June 29, 2013 Ben Schneiders Senior writer for The Age
They are the faces of debt bondage: Filipino workers brought to Australia on 457 visas and saddled with substantial debts carrying crippling interest rates.
Anthony Naupan was lumbered with a loan of $13,620, with a 47.9 per cent interest rate, to pay agents, financiers and middlemen just to come here.
The debt was nearly a third of his annual income, making it hard to send money back to his wife and six children in the Philippines.
Roland Dicang borrowed $14,600 at an interest rate of more than 45 per cent, while Noel Guran had debts of about $13,000. Both also found it harder to support their families back home.
Dozens of Filipinos have signed statements that they have incurred debts of up to $15,000, typically to be repaid in a little over a year. Some workers say they were told they could not come to Australia without agreeing to the high-interest loans.
Mr Naupan said he was ''shocked'' to find he would have to pay to get a visa, ''but we don't have a choice because we're looking to change our lives here in Australia … that's why we take the risk.''
Earlier this month Fairfax Media identified up to 200 cases of workers being exploited on the 187 and 457 visa schemes, and unions say abuse of 457 visas is widespread.
The federal government has acted on rorting, with a visa crackdown passing through Parliament on Friday on the final day of sitting before the election.
Under the changes, employers will have to advertise jobs to prove they searched for Australian staff before hiring temporary workers from overseas on 457 visas.
Immigration Minister Brendan O'Connor said the changes would protect local workers. ''Most Australians would expect that employers look local first before hiring workers from overseas,'' he said.
But the opposition said the legislation was a government attempt to choke the visa scheme and appease unions.
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox this week played down claims of abuse affecting some of the 110,000 workers on 457 visas.
''We need to be extremely wary about drawing broad conclusions from a tiny number of individual cases of alleged abuse,'' Mr Willox said.
The Filipino workers who spoke to Fairfax Media worked together last year for Australian Portable Camps near Murray Bridge in South Australia.
The company's national manager of people and culture, Brian Devey, said he was shocked the workers had been loaded up with debts by agents his company had used.
In the case of Mr Naupan, documents indicate the $13,620 he borrowed was split between Australian agents Heron Assist, Filipino agents SGS Human Resources and a financier. Heron has declined to comment.
''We were staggered,'' Mr Devey said. ''We pay significant fees to Heron Assist. There ought to be no reason for the Filipino 457s to pay. We are responsible for all the costs for 457s.''
He said the company paid Heron Assist between $4000 and $6000 for each worker. It had terminated their relationship in recent months.
The ''majority'' of the 35 Filipino workers it had hired in the past year had come from Heron Assist, he said.
Mr Naupan signed a contract in the Philippines with SGS and Heron Assist that warned he could be sacked for ''trade union activities'', a clause that is illegal under Australian laws. Mr Devey said his company had been unaware this contract had been signed.
Mr Naupan said he worked for Australian Portable Camps for seven months before being made redundant last November along with about a dozen Filipinos on 457 visas.
He said they were treated differently by the company after they joined a union. ''We were directly targeted because we are members of the union.''
Mr Dicang believes he was sacked after he joined a union and raised concerns about not being paid correct overtime.
Mr Guran said his pay was cut from the original contract he signed in the Philippines, a claim also made by others. The original contract said he would be paid $49,000, he said, but that was later reduced to $41,000. He was given no reason for the change.
He was out of work for three months after being sacked, making it hard to support his family.
Mr Devey denied the workers were targeted, saying it had to make about 60 workers redundant, including locals, because of a downturn. The overtime problem was due to an administrative error that affected both local and foreign workers.
The company was unaware that workers had signed contracts with agents in the Philippines on higher rates than they were offered here, he said.
Mr Naupan, who now works in Whyalla, said he had wanted to come to Australia in the hope of a better life.
He hopes to bring his family to Australia one day. ''Hopefully this year it will come true. If not, next year.''