"Half of migrant workers in Australia feel unsafe at work, survey finds,"

Half of all migrant workers in Australia feel unsafe at work, experiencing discrimination, bullying and verbal abuse, while 58% experienced wage theft, new research has found.

The Migrant Workers Centre surveyed more than 1,000 workers in Australia about their experiences in the job market and migration system, and found many migrants experienced discrimination in job application processes because of their visa status, despite having work rights, which pushed them towards insecure work and exploitative employers.

Job insecurity was strongly correlated with feeling unsafe in the workplace, with 59% of workers in precarious employment feeling always or often unsafe at work...

Matt Kunkel, chief executive of the Migrant Workers’ Centre, said the report clearly showed that temporary visas were a workplace-safety issue.

“Urgent action is required to reform our system. Improving job safety and security for migrant workers will create a fairer job market for everyone,” Kunkel said.

He described the “perverse outcome” of the “dual market” created by Australia’s visa system whereby skilled migrants need to obtain a permanent job to get a permanent visa, but find they are discriminated against for permanent jobs when they do not have a permanent visa...