Tougher penalties for bosses who exploit migrant labour

The government is cracking down on employers who exploit migrant workers, with the threat of deportation for some employers who are themselves immigrants. It’s also aiming to make it easier for victims to report exploitation without penalty.

Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse said people working here illegally are already protected.

“At the moment, an employer can be convicted and sent to jail for up to seven years and fined $100,000 for exploiting an illegal migrant worker,” Mr Woodhouse told TVNZ’s Q+A programme today.

“What I’m going to do is introduce a bill in a month or so which will extend that to legal migrant workers as well, because most employers don’t really distinguish between who they’re discriminating against.”

Employers who exploit migrant workers could face deportation themselves.

“Many of those have the privilege of being recent immigrants to New Zealand, and they are abusing that privilege by exploiting workers, often from their own home country,” Mr Woodhouse said.

“So what I’m going to be telling those employers – and the law will support this – is that if they are convicted of those sorts of offences, they themselves – the employers – could be liable for deportation.”

The Minister says social media will play a role in communication the changes to migrant workers, changes he hopes will see them reporting exploitation without fear of punishment.

“I will be looking forward to the time when there are examples within the migrant community of people who have spoken up and have not been punished for doing so.”

Mr Woodhouse also said foreign buyers were not necessarily driving up house prices in places like Auckland. Net migration has been pretty much stable, with arrrivals and departures more or less balancing each other, and non-New Zealand buyers matched by foreign sellers.

“So I’m not sure it’s true to say immigration at the moment is driving up the price of houses,” he said.

Watch the full interview here.