A nationwide audit has uncovered more than $300,000 in wages owed to migrant workers in regional hospitality venues, as experts warn underpayment and exploitation remains a “pervasive” issue across Australia.
More than half of the cafes, pubs and restaurants inspected were caught underpaying or exploiting migrant workers in what advocates say reflects a deeply entrenched problem across regional hospitality.
The Australian Border Force operation targeting more than 300 regional hospitality venues over seven months found widespread breaches of sponsorship rules, with workers underpaid and some rostered for excessive hours.
During unannounced visits, ABF inspectors also discovered cases where some employers were illegally deducting money from migrant workers’ pay.
In one case, a regional Victorian restaurant was forced to back-pay more than $50,000 after failing to pay penalty rates to a sponsored worker over two years. In NSW, a venue was forced to repay more than $31,000 in wages and superannuation and was banned from sponsoring additional workers for six months.
The findings, from Operation Odin, offer a snapshot of conditions facing migrant workers in parts of regional Australia, where labour shortages are acute and oversight can be limited.
Migrant Workers Centre chief executive Matt Kunkel said the widespread exploitation did not come as a surprise, and noted regional areas were particularly problematic given they attract workers from overseas looking for opportunities in Australia.
“We do see migrant workers continuing to be exploited in the hospitality industry … it’s an industry where lots of migrant workers work,” Kunkel said.
“You have a lot of backpackers rolling through the regions who are probably on flat rates or cash jobs, and for them, it might not be a huge deal because they are not sticking around. But where you’ve got people coming maybe with the view to a more permanent settlement, that’s where the exploitation becomes really pervasive because it can affect their ability to stay.”
Following the sting, authorities stripped 41 businesses of their ability to sponsor migrant workers or barred them from hiring new overseas workers. Another 35 businesses were issued compliance notices.
More than $300,000 in unpaid wages have been recovered so far, and investigations continue into at least 80 regional businesses.
Advocates say exploitation can be difficult to challenge, particularly for workers whose visa status is tied to their employer, or who fear losing income, housing or the ability to remain in Australia.
“There is a great number of people who don’t yet understand the rights and conditions they should be receiving, so they are susceptible to dodgy bosses who know they are doing the wrong thing,” Kunkel said.
“Then you have another cohort of workers who are more tightly bound to their employer, so in those circumstances workers may be getting threats from their employer that they may withdraw their sponsorship, or they will have them deported.”
The Albanese government introduced tougher laws in 2024 which made it a criminal offence to use a worker’s visa status to exploit them, as well as introducing hiring bans and offering protection to migrants who report abuse.
Kunkel said he was very supportive of the beefed up-laws and described them as a “fantastic” tool. But he called for more education to help migrant workers recognise when they were being exploited.
“They are starting to make a difference, but for them to really make a wide systemic difference they need to be backed up by ongoing education and support for the people they are designed to protect,” he said.
“It is great to see the regulators out clamping down, but what is needed is wider programs to educate migrant 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, the assistant minister for citizenship, customs and multicultural affairs, said the ABF operation showed the laws were beginning to have an impact, and warned further enforcement was still to come.
“Dodgy employers use underpayment and mistreatment to gain an unfair edge over businesses doing the right thing and wages and exploitation drives down wages and conditions for all Aussie workers,” Hill said.
“When migrant workers are exploited, all Australian workers and businesses lose out.”
ABF Commander John Taylor said the operation was among the largest co-ordinated efforts to address migrant worker exploitation, and officers carried out unannounced inspections across every state and territory.
Taylor said the results came after “months of complex investigations, intelligence [and] dedicated field work”.
Further inspections are expected, with businesses subject to monitoring for up to five years after sponsoring workers.
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