"National migrant worker scheme uncovers 'shocking' exploitation in first year of operation", 31 March2026

Migrant worker Viviana thought she had no choice but to work for a woman who refused to pay her, until a Facebook post helped her realise she was being exploited…

…, Viviana, who requested her full name be withheld for privacy reasons, was harassed with phone calls in the middle of the night by her employer, sometimes at 1 or 2am.

"If I didn't answer, she was very rude, very aggressive," she said.

When she raised her treatment with her employer, Viviana said the woman threatened her with visa cancellation…

"[My employer] said, 'You are just an immigrant, you don't have rights here'," Viviana said…

She has since been granted $40,000 in unpaid wages by the Local Court of NSW, which she is yet to receive.

Millions in unpaid wages, exploitation

Viviana is one of hundreds of migrant workers who have been picked up through an outreach program run by the federal government, which unions say is at risk of being cut in the May budget.

The Protecting Migrant Workers — Information and Education program has been operating nationally for 12 months, with unions across the country receiving the funding as grants to provide education and legal advice sessions in dozens of languages…

In Queensland, the program discovered 70 African migrants employed on a farm in Gatton, in south-east Queensland, who were not paid superannuation for years…

It has identified $1.35 million in potential unpaid wage claims in NSW alone, as well as cases of exploitation and workplace injury where employers have breached the law.

… Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey said cases of mistreatment uncovered by the program would go unnoticed if funding was cut.

"It's a program that's actually on the ground, meeting with workers who are being exploited and then getting them out of those situations," he said…