Order Description
UNCC300 CASE STUDY 1:
HUMAN DIGNITY AND THE TEMPORARY
SKILLED WORKERS VISA
Introduction
Three Main Perspectives
Required Readings
Additional Readings & Resources

CASE STUDY: HUMAN DIGNITY AND THE
TEMPORARY SKILLED WORKERS VISA
INTRODUCTION
The Temporary Skilled Workers Visa (nicknamed the 457 Visa) was originally termed the “Business (Long Stay) Visa”. It
was set up in 1996 to allow multinational corporations to bring high level executive and specialist staff into Australia to work
temporarily in management roles. 1 However, this was soon expanded to include a wide range of professionals, semiprofessionals
and tradespeople, on the assumption that these workers were filling skills shortages in the Australian labour
market. While these visas have allowed Australian companies to source skilled labour from overseas, they have come
under fire more recently, with claims that foreign workers on temporary skilled working visas were being exploited by
unscrupulous employers and migration agents, making them a source of cheap labour. The scheme has been criticised for
pushing down local wages, causing a relationship of dependency between overseas temporary workers and their Australian
employees, and “coming dangerously close to ‘bonded labour’.” 2 These videos from ABC News, in 2008 (transcript) and
2013 (transcript), outline the kinds of exploitation experienced by temporary skilled workers, and demonstrate how little has
changed in the scheme over the past 5 years.
In this article, “Australia’s 457 Visa Scheme and the Rights of Migrant Workers,” authors Michelle Bissett and Ingrid Landau
detail patterns of abuse and mistreatment of migrant workers through two case studies. First, they detail the case of
Anabalagan Rajendran, brought into Australia by the owner of four Indian restaurants. Bissett and Landau claim that during
Anabalagan’s stay, 3
He was dependent upon his employer for food, money, accommodation and transportation.
He was never shown a work roster, he would simply be picked up from home and driven to successive restaurants to
work.
He worked at least 14 hours a day, seven days a week for 40 weeks straight.
Even when he was sick, he still worked.
He received no wages until the Workplace Ombudsman initiated an investigation into his treatment. He was told by
his employer that he would not receive wages for a year, as his employer had paid for his airplane ticket to Australia.
In another case, Bissett and Landau discuss the case of Jack Zhang, whose story was reported in The Age newspaper,
“Our guest workers who’ve had enough.”
In these cases, and many more such cases, numerous workers’ rights have been disregarded, namely rights to “fair wages
and remuneration ensuring an existence worthy of human dignity; equal remuneration for work of equal value; safe and
healthy working conditions”, reasonable allowances for rest and leisure; “reasonable limitations on working hours and public
holidays with pay.” 4
Concerns arose in the Australian labour market that abuses of the 457 Visa program had paved the way for discrimination
against Australian workers (full transcript available).
Of significance to this issue is the debate between the claim that migrant workers make a valuable contribution to Australia’s
economy, and the claim that the 457 visa program encourages businesses to hire overseas workers to the detriment of
local job-seekers. Also of significance is the debate between the claim that greater regulation is necessary to prevent
exploitation of overseas workers, and the claim that the program needs to be streamlined because it is already too complex
for most businesses. The concept of human dignity is at the core of this debate. Where does human dignity lie? Does it lie
in the contributions migrant workers make to the Australian community? Is human dignity enhanced or denied to temporary
skilled migrants? Is dignity being denied to Australian job-seekers, or to migrant workers perceived to be “stealing
Australian jobs”? Does more need to be done to protect migrant workers from exploitation, in recognition of their dignity?
These questions and others are discussed in the perspectives and readings below. As you read the perspectives and
articles below, consider which understandings of human dignity are operative in each argument, and what shortcomings
such understandings may have in light of a multidimensional understanding of the human person.

THREE MAIN PERSPECTIVES
Perspective 1: The 457 visa scheme allows businesses to value overseas workers for contributing to the business and to
the wider Australian economy. These workers in turn feel valued by their employers and their community for their
contribution.
Perspective 2: The 457 visa scheme allows unscrupulous employers and migration agents to exploit overseas workers with
pay and conditions below Australian standards, and even to treat them in a way not befitting their dignity.
Perspective 3: The 457 visa scheme contributes to a social anxiety about the flow of temporary migrants coming into and
going out of Australia (manifested in claims about “stealing local jobs”), which gives rise to a public resentment that detracts
from the dignity of workers on 457 visas.

As you read the articles in the links below, analyse the understanding of human dignity that underpins the arguments and
consider how this understanding of human dignity is being brought to bear on the question of 457 visas. Note that you may
find two authors of different ethical positions explaining dignity in a similar way or in more than one way such that it could fit
into the same quadrant as another author or into several quadrants. Look carefully for the nuances and underlying
assumptions that further qualify the understandings of human dignity such that the authors nonetheless arrive at different
ethical positions.
In some of the articles provided, the authors also refer to other authors who offer perspectives on dignity different from their
own in relation to the question of 457 visas. You may wish to use the references in the articles provided to trace these
additional perspectives.

REQUIRED READINGS
Susanne Bahn’s article is a case study on the attitudes of workers on 457 visas and businesses in the Western Australian
resources sector (e.g. mining, oil and gas extraction, construction and transport support). Bahn’s study finds support for the
claim that a lot of these businesses place a higher level of esteem on the 457 visa-holders’ work ethic than on domestic
Australian workers’ attitudes towards work. Bahn also found that 457 workers in the WA resources sector also make a
generally greater contribution to the Australian economy through higher taxes than local workers fulfilling comparable roles.
However, Bahn cautions that these businesses’ preference for 457 workers may result in greater strains on Australian
workers looking for work, and that her study does not take into account 457 visa workers in lower-paid jobs.
Bahn, Susanne. “Workers on 457 Visas: Evidence from the Western Australian Resources Sector.” ABL 39, no.2 (2013): 34
—58.

Selvaraj Velayutham presents a case study on Indian workers on 457 visas in the Australian IT industry, manufacturing and
construction sector, and hospitality industry. Velayutham found clear differences between these three groups: “blue-collar”
Indian workers tended to be more vulnerable to exploitation than IT Indian workers in Australia, but were helped by their
unions and their community; Indian hospitality workers faced the same kinds of exploitation as “blue-collar” workers, but
often became isolated after losing access to their support networks. Some of Velayutham’s findings even highlight cases
where Indian restaurant workers’ original “trust networks” were the means by which their co-ethnic employers in Australia
had lured them into exploitative relationships.
Velayutham, Selvaraj. “Precarious Experiences of Indians in Australia on 457 Temporary Work Visas.” The Economic and
Labour Relations Review 24, no.3 (2013): 340—61.

Taking as his starting point an Australian politician’s imputed comment that workers on 457 visas needed “cultural
awareness training” such as personal hygiene care (p.33), Rob Cover analyses the social “anxiety” in Australia over
temporary migrants manifested in complaints about bodily smells. Cover argues that the social discourse which focuses on
the way temporary migrants “smell” implies an attempt to shame those who live in mobile social networks, because the
mobility within 457 visa-holders’ social identity challenges the established social norms of permanent residents. Cover
argues for the renewal of an ethic of “non-violent cohabitation,” which involves accepting the mobile other and all their
embodied, cultural differences, as a more authentic ethical norm for Australian society.
Cover, Rob. “Mobility, Belonging and Bodies: Understanding Discourses of Anxiety towards Temporary Migrants in
Australia.” Continuum 29, no.1 (2015): 32—44.

ADDITIONAL READINGS AND RESOURCES
Finally, we have provided references to additional articles for you to find yourself, bearing in mind that being able to locate
relevant information goes towards meeting the requirements of Graduate Attribute 8. These resources can be located either
in the ACU library database or online. You should access these resources if you choose this case study for your final
assessment.
Berg, Laurie. “‘Mate Speak English, You’re in Australia Now’: English Language Requirements in Skilled Migration.”
Alternative Law Journal 36, no.2 (2011): 110—15.
Bissett, Michelle, and Ingrid Landau. “Australia’s 457 Visa Scheme and the Rights of Migrant Workers.” Alternative Law
Journal 33, no.3 (2008): 142—46.
Boese, Martina, Iain Campbell, Winsome Roberts and Joo-Cheong Tham. “Temporary Migrant Nurses in Australia: Sites
and Sources of Precariousness.” Economic and Labour Relations Review 24, no.3 (2013): 316—39.
Howe, Joanna. “Is the Net Cast Too Wide? An Assessment of Whether the Regulatory Design of the 457 Visa Meets
Australia’s Skill Needs.” Federal Law Review 41, no.3 (2013): 443—69.
Kinnaird, Bob. “Current Issues in the Skilled Temporary Subclass 457 Visa.” People and Place 14, no.2 (2006): 49—65.
Maslen, Geoffrey. “Skills at a Premium.” About the House, no.30, March 2007, 30—35.

Description
Choose one case study from those presented.
Explain why you believe this to be an issue where human dignity is a critical factor.
Analyse at least two perspectives (from those given in the case study) on this particular case. The
following questions should act as a guide in your analysis.
1. What understanding of the concept of human dignity appears to be at work in each perspective?
2. What are the social attitudes, norms, or circumstances that may have influenced each
perspective? To what extent do these social attitudes, norms, or circumstances impact on the
understanding of human dignity in each perspective?
3. How does each perspective justify particular actions or choices with reference to human dignity?
4. In this unit, we have considered human dignity and the human person as multidimensional. If
you consider in isolation the argument of each perspective in turn, what aspects of human
dignity could be jeopardised by any actions arising from those perspectives?

Criteria for assessment
Explanation of the issue as critical to human dignity. 10%
2 Identification and explanation of the understanding of human dignity in each
perspective. 30%
3 Identification and assessment of social attitudes, norms and circumstances that could
influence different perspectives. 10%
4 Analysis and synthesis of how each perspective justifies particular actions or choices. 20%
5 Evaluation of the implications and consequences of adopting a perspective in
isolation. 20%
6 Written and/or oral English expression including spelling and grammar. 5%
7 Consistent and correct use of selected academic referencing style. 5%
TOTAL 100%