There is a reason why Australians won’t do the jobs like fruit picking and working in the hospitality sector. These jobs pay poorly and provide crappy conditions. The call for international workers to be allowed in to fill these positions is a tacit consent by governments to condone these conditions. The labour hire firms involved in the agriculture sector are exploitative. Many of the employers in the hospitality sector do not comply with the regulations around hiring staff. There is off the books money being paid and illegal working conditions prevalent within this industry. Warnings of higher prices are being spruiked to spook self-interested consumers and a government heading to the polls. The call for international workers in Australia in these sectors, under the current working conditions, is bad for this country.
Cheaper Prices at the Expense of Others
Why should Australians have cheaper prices for these things at the expense of people being able to earn a decent living from these industries? Conservative governments seem content to oversee an unfair society, where the rich get richer and the poor struggle. Those that can afford to eat out should pay what is necessary to produce a service based on fair wages for all. Paying low wages and offering poor working conditions is a hangover from times of servitude and slavery before that. Wealthy Australians have been encouraged by right wing political parties to expect less powerful sectors of society to work for peanuts in a short-sighted view of our national interest. The call for international workers in Australia is based on making Australia more like the US, an unfair society.
Trump’s America is Based on These Practices
Trump’s America is based on this paradigm, where poor workers work for an hourly pittance. Their economy is geared for migrants from Mexico and Central America to fulfill these lowly paid jobs. America is currently a place of the very rich and masses of really poor people. President Biden and the Democrats are attempting to realign this unfair set-up, but it is no easy task, with lots of vested interests pitted against them. Exploiting migrants, international visitors, and students is no way to run an economy here in Australia or in the USA.
Wealthy White Australians
Wealthy white Australians seem to think that benefitting at the expense of the poor and vulnerable is an OK thing to do. They have been encouraged by a succession of selfish governments spruiking self-interest above all else. Social conscience seems to have dropped off the radar in recent years. Coming back after the scourge of the Covid-19 global pandemic we have an opportunity to stop exploitation within our economy and society. It is time to eradicate those parts of our economy that feed off the exploitation of the weaker sections of society. Bringing in international workers and paying them wages that Australian citizens won’t work for only lowers the bar for the rest of us in terms of working conditions. Supporting higher living standards for all sections of the Australian community is the only way to have a fairer Australia.