2603 (2024). Ricardo Menéndez March to the Minister of Immigration

2603 (2024). Ricardo Menéndez March to the Minister of Immigration: Does the minister stand by her statement, “Migrants from all over the world have these huge debts. They're trapped here. They're on a migrant exploitation visa. They can't get themselves onto an [Accredited Employer Work Visa] because no one will employ them at $29.66, or they were brought in with no skills anyway, so they've got nothing to do. They are going to become illegal, and then they're going to be ripe for even more exploitation”; if so, what work has she done, if any, to amend the wage requirement?

Hon Erica Stanford: Yes. I am considering changes to AEWV settings to strengthen integrity and ensure they are better focused on facilitating the right mix of skilled temporary migrants. The Government is committed to removing the AEWV median wage requirement as it is part of our National/Act coalition agreement. Work will progress on this later this year. In the interim, the wage threshold for the AEWV has been paused at $29.66 per hour, which was announced shortly before Christmas. It is important to take proper time to get the policy of removing median wage right to ensure that unintended consequences don't further impact on migrants.