457 Visa Overhaul Sought

The Age

Saturday August 16, 2008

Leo Shanahan

NURSES are demanding an overhaul of the controversial 457 visa scheme after a recruitment agency was fined over the exploitation of three Filipino nurses who struggled to afford food.

The Federal Magistrates Court has fined health recruitment agency Healthcare Recruiting Australia $48,000 for underpaying three Sydney-based Filipino nursing assistants more than $15,000.

The agency will also have to pay the three women the money owed in lost wages after they had been brought from the Philippines under the temporary 457 working visa to work in two Sydney nursing homes.

The Commonwealth's Workplace Ombudsman executive director, Michael Campbell, yesterday labelled the action of the company reprehensible.

"There were times when these vulnerable workers did not have enough money to put food on the table," he said, adding that they had also struggled to pay rent.

The women also had money taken from their pay for training that never happened as well as rent, agency fees and air fares.

Nursing Federation president Ged Kearney said exploitation under the 457 scheme was so huge she wanted it replaced with more permanent working visas.

There have been more than 400 cases investigated by the Workplace Ombudsman relating to 457 visas, with $1.3 million in underpayments awarded to workers.

© 2008 The Age

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