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Labor warns on immigration visas
Email Print Normal font Large font October 19, 2006 - 11:49AM

New statistics on migration work visas show the government is failing to check whether employers are complying with the rules, Labor immigration spokesman Tony Burke says.

Figures contained in the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs' annual report showed government compliance checks on controversial 457 visas had fallen from 100 per cent to about 65 per cent.

This meant some abuses of the system could be going on under the radar, Burke said.

Labor has repeatedly claimed 457 visas are being used by a growing number of employers to take on cheap, non-unionised workers from overseas.

"Before John Howard had control of the Senate, compliance checks on employers on 457 visas were running at 100 per cent," Mr Burke told reporters in Canberra.

"Only two years later and after the new industrial relations laws have been introduced, compliance checks go from 100 per cent to 65 per cent."

He said the government had provided a "green light" for abuse of foreign workers.