Advocacy campaigners shine a spotlight on human trafficking

Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans (ACRATH) took its advocacy campaign to the halls of Parliament House in Canberra again recently, not only to raise issues of concern with the parliamentarians but also to thank the Government for putting in place some positive changes.

By Debra Vermeer

This year’s advocacy team included Sister Frances Hayes PBVM, Ange Hart, Moira Coombs and Carmel Shaw as well as ACRATH Executive Officer Christine Carolan.

It was the 19th time that ACRATH members had made the trip to the national capital and Christine said the long-term relationships built with Ministers and MPs over the years were bearing much fruit.

“It was an encouraging visit to Parliament House because so much of what we asked for last year and noted as problems has been addressed, and that is an extraordinary feeling,” she said.

“So, our key ‘asks’ this year were building on last year’s ask.

“And we were able to begin all our meetings with ministers and department officers by acknowledging that we can see a change already and thanking the Government for that, so that made for a very positive experience all round.”

Christine said some of the recent changes included:

  • The establishment of Australia’s first federal Anti-Slavery Commissioner;
  • The introduction of an additional referral pathway to the Support for Trafficked People Program;
  • The introduction of the Forced Marriage Specialist Support Program;
  • The introduction of the workplace justice visa; and
  • The introduction of new laws and regulations to enhance the rights of seasonal workers.

She said the improved supports and protections for victim/survivors of human trafficking was the result of years of advocacy and collaboration between ACRATH and members of the NGO network at the National Roundtable.

This year, building on those successes, ACRATH asked the decision-makers to consider four key asks. They were:

  • Increased support and protection for migrant workers who are working in Australia under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility Scheme (PALMS);
  • Greater protection for international students in Australia;
  • Including children in their own right as victim/survivors of modern slavery; and
  • How ACRATH’s microcredential work with Flinders University and the University of South Australia can be funded as an ongoing resource.

Christine said ACRATH approached the Home Affairs Minister, Tony Burke, about the need for Permanent Residency for a young woman ACRATH is supporting in its Companionship Program.

“We need the visa categories accessible to victim/survivors to be revisited. Minister Burke took our request very seriously; he has met with us almost every year since 2006 and he knows that we bring to him stories of real people, people vulnerable to exploitation who need government action,” Christine said.

“We have joined with Anti-Slavery Australia and met with senior staff on several occasions online and in person and we are hopeful of a positive outcome, both for the particular woman we are supporting and for the accessibility of the visa as a whole.”

Christine said one of ACRATH’s key focus areas continued to be ensuring support and protections for migrant workers from the Pacific who are working in Australia under the PALMS scheme, either on farms or in abattoirs.

She said this work had received a boost in recent years with the employment of two new workers focused on this area.

Good Samaritan Sister Taabeia Ibouri works part-time with ACRATH as a Migrant Worker Support Officer in Kiribati, from where many workers under the PALM scheme come.

The Sisters of the Good Samaritan have also supported the employment of another migrant worker-focused position at ACRATH. Carla Chung has been employed part-time over a period of three years and Christine said her contribution was already being felt.

“The work she is doing is extraordinary; working with individual workers to resolve their problems and to support them in their experience working in Australia,” Christine said. “It’s real, on-the-ground stuff and is already having a positive effect.

“Carla is also working with migrant workers so together they can achieve systems change. This is ACRATH’s long-term commitment and we’re very grateful to the Good Sams for partnering with ACRATH and supporting Carla’s position.”

Christine said Taabeia, who was part of last year’s delegation to Canberra, was also making a big difference to ACRATH’s work.

“Taabeia has got the heart for doing what ACRATH is committed to doing – being with people on the margins and making sure they’re OK,” she said.

“She has a wonderful gift of being able to sit with people who are from the Pacific and Timor-Leste and listen to them and engage with them in an authentic way to help address their individual problems.

“On top of that, she is able to discern where there is a need for a systemic approach, so that you don’t just fix one situation, you address the situation of all the people involved in an ongoing way so that this injustice doesn’t happen again.”

Taabeia’s work previously involved supporting the briefing of migrant workers on aspects of Australian work life and culture before they left Kiribati so that they were more prepared when they arrived.

In July this year she flew to Melbourne to attend a conference on welcoming migrant workers to Australia, hosted by the Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office in partnership with ACRATH.

Taabeia said she enjoyed hearing new ideas from the presenters, but the highlight for her was when Archbishop Christopher Prowse of the Archdiocese of Canberra & Goulburn invited some seasonal workers to the front of the room and engaged in conversation with them.

“I think the main purpose of the whole meeting was to listen,” she said. “Because we are there to listen to their stories; their reality. These stories help us to see the gaps in the PALM scheme and identify what we are missing, and we can learn in in our pastoral care to them.”

While enroute to Australia for the conference, Taabeia was able to apply her skills and experience to help some migrant workers who missed their plane to Melbourne and had arrived in Sydney instead, with no one to meet or assist them.

Realising they needed help, Taabeia contacted Christine at ACRATH, went back to the airport to give the workers some practical assistance, and collaborated with another Kiribati man who lives and works in Tasmania who arranged for the workers to fly on to Melbourne and be met there.

“All I had in mind at the time was how scary it is when you are in a foreign country. So, I went to see them to be with them, listen and maybe my presence would help them in some way,” she said.

“When I’m in Australia, I try to meet as many seasonal workers or Kiribati people working there as possible. I try to meet them, listen to them and spend some time together. Sometimes I take them around the city to experience a train or tram ride for the first time so they can have more confidence about working in Australia. And I am always learning from them.”

To learn more about the work of ACRATH, click here.

The ministries of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan are supported by the Good Samaritan Foundation. Donations over $2 are tax deductible in Australia and can be made via the website.

This article was published in the October 2024 edition of The Good Oil.