Sarah Stephen
On January 18, ALP leader Mark Latham announced on January 18 that a federal Labor government would introduce a foreign worker ID card, which employers would be obliged to check to see if someone is entitled to work.
Employers who knowingly employ "illegal" workers would face up to one year's imprisonment said Latham. He also proposed creation of a special task force which have powers to inspect and monitor workplaces suspected of employing undocumented workers.
According to Latham, undocumented workers — estimated by the government to number around 30,000 — represent "the biggest problem in Australia's migration system". The estimated number of undocumented workers in Australia amounts to no more than 0.15% of the population.
Latham would have us believe that a large proportion of them are workers brought into Australia as part of illegal employment rackets backed by organised crime. They are not. They include tourists working in bars and restaurants when their visas don't permit this, overseas students who exceed the restriction of work hours imposed as part of their visa conditions, and a whole range of other people simply overstaying their visas and continuing to work and live in Australia.
Latham's proposal is nothing more than a gimmick to underline Labor's "law-and-order" credentials and make a few headlines in the lead up to the ALP national conference on January 29-31.
It proposes nothing that isn't already in place. The tax file number system — introduced after public opposition in 1986 to the proposed Australia Card — was designed to catch foreign workers overstaying their visas.
Visitors to Australia already have photo ID in their passport, and immigration department squads already conduct raids for illegal workers.
From Green Left Weekly, January 28, 2004.
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