Navigation: Previous Page | Contents | Next Page
Migration Amendment (Offshore Resources
Activity) Repeal Bill 2014
Portfolio:
Immigration and Border Protection
Introduced: House
of Representatives, 27 March 2014
Purpose
2.1
The Migration Amendment (Offshore Resources Activity) Repeal Bill 2014
(the bill) seeks to repeal the Migration Amendment (Offshore Resources
Activity) Act 2013 (ORA Act).
2.2
The purpose of the ORA Act, which would take effect from 30 June 2014,[1]is
to provide that foreign workers must hold a relevant visa when they participate
in, or support, offshore resource activities taken to be in the migration zone.
2.3
The proposed repeal of the ORA Act will therefore have the effect of
maintaining existing arrangements in relation to visa requirements for offshore
resource activities.[2]
Background
2.4
The committee reported on the bill in its Sixth Report of the 44th
Parliament.
Committee view on compatibility
Right to work and rights at work
Effect of repealing measures
2.5
The committee requested the advice of the Minister for Immigration and
Border Protection as to the compatibility of the bill with the right to work
and rights at work.
Minister's response
The right to work
Article 6 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) provides:
The States Parties to the present Covenant
recognize the right to work, which includes the rightof everyone to the
opportunity to gain his living by work which he freely chooses or accepts, and
will take appropriate steps to safeguard this right.
The Migration Amendment (Offshore Resources Activity) Repeal
Bill 2014 (the Bill) does not operate to deprive people of the right to work.
In particular, it does not seek to preclude non-citizens from working in
Australia's offshore resources industry, or to limit the conditions under which
they may work in the industry by way of a prescribed visa.
For their part, Australian citizens already have the right to
work in the offshore resources industry, and the Bill does not limit their
capacity to do so.
Rights at work
Article 7 of ICESCR provides for recognition of the
"right of everyone to the enjoyment of just and favourable conditions of
work". Such conditions include fair wages and equal remuneration, safe and
healthy working conditions, equal opportunity in respect of promotion and rest
and leisure.
The Bill does not operate as an impediment to the recognition
of the right to just and favourable conditions of work. The Migration
Amendment (Offshore Resources Activity) Act 2013 (the ORA Act) establishes
a legislative framework for a visa to be prescribed for noncitizens who are
participating in, or supporting, an offshore resources activity.
The ORA Act itself is silent on what visa (other than a
permanent visa) a non-citizen must hold to participate in, or to support, an
offshore resources activity as this was to be determined at a later date
following a period of consultation with the industry.
The appropriate visa, including relevant visa conditions, is
to be prescribed in the Migration Regulations 1994. In any event, though
visas may prescribe (by way of sponsorship obligations) certain terms and
conditions that must be provided to the sponsored person, conditions of
employment more broadly are regulated under Australian workplace laws and
agreements, and not under migration laws. Neither the ORA Act nor the Bill
affects the geographical application of Australia's workplace laws.
The ORA Act did not address the conditions of work that would
apply to a non-citizen holding a prescribed visa for the purposes of working in
Australia's offshore resources industry. As the Bill seeks to repeal the
provisions introduced by the ORA Act, it also does not engage conditions of
work for the purposes of article 7 of the ICESCR.[3]
Committee response
2.6
The committee thanks the Minister for Immigration and Border
Protection for his response and has concluded its examination of this bill.
Navigation: Previous Page | Contents | Next Page