women in priority populations and has been implemented in health services across diverse jurisdictions. Universal screening for domestic violence involves asking all women a small number of standardised and validated questions about experiences of violence at home. Asking women directly about experiences of abuse increases disclosure and creates opportunity for supportive intervention. However, this is untested with refugee women accessing settlement services.

The Safety and Health after Arrival (SAHAR) study introduced and evaluated a culturally tailored DV identification and response strategy with women accessing five refugee settlement services in NSW, Australia, four in the greater Sydney area and one regional NSW site.

This report finds the SAHAR intervention was effectively implemented by the settlement service providers. The relatively high disclosure rate, and high levels of acceptance of the intervention with both refugee women and settlement staff, demonstrate the feasibility of culturally tailored, universal DV screening and response in settlement services. Successful implementation of DV screening and response requires: planning and preparation, organisational commitment, training, translated tools and resources, staff support during implementation, guidelines and referral protocols.

Wollongong, AUS: University of Wollongong 2024. 34p.

By Peter Nagle and Richard Summerrell

On 10 August 1987 the then Prime Minister, the Honourable R J L Hawke, announced the formation of a Royal Commission to investigate the causes of deaths of Aboriginals while held in State and Territory jails. The Royal Commission was established in response to a growing public concern that deaths in custody of Aboriginal people were too common and poorly explained. This Commonwealth Royal Commission was the 108th since Federation. The establishment of the Commission and the appointment of the Honourable Mr Justice Muirhead as Royal Commissioner had the support of all State and Territory governments….Access to records collected or created by government has always been subject to opposing pressures. Access to records is seen as providing a check on arbitrary government power, but privacy considerations and other sensitivities also need to be protected….”

National Archives of Australia. 1996. 85p.

By Linda Leung, Cath Finney Lamb and Liz Emrys

An investigation into the use of information communication technologies by refugees during flight, displacement and in settlement, this book examines the impact of Australia’s official policy of mandatory detention on how asylum seekers and refugees maintain links to diasporas and networks of support. Given the restricted contact with the world outside of the immigration detention centre, the book juxtaposes forms and processes of technology-mediated communication between institutionalised detention, with those of displacement and settlement. It finds that while there are obstacles to communication in situations of conflict and dislocation, asylum seekers and refugees are able to ‘make do’ with the technology options available to them in ways which were less constrained than in detention settings. The book also outlines how communication practices during the settlement process focus on learning new technologies, and repairing the disconnections with family members resulting from separation and detention.

Broadway: UTS ePRESS, 2009. 54p.

By Global Detention Project

Australia has a severe and punitive immigration detention system. It’s: policy of mandatory, indefinite detention does not distinguish between adults or children, visa violators or asylum seekers. Dozens have languished in detention for more than a decade. Private contractors, paid billions to operate centres, have been continually criticized for abusing detainees and failing to provide services. Observers have repeatedly denounced the detention regime, including its offshore operations, as violating human rights and international law. The price tag for maintaining the system is astronomical: It costs nearly $400,000 per detainee/year compared to less than $50,000 for community housing. But the physical and mental costs are even higher: Experts have documented the devastating impact of prolonged detention on the health of detainees, which has led to high levels of self-harm, long-term illnesses, and severe psychological disorders like schizophrenia.

Geneva, SWIT: Global Detention Project, 2022. 58p.