Special Debates — Migrant Exploitation Inquiry—Report of the Education and Workforce Committee

I move, That the House take note of the report of the Education and Workforce Committee on the inquiry into migrant exploitation.

The report of the Education and Workforce Committee on the inquiry into migrant exploitation was an in-depth and constructive inquiry. As chair of the select committee, I would like to begin by thanking all the submitters who took time to write to us or present to us. We had a total of 82 written submissions, 55 from individuals and 27 organisations, and we heard many of these in person.

I will begin with the context in which this inquiry was carried out. As noted in the introduction of our report, migrant exploitation is widespread and takes many forms. It’s a spectrum of non-compliance with minimum employment legislation, from ignorant non-compliance through to forced labour and people-trafficking. Migrant workers are more likely to be underpaid, denied leave, made to work excessive hours, and denied basic employment protections, resulting in financial, physical, and psychological suffering. Exploitative work practices have negative implications for our economy. Such practices undercut good employers and contribute to wage suppression and job displacement in low-paid industries. Migrant exploitation negatively affects New Zealand’s international reputation, and it must be condemned.

The number of complaints to Immigration New Zealand about exploitation have increased significantly over the last decade, from 31 allegations in 2011-12 to 390 in 2018 and 2019, and with the launch of new reporting tools in 2021, that number subsequently rose to 855. Eleven percent of temporary migrants who responded to our survey also reported that they felt threatened by their employer.

With these very serious issues in mind, we started an inquiry into migrant exploitation on 20 October 2021. Within this inquiry, we were also interested in the reforms made as a result of the 2019 review of temporary migrant workers. We drafted our terms of reference, seeking to consider the frequency and scale of exploitation of migrant workers in New Zealand, investigate the impact of exploitation and what can be done to address that impact. Through the inquiry, we planned to look into the Government processes used to investigate cases of exploitation and find out what barriers prevent migrants coming forward to report exploitation.

In 2019, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) led the review into the exploitation of temporary migrant workers. As part of that review, it convened a consultation group representing migrants, businesses, unions, and international students. It undertook public consultation on policy proposals. The submissions that we received for this inquiry reflect many of MBIE’s findings from their 2019 review. Submitters described the causes and most common forms of migrant exploitation. Exploitative employers take advantage of the power imbalance between employers and migrant workers. This imbalance is often compounded by cultural differences, the migrant’s isolation from family and friends, and their unfamiliarity with New Zealand laws. Some submitters said that employers believe that they are unlikely to be caught exploiting migrants. MBIE agrees with submitters that employers need to have a better understanding of their obligations. It also agrees that employers’ compliance with employment law needs to improve and that greater powers are needed to investigate and take action against exploitative employers.

MBIE has expanded its information and education activities since July 2021. These activities are aimed at improving employers’ awareness of their obligations. The dedicated phone line for migrant exploitation has answered over a thousand calls since it launched in July 2021. The general employment phone line received over 77,000 calls in the last year. Many were from employers seeking to better understand their obligations or how to meet them.

The new Accredited Employer Work Visa will require employers to be accredited and pass a job check before they are allowed to employ migrant workers. This visa has become the main pathway for employer-assisted temporary work visas from 4 July this year. The process for the new Accredited Employer Work Visa will allow Immigration New Zealand to conduct compliance checks with employers after the initial application process has finished. This promotes further accountability for employers.

The Government has allocated $50 million to support its implementation of new measures to address migrant exploitation. This also funds an information and education plan. The plan focuses on providing more information to employers and migrant workers about employment rights and obligations, visas, and support for victims.

We acknowledge the work gone into education and information for employers. We believe that migrant exploitation will primarily be lessened through better enforcement and monitoring. We welcome the increase in the number of Immigration New Zealand staff and labour inspectors dedicated to investigating reports of migrant exploitation. We recommend the ongoing evaluation of the Accredited Employer Work Visa to determine whether accreditation and ongoing compliance checks are comprehensive in preventing exploitation. Along with this, we recommend the Government investigate ways for migrants to be better informed about their employment rights through the information provided in the Employment New Zealand learning modules.

A large proportion of submitters identified employer-assisted visas as a cause of migrant exploitation. These visas involve tying a migrant’s immigration status to a particular employer. Submitters said this creates a power imbalance between the employer and the migrant worker. This imbalance can be abused. MBIE said that being on an employer-assisted visa is one factor that can increase the risk of exploitation, and the aim of this visa is to prevent exploitative employers from hiring migrants. We recommend there be ongoing evaluation of whether migrant exploitation protection visas and variations of conditions are easily and quickly accessible. This evaluation must consider processing times.

Submitters identified a number of barriers preventing migrants from reporting exploitation. These include immigration and visa status, financial uncertainty, and inadequate support for victims. Submitters proposed a range of solutions. They include better information for migrants about their rights; more financial, language, and legal support for migrants; greater empathy from officials; faster immigration processes; and amnesties for overstayers.

MBIE said that it views reducing barriers to reporting exploitation as key, and as a result of its 2019 review launched a dedicated phone number and new online form to make it easier to report migrant exploitation. We realise it can be difficult for migrants to report exploitation, and we acknowledge the bravery of the people who came forward. We note the work that has been done to mitigate barriers to reporting exploitation. We recommend that the Government allocate more funding to organisations that support victims of migrant exploitation and investigate how it can prevent exploitation from occurring in the first place.

Restricting work rights for partners of work visa holders may have negative outcomes. We heard repeatedly from submitters that migrants don’t report exploitation because they fear deportation or other changes to their visa status. Similarly, some migrants may not report family violence because their immigration status is tied to an abusive partner. MBIE said that changes to work rights for partners of work visa holders are being made in the context of the Government’s immigration rebalance. It said the rebalance aims to improve productivity and ensure the migrant workforce is high-skilled. MBIE has said that the requirements imposed on Accredited Employer Work Visa holders need to also be applied to their partners. Not doing so would undermine the Government’s goal of limiting the ability of employers to hire migrants for lower-skilled, lower-paid roles. We recommend that the Government prioritise work to make sure migrant partners and families are suitably supported by the immigration system after any situations of family violence.

As previously mentioned, the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) policy review which was begun in 2019 but delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic is currently under way, with proposals anticipated to be put before Cabinet by mid-2023. The review has a specific focus on the wellbeing of the RSE worker, including the quality of accommodation and the rules for deductions. We recommend the Government work to ensure that employers who provide accommodation to their employees do not lock workers into substandard accommodation arrangements.

I want to again thank all those who took the time to contribute to this piece of work. Their valuable contributions have shaped an important piece of work. I also want to thank the Office of the Clerk, our officials, and my colleagues on the select committee around the House for their collaborative contributions. I’m proud of the report our committee has presented, and we hope our report highlights the important issue and the work still to be done. With our borders open once again and near-record low unemployment, migrant workers are returning to New Zealand, helping to grow our economy and bring new perspectives to our communities.

Protecting migrant workers from exploitation is a priority for the Government, and today’s introduction by the Hon Priyanca Radhakrishnan of the Worker Protection (Migrant and Other Employees) Bill will crack down on employer non-compliance. Any form of exploitation is not acceptable. Minister the Hon Michael Wood said it best: “These crimes deprive people of their human rights, traumatise victims and hurt communities and the economy—they must be stamped out.” Thank you, Mr Speaker.

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It’s a pleasure to speak to—and it’s a rather unfortunate topic but also a very, very important topic in terms of exploitation of our migrant population in New Zealand. I guess, nobody’s actually suggesting that all migrants are being exploited or that all employers are terrible employers, but it does actually happen in New Zealand. I think it is a very, very sad indictment on our country and our systems where we have a situation where migrant workers who come to New Zealand—often with the grand hope of growing their personal wealth for a better future for their family, potentially for their children to have better opportunities than themselves, which is in fact often the hope of migrants who move to this country, like my parents had for myself and my brother—often find themselves being exploited.

I endorse part of what the previous speaker, Marja Lubeck, has said, in terms of one of the reasons why, and that is that often most issues are related to things like the visa status of the migrant, whether it’s actually a student or employer assisted visa rather than a residency visa, or whether the migrant comes from lower income source countries, poorer countries in effect, or has very poor English proficiency and lacks the independence in terms of support. They don’t actually have the support network around them—no family network—for them to seek assistance, and potentially they’re working outside of their visa conditions, which means they’re actually working illegally so they’re too afraid to seek assistance, and so they often are targets of abuse, I guess, in a way; it is abuse, and they actually need the job to support themselves to remain in the country.

I think it is very pertinent to put some of the numbers to bring context into the exploitation issue that we have. I think, according to the report, going back to 2011-12 year, there were 31 allegations or complaints to immigration. By 2018-19, there were 390 complaints to immigration of exploitation. And with the launch of new reporting tools in 2021, the number of complaints rose to 855. I guess it actually means that that’s making it easy for people to complain—and, obviously, with certain complaints, they will be wrong; you know, allegations of abuse that which may never been proven—but the fact that people feel comfortable to bring that abuse and exploitation to the authority for them to investigate, I think, is very, very good progress, going from 2011 to now.

New Zealand has had a huge number of temporary migrant workers. We currently apparently have 170,000, which is down from 235,000 before the COVID pandemic. One of the problems is that we do have a lack of employees in this country. We need more workers for businesses. And when I read the report, submitters described the causes and most common forms of migrant exploitation to be the power imbalance that exists between employers and migrant workers. The imbalance is often compounded by cultural differences, the migrants’ isolation from family and friends, and the unfamiliarity with New Zealand laws. As a migrant who has actually moved to this country—I know it was a little while ago that I moved to this country, but coming to New Zealand, even having lived in Australia—and in Australia I would have thought our trans-Tasman cousins were more similar to New Zealand than anywhere else in the world. But even then I found New Zealand, when I first arrived, different to what I was used to in Australia. The terminologies were different. For example, in Australia, the dairies, as we know as dairies, are called milk bars. And in New Zealand, if I said, “Where’s the milk bar?”, people would go “What?” Exactly. It’s terminologies that are different. Our cultures are different. And I think for a new migrant coming in from countries where they have a lower socio-economic background, are poorer countries not proficient in the English language, and they have no familial support, they are exposed and have no concept of where their rights are in this country. I think it is ripe for them to be exploited, and I’m glad that this report actually exists.

One thing that actually does concern me about the report, particularly since there is cross-party support to make sure that we highlight the issue—normally that’s what happens with inquiries at select committee. But it does actually concern me that there were things that I actually put on the report that weren’t part of the select committee process or the inquiry. For example, the National Party does not support the recommendation that Immigration New Zealand should consider involving the views of the union at the accreditation stage of the accredited employer work visa process, because nobody who submitted to all the officials at any stage during the inquiry said that; it was added at the end of the process by Government members without any chance to question officials, submitters, or, in fact, the unions themselves. I think it is rather sad that we did that because I think often inquiries from select committees are about the submissions and what was actually said at select committee, and I don’t think things that are not said should be added for ideological reasons.

New Zealand has a cost of living crisis and we also have an employment shortage crisis. Many employers who actually want to employ people from overseas have to be accredited employers, and the kind of hoops they have to jump through to prove that they should be included as an accredited employer is actually a way to stop them from wanting to be accredited because there’s so many things that they have to tick. It’s like a tick-box exercise, one after the other, to prove to Immigration that they are accredited, qualified, to employ people from overseas. And, yet, every day, even in the ICT sector, there are about 3,000 jobs that are being advertised because we can’t get enough people in New Zealand to work.

The issue is that, for example, the visa category for partners—New Zealand competes with the rest of the world for people who have the skills to come here. One of the things that they look at is whether their partner, their wife or their husband, can work in this country. And when the Government decides to get rid of the previous immigration setting for automatically being granted, the work right is being removed by this Government, which makes it harder. What it means is that people who are looking to New Zealand to come to, to do work, see that their partners don’t actually have an automatic right to work here, and they have to, in their own right, have a job at a particular level and a particular pay before they can have the work right. To me, that actually restricts them from thinking New Zealand is a good place for them to come, and it may even open the partner up to the kinds of exploitation that we are looking to prevent. Because often when people have certain restrictions, they are open to potentially working under the table, and, although it is illegal, it does actually happen in this country and everywhere else. I think the settings really need to be right and we need to protect the vulnerable community who come here, who actually work, and they work really hard. We need to protect them from exploitation because any exploitation is bad, in my opinion.

I commend the work of the select committee and the members who have actually listened to the submissions. I wasn’t one of them, but I just want to acknowledge the work that they have done.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. “Migrant workers living at school camp forced to endure ‘unacceptable conditions’”. “‘Stood on and sworn at’: police investigate alleged assault on migrant workers”. “Employers openly talk about charging ‘migrant meat’ more for residency”. These are the realities that many of our migrant workers face in Aotearoa, and as a House I want us to reflect on our complicity in creating the conditions for this exploitation to happen.

For far too long, politicians across the House have used language that dehumanises our migrant communities and reduces us to economic units, whether it is “Chinese-sounding names” or talking about our work as “low-skilled, low-value”. When we refer to our communities in this way, and uphold policies that enable exploitation, it is simply not good enough to talk about the role of employers, and we need to reflect on the role that we play to ensure that our migrant communities can thrive. This is why this inquiry into migrant exploitation is so important. It was an opportunity for our migrant communities to be heard in Parliament and for us, as a cross-party group, to put out some recommendations for the Government to, hopefully, follow through.

Throughout this inquiry, one of the key themes that came through from submitters—many of them migrants—was the power dynamic that existed between employers and migrants themselves. That power dynamic came from the visa system that ties workers to a single employer. That gives employers so much power over the lives of immigrants, where a worker knows that they’re scared of raising concerns because of the risk that their employer may penalise them. We have created the conditions for exploitation to happen, and we’ve made it hard for migrants to come forward. Too many of the migrants who have come forward right now are on limited visas, facing potential deportation instead of being supported. It is not good enough to simply put in place measures to support migrants once exploitation happens; we need to prevent exploitation from happening in the first place.

Despite so many of our submitters talking about the need to decouple work visas from single employers to end this practice that effectively amounts, in some cases, to modern-day slavery, I was deeply disheartened to not see the cross-party group recommend the decoupling of work visas from single employers. We’ve had unions, the Productivity Commission, and migrants themselves being really clear of the need to make these changes. We’ve also covered the issue around the barriers to reporting exploitation when it happens, and it was really clear that the criminalisation of migrant sex workers continues to play a role in entrenching exploitation. We also saw how overstayers face exploitative conditions and find it really hard to report exploitation—and sometimes when they do, they once again get punished instead of supported. This is why the Green Party continues to call for the decriminalisation of migrant sex workers, as well as an amnesty for overstayers, as part of a holistic response to this growing issue.

We also addressed the fact that migrants are not given proper protections under the Human Rights Act 1993. Migrants cannot make complaints to the Human Rights Commission on issues relating to immigration, and we’ve accepted in our immigration laws that it is OK to discriminate against migrants and to basically not cover them on what should be a fundamental right. So this is why we continue having disabled migrants facing horrible conditions and being prevented from being able to participate in our communities and therefore obtain visas.

One of the things that I was particularly concerned about from our committee findings in relation to the working rights of partners is that as of December most partners of migrants will lose their ability to participate in employment. And despite the inquiry being so clear that Cabinet even highlighted the potential increased risk of family violence as a result, the Government decided to go ahead with these changes, and I want to remind the immigration Minister that he plays a role in the commitment to Te Aorerekura—every Minister plays a role in preventing family violence and it is such a shame that this Government is going to put in policies that are going to cause harm.

So, as we work through this committee and this report, I was really pleased to none the less see a very collegial approach to this, and I do want to thank the member Ibrahim Omer for the work that we did to encourage migrants to make submissions. But the work is not finished. We have so much more to do ensure that migrant workers are free from exploitation, and I want to encourage this Government to once again not stack ambulances as the bottom of the cliff but to make the necessary changes to prevent exploitation from happening. Migrants should never be facing conditions that effectively amount to modern-day slavery. This needs to change right now and the Green Party will continue fighting for this.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. It is a pleasure to rise on behalf of ACT to talk about this issue and this report. This is a tricky topic. Migrant exploitation is an incredibly serious issue. In terms of the amount of it in New Zealand, it is often hard to say, though the causes can be varied.

One of our primary concerns with the inquiry into migrant exploitation is that it could be used as a vehicle to justify the Government’s immigration policies, in particular those that have created significant distress over many years, particularly throughout the pandemic. Such policies include, obviously, stranding people offshore, splitting families up, freezing pathways to residency—and the main pathway is still not open—and just tons of ad hoc policy-making along the way to try to make up for it.

As I said, this is a very serious issue. What I would add is that complicated immigration law and complicated immigration policy is often why those who are exploited end up at community law centres or talking to advisers or perhaps a lawyer, pro bono, getting help from them to work through the process, even with the launch of the new visa. The complex system means that it’s easier to cause these problems and it’s harder to actually get out of them.

So that’s the backdrop: the closed border; work rights, as the Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March mentioned; expired visas; people who are stranded overseas and can’t come back when they’ve got belongings here and, in some cases, some family here—and we’re still dealing with those issues.

Now, one thing I want to turn to is the Accredited Employer Work Visa. This is something that I’ve had concerns about since it was announced, or detailed, last year. It was good to see that it got delayed in the first instance, because it clearly wasn’t ready. That being said, it has rolled out, and one of the most perverse features of that scheme is tying visas to employers, so making it particularly difficult for a migrant employee to get a job and then for them to move. In the whole scheme of our immigration system, combining six visas into one where they’re locked in and they can’t actually get out without going through a whole lot of process is just absolutely the perfect recipe for migrant exploitation.

To add to that, the bill that was announced today in the press release from the Government is basically just a band-aid solution for a problem that’s caused by the Government. You know, it’s a shame that that bill is actually needed because of a problem that the Government caused.

So further with the Accredited Employer Work Visa scheme, in addition to making it hard to switch jobs, you’ve also got employers. Somebody might be a bad employer—or on the margins—and there’s an incentive to actually, because it’s so difficult, avoid that accreditation scheme altogether and to just keep doing what they’re doing and illegally hiring migrants. So you’re going to get a bit of a two-phase system there.

So overall, it’s just incredible that the Government has done this report into migrant exploitation and they say they take it seriously and they’re doing this bill, because as far as I can tell, the vast majority of exploitation in my exposure to this sector is caused by Government policy just making things too hard, too difficult, too much interference and people get—

Hon Priyanca Radhakrishnan: So out of touch. Clearly has no idea.

Dr JAMES McDOWALL: So out of touch? I’ve been in the industry for many years; probably longer than you have, so—anyway. In terms of the scale—

Hon Priyanca Radhakrishnan: And you still have no idea.

Dr JAMES McDOWALL: —of exploitation and the new visa that was launched, and it’s—the interjections; clearly the Government takes it seriously, just laughing away at this.

So in terms of the migrant exploitation visa that was launched, there were 134 granted in one year. So, I mean, that’s good, 134, but in the grand scale of the number of migrants in New Zealand, I would suggest that if that was the panacea to an exploitation problem, something is going wrong there. Either people don’t have access to it or they don’t understand it, or something.

This clearly needs to be taken more seriously. From our point of view, it’s deeply ironic that we are having this conversation, because migrants have probably never before been treated so badly by a Government in New Zealand as they have by this one. We’ll continue to speak in favour of migrants, in support of migrants, and in support of good policy. Thank you very much, Madam Speaker.

Kia orana, 谢谢, and talofa, Madam Speaker. Pasifika workers who come to Aotearoa to work deserve to have a warm place to live, safe working conditions, and good pay. Migrant workers and Pasifika workers come here with dreams. They are not just economic units to plug into the capitalist matrix; they come here with dreams. That’s how many of our families got here. That’s how my family got here, and that’s how many of the families of members around the House got here as well. They come here with dreams and aspirations for better work and better jobs and education opportunities for their children. But no matter where they come from or why they travel to Aotearoa for work, the very least that we can do—this Parliament and the Government—is guarantee everyone who comes here is paid properly, treated fairly, and has a safe place to live. The Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme is exploitative. The rules put in place are left unchanged by the current Government and do not guarantee people the same conditions as local workers and other migrant workers.

And I get it—there is a review on the cards, and it’s coming down the track. But here’s the thing: that’s not until next year, and it’s too late, because that exploitation is happening right now. That exploitation is happening right now. Only this week, we heard yet another story about the exploitation of Pasifika peoples travelling to Rotorua for work. Migrant workers housed at a school camp in Rotorua were forced to endure unacceptable living conditions, including sharing just two washing machines between more than 160 people. And that’s what the inspection reports revealed. Men’s and women’s quarters were right next to each other, despite complaints that female workers felt unsafe. They were too scared to go outside or alone, let alone to the toilet blocks at night.

Here’s a quote from one of the reports that came out of the Official Information Act: “I myself would not want to live in such conditions and can only imagine what our workers have to endure.”, a farmer liaison worker wrote in a complaint to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, MBIE. The documents also included details of an investigation into a site run by Turners and Growers in Hastings where a complainant said, “A horrible stench of shit hits you when you arrive.”, due to what they believed were overflowing septic tanks. This is unacceptable. This is unacceptable treatment of Pasifika workers.

New Zealand has been down this path before. We just apologised last year for the treatment of Pasifika workers, and the result of that was the Dawn Raids. We’ve been here before. We know that this exploitation is happening now, so the right thing to do is to speed up that review process. Get it happening now because it’s happening now. Earlier this year—because this is not an isolated event—the Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner, Saunoamaali‘i Karanina Sumeo, travelled to Blenheim to investigate the work and living conditions of Pasifika workers under that same scheme. There she found horticultural workers being housed six people to a room, charged 150 bucks a week to sleep in freezing and damp conditions which see them fall sick repeatedly and then refused paid sick leave. That is why this review needs to start now. And we know that because we know that worker exploitation is happening right now as well.

This is not new. Attention has been brought to this through the inquiry process, and it comes up in the media. And I ask myself, “Where is the collective outrage? Where is the collective outrage of what’s happening with Pasifika workers? Would this be acceptable if these were white workers? Would it be? Would it be acceptable if these were a bunch of French students working in a ski field? Would it be acceptable?” It would not be. Where is our collective outrage? And that’s why it’s really important that this review happens now. The scheme needs to be replaced, and there needs to be a number of things put into place, including independent inspectors of the accommodation. We talk about healthy home standards; what about healthy home standards for the workers? Paid sick leave: if you get sick and you end up in hospital, that’s expensive. You need to sort out the insurance side of things as well—medical insurance for RSE workers. Workers should also be trained on health and safety standards.

We’ve got a long way to go. Aotearoa is a part of the Pacific. We need to treat our relatives and we need to treat our neighbours with dignity and respect. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Tēnā koe, Madam Speaker. Can I begin my contribution with a word of thanks to the Education and Workforce Committee, chaired by my friend and colleague Marja Lubeck. Thank you for the work that the committee has done to produce the report, and can I also acknowledge all those who submitted as part of this inquiry.

The report reflects, as Marja has said previously, what we found also through the 2019 temporary migrant worker review that was undertaken by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), that looked into the specific kinds of measures that the Government could take to stamp out migrant exploitation. As many members in this House have said, this is unacceptable, and that is why we embarked upon the review process to find out what we could do to stamp out this issue of migrant exploitation.

Many have shared stories in this House about the exploitation that many others have been subjected to, and I spoke this morning, when I announced some further steps that we’re taking as a Government, of a person that I supported many years ago, prior to entering Parliament, who, when I worked through with him his bank statements, had been paid, on average, $4 an hour, well below the minimum wage. He’d been made to stay in a room that was just slightly bigger than a single bed, and had been locked in that room on weekends so that he couldn’t access any of the support that he might have otherwise. This is exactly why our Government has taken such a strong stance to end this exploitation, and I absolutely do not accept that what we are doing is the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, or that it is not good enough, because, frankly, no other Government has taken the steps that we have to do this.

In line with the select committee report, what we’re wanting to do is to prevent migrant exploitation from ever occurring. We’re doing that through a programme of information, education, and awareness raising. As the select committee has pointed out in our own research, commissioned by MBIE, many migrant workers aren’t aware of what their basic employment rights are in Aotearoa New Zealand. Many employers of migrants are not aware of what their legal compliance should be, and so we’re ensuring that we do what we can to expose both migrant workers and employers to those rights.

Today, I announced, for example, the community pilot that we are undertaking with community organisations—business networks like the Pacific Business Network and other associations like the Restaurant Association, who already have links with these community groups to ensure that they are supported to access tools that they can use to avail themselves of the information around those rights as well. The deterrent effect of the bill that was introduced into the House today will also take many steps to ensure that employers, for example, who repeatedly refuse to comply are made to comply, or, for example, are disqualified from directing or managing a company. There are further infringement offences in that bill as well that will have a deterrent effect.

We’re also ensuring, through tools that came into effect in 2021, that migrant workers have the avenues that they need to be able to report exploitation in a way that is safe. Many migrant workers have said to many of us on this side of the House, over many years, that they have felt that reporting migrant exploitation would result in them being deported. That was one of the key concerns and main fears that was shared with us. And so we ensured that there is an 0800 line that allows for direct reporting of exploitation, an online form in which people could do that, and the 0800 line has translation into about 180 languages, and also the migrant exploitation protection visa, that speaks to the fear around linking—you know, the link between them and the power imbalance between them and employers. This allowed migrants to report exploitation without the fear of deportation, and no migrant who has used this avenue has been deported, to date.

The final point to that is the enforcement, and ensuring that we strengthen the enforcement and compliance regime that we have, to ensure that employers comply with their legal obligations and stop profiting from the exploitation of migrants, and that’s the step that we’re taking with the introduction of the bill to the House today. So I absolutely reject claims that we are soft on exploitation or that we don’t take this seriously, or that it’s the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, because it’s not; it’s the fence at the top of the cliff. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. As a member of the Education and Workforce Committee, I believe that this inquiry was, overall, a very good inquiry, because none of us want to see migrants being exploited in this country. Sadly, from time to time, that does occasionally occur. New Zealand must protect its reputation and that of our employers. We need them to be highly regarded because we need migrant workers in this country. So many fields and so many areas in our country, our economy, and our productive sector are being hamstrung by a lack of migrant workers. It doesn’t matter where I go, whether it’s to a youth expo or to a business group, I get bailed up by employers saying they are desperately short of workers and finding it so difficult to get new migrants in.

National, in our differing view in the report, note that the Government’s reset policy to remove open work rights for partners of principal applicants from the end of this year will actually increase the chances of migrant exploitation. So while the member of the Government across from me, Priyanca Radhakrishnan, spoke about what wonderful things they are doing, it is incredibly bizarre that the new reset of policy is actually going to make it easier for exploitation. The cost of living crisis and the rampant inflation will mean that these partners of principal applicants will need to work for their families to be able to survive here. They are the ones that will be most likely to work illegally because the process and the pay rates that are being brought in by this policy reset are just too onerous for businesses to be able to cope with.

So we will see those partners working illegally, becoming more at risk of exploitation, or we will see those partners not working and becoming socially isolated at home. I personally saw the vulnerability of partners in that situation—partners of those on student visas—in my previous role. I saw how isolated those partners could become, how vulnerable they become to the prey of employers who will take advantage of them, but also how vulnerable they become to the risk of domestic abuse. We know that when people and families are put under pressure like this, things go wrong—they make bad decisions. We see things like domestic abuse increase. I saw it not often but often enough to concern me with partners of those on student visas. So the Government’s own policy reset is likely to cause further harm. So that member that spoke so passionately about the wonderful things they are doing needs to take a good look at that policy reset and see how it is going to open these partners up to the risk of exploitation.

Another significant concern that we had that wasn’t put into this report but was brought up by a number of submitters and a number of people in industry for this inquiry is that—the majority of individuals who are exploiting migrants are migrants themselves. It is incredibly important for that to be acknowledged because that then should be something that is looked at closely in the accreditation of businesses by Immigration New Zealand.

Speaking about the accreditation process, and, again, it doesn’t matter where I go to, I have employers coming to me and tearing their hair out over the complexity, the slowness, the onerousness of the accreditation process. We do not agree that the unions should be brought into that accreditation process. It wasn’t put forward by submitters; it adds cost and complexity to it. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. It’s a pleasure to be able to speak at this point in this special debate on the Education and Workforce Committee’s inquiry into migrant exploitation. We’ve heard now from the chair of our committee, Marja Lubeck, on the findings of our select committee inquiry into migrant exploitation, and we’ve also now heard from the Associate Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety, Priyanca Radhakrishnan, on the Government’s response to the inquiry and important issues raised by many in the community on this important issue, with the aim, of course, of protecting against migrant exploitation.

I also want to comment briefly on some statements made by others in the House. We had the first speaker from the National Party, Melissa Lee, mention that the inclusion of a very modest recommendation of the committee that we recommend the Government should investigate whether it should consult with unions as part of the employer accreditation process for the Accredited Employer Work Visa was ideological and shouldn’t have been included, because it wasn’t specifically raised by submitters or officials. Now, I reject the assertion that that member made, because I don’t think select committees are there just to report what is said to them and what they are advised to do; I think select committees are there as part of an important parliamentary process. And, as parliamentarians, I think we have role to consider what is put before us and also to make our best recommendations based on the evidence and our own minds turned towards the subject matter. So I reject that assertion by that member, who, I note, did not participate in the committee. I also reject the allegations made that the reset will increase exploitation. This is not correct.

This inquiry and announcements come at an important time for New Zealand. As our borders open and we once again welcome migrant workers, from a range of industries, back into New Zealand, it’s really important that we look at what is a serious issue, which this Government is taking extremely seriously. I want to stop here and acknowledge the huge contribution that migrants and our migrant communities make to New Zealand. Migrant workers form a part of almost every sector, industry, and workplace in New Zealand, and their contributions are hugely valued. However, as we have heard from contributions throughout the House today and also from the submissions to our inquiry, sometimes we as a country can fall short of our own high expectations when it comes to the experience of migrants when they come to Aotearoa. Often the migrants that are most subject to exploitation are frequently those who are the most vulnerable. That includes those who have limited English language or are under financial pressure, or who may have a limited familiarity with the working rights that we accept and expect for all those in Aotearoa New Zealand. In these cases, we recognise the inherent power imbalance that exists between worker and employer.

In our inquiry, we heard from over 80 submitters, and one of the submissions was from the Citizens Advice Bureau, who are often the first port of call for migrants when they experience or are struggling with unfair treatment. As part of their submission, the Citizens Advice Bureau detailed examples of exploitative and harmful practices, which, unfortunately, they have seen in relation to migrant workers’ experience in New Zealand. These included an employer using an employee’s visa status to threaten or exert pressure on them, or coercing them into accepting employment terms or conditions which are below the minimum standards that we accept in New Zealand. Another situation that the Citizens Advice Bureau raised with us as part of our inquiry was wages being withheld at the end of an employment contract, failing to provide payslips, or not delivering on promises of paid overtime. We’ve also, sadly, heard examples of bullying and harassment towards migrants. This is why it is really important that we’ve heard today about the new Worker Protection (Migrant and Other Employees) Bill, introduced today, which is designed to protect migrant workers from exploitation, as the Minister has outlined in her contribution to the House. I very much support this bill and look forward to the first reading of this bill and also submissions to the select committee on this bill.

So to conclude, we have the responsibility to our migrant workers and, in fact, all workers in our country to ensure they work in safe workplaces where they are treated in good faith. We do this not because we have to, not because it’s good for our reputation, but because it is the right thing to do, and I hope, with the continued work of this Government in this employment area, we can further contribute to making sure New Zealand is a safe workplace for all New Zealanders and all who come here to work.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I can’t say it’s a pleasure to take a call in this debate, because in an ideal world we wouldn’t be having this debate. So I think that is something that we should remember.

Migrant worker exploitation is a complete enigma to me. As an employer of some years of many, many people, I cannot for the life of me understand why an employer would exploit a migrant when we’re desperate for people to work for us, we’re desperate to bring people into the country, to grow our country, and to help us run our businesses. Yet here we have a sector of our community exploiting those people who come into our country. We should also remember, of course, that we’re a country built on migrants for hundreds and hundreds of years. We wouldn’t be here at all if it weren’t for migrants to New Zealand.

Sadly, I’m somewhat misguided in my thoughts that it’s an enigma, because, in fact, as the report that we’ve received from the Education and Workforce Committee well points out to us, there are many things going on in this sector that shouldn’t being going on. We’ve got unscrupulous employers—a few of them—adding significant cost, compliance, stigma, and reputational damage to so many good employers. They also add reputational damage and potentially significant damage to our international reputation and, consequently, our market place. In many of those employers’ cases, the very industries that they are working in run the risk of being significantly damaged by the activities of those people.

The main reason that we must take strong action in this area is because we want people to feel they can come to New Zealand safely, that the country’s a wonderful place to come to and live in, work in, and grow their families up in. If our international reputation in that respect is not very strong, then we’re inevitably going to have people not wanting to come to New Zealand and we’re going to suffer significantly as a result of that. We cannot achieve those aspirations for those people who want to come to New Zealand to work and to live, unless we have a very prosperous economy with a great international reputation.

One of the earlier things I got to do in my time in this Parliament was to review a bill called the Fisheries (Foreign Charter Vessels and Other Matters) Amendment Bill. This bill was brought into Parliament specifically to deal with the conditions of workers on those foreign charter fishing vessels at the time. It was around 2013-14 that we reviewed that Act and passed a new bill, primarily to improve conditions on those fishing vessels.

The interesting thing, for me, was, though, that we got the opportunity to inspect some of those vessels as part of that bill being passed, and the conditions on them were extraordinary. They used what they call “hot beds” where three people would sleep in one bed per day—in other words, they rotated through eight hours. It was, no doubt, quite fun for them. But not only that but those beds were four-foot-six long—and you’d have to be Andrew Bayly’s size, basically, to fit into them! So it was quite a significant challenge. But I think that pointed out to me the conditions that we have in some of our industries in New Zealand were a long way from where they needed to be. [Interruption]Madam Speaker, there’s a lot of stuff going on in the background; I can’t hear myself think.

The whole point of that bill was to improve conditions for people working in that industry, most of whom, whilst they weren’t migrants, were foreign people working in New Zealand waters and under New Zealand conditions. That bill brought them into New Zealand conditions and significantly improved the conditions in that industry.

One of the other things I find really interesting is that if you’ve come from a sector like I do where we’ve employed what were historically known as “shearing gangs”, “forestry gangs”—we also have horticultural workers being employed in what you might call “gangs”; I guess there’s better words for them nowadays, but none the less, they are, effectively, gangs—it’s much easier for exploitation to take place in those kinds of conditions.

I think that the changes the Government’s made and the recommendations the select committee made with respect to employer accreditation will help a lot in that area. But I think, also, that for those people employing, much as the workplace relations legislation puts the onus on the contractor and the employer of the contractor, the same thing needs to apply in this case, because we’d get much better behaviour in those gangs if the person who was employing them to do the work then insisted that that work was done in a manner that was sustainable and equitable.

So I’ve run out of time, Madam Speaker, but thank you for the opportunity to speak on this. I just hope we get to the point where we fix it.

谢谢, Madam Speaker. It’s a pleasure to be the last speaker on this very important issue, which is close to my heart, actually.

It’s no secret that migrant exploitation is widespread today, and it does exist in our country, as we speak. It only takes one Google search to find stories of the horror and misery of exploitation. It’s an evil practice which has stained our country’s beautiful image, and the sooner we eradicate it the better. I’m glad that the Government is taking it seriously and that we are acting on it.

Over the last decade the number of complaints being seen has jumped from 31 in 2011 to 855 in 2021—it’s probably counting up—and the survey also showed that 11 percent of migrants felt threatened by employers. This is highly likely underreported as well. Support networks often are unaware of the local laws. The life of a migrant is often harsh and isolated—one is cut off from the outside world with no support networks. There are language barriers and customs, and hence they are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.

I just want to mention a few things about what the exploitation looks like. I know that my colleague Marja Lubeck touched on this, but for the people who are listening to us from outside who might not know what the exploitation looks like, it’s underpayment, excessive workload, long hours, denial of employment contracts and pay for their jobs, passports being seized, and tricking and intimidating them with deportation. Exploited migrants often have their movements, communication, and living conditions controlled by employers. In extreme conditions, it can be forced labour, trafficking, and slavery. While the above list is shameful and depressing, the number of exploited migrants is increasing. But I’m glad that the Minister, the Hon Michael Wood, and the Associate Minister, the Hon Priyanca Radhakrishnan, who just spoke today, are taking this matter very seriously.

The Education and Workforce Committee has done a good job in launching this inquiry. We have received about 74 to 80 submissions. We heard from 31 submitters as well. And the committee, as a result, made 11 recommendations. I’d like to commend the committee members for their collegiality and hard work.

The Government, so far, has announced and implemented a range of policies to combat migrant exploitation. This includes but is not limited to—the list is quite long. But I just want to mention today that the Hon Priyanca Radhakrishnan has introduced a new bill that’s designed to protect migrant workers; the Accredited Employer Work Visa scheme has been in place; and the introduction of the Migrant Exploitation Protection Work Visa—the list goes on.

When I was new to this country, in 2009, my first job was cleaning in a hostel. I was made not only to work excessive hours, but when I called in sick, really sick, I was told to come in and that “No one is going to cover for you.” Because it was 2009 and, to me, getting that job in New Zealand at the time was like winning Lotto, and I had to drag myself out of bed and come to work and work seven days for 12 hours, and often the work was seven to six days.

This is widespread. Myself and Ricardo from the Green Party have launched quite a few workshops and we heard from people. Some came to us behind closed doors and told us “I wanted to speak up but I’m too scared.” I just want to tell the people who submitted that we applaud your bravery for coming forward. To those who wanted to come but couldn’t because they were too scared, we also tell them “We hear you.”

I want to send a message to employers who are exploiting our migrants. I am telling them: “The Government is coming for you and the law is coming for you. Your number’s up and your days are numbered. You’d better stop, because you bring shame on our country.” These are a very tiny minority. The vast majority of our employers are good employers. They treat their employees with the dignity and respect they deserve. But to those who are exploiting our migrant workers, we tell them: “We are coming for you.” Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Motion agreed to.

Report noted.