Comment on 'How are we going to escape?': Indonesian working holiday-makers say they were 'scammed'
theskyisfalling@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 weeks ago
That accommodation looks like fucking luxury compared to what I lived in for a year working in the Australian outback.
My experience is if you are on a working holiday visa then everyone is going to try and screw you over in some way, shape or form for their own benefit.
notgold@aussie.zone 4 weeks ago
So shouldn’t we attempt to stop it. Why rip off young people who just want to experience what life is like in the lucky country.
theskyisfalling@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 weeks ago
Absolutely. My point was more that there are a lot worse things going on than what the article picks up on for sure and they should be stopped.
My experience left me wondering who I’d even tell about the issues I experienced and more to the point who would even care. Most of my experience with the “officials” involved in working holidays, visas, border control etc aren’t just unhelpful but a lot foster some kind of disdain for people who are on a working holiday, it must be even harder for people whose first language isnt English like me.
I worked with an Indonesian guy who was kept working with the promise of the owner of the place I worked at that he was filling out the paperwork needed and sorting it for him. The owner constantly carried on this deception for as long as he could to keep the guy working. After I’d left I found out about a month later the guy had gotten so sick of being lied to he decided he was going to leave and make his own way elsewhere. The owners response was to report the Indonesian guy to relevant “authorities” and he ultimately got deported because, surprise surprise, his paperwork hadn’t been completed properly.
notgold@aussie.zone 4 weeks ago
Yeah it’s disheartening to hear good people being hurt by dodgy employers. Need to document everything but where is the incentive for a working holiday maker to fight federal agencies. Especially after they have left the country.
My own experience working in the nt was one of attempted exploitation but I knew my rights and wasn’t going to be deported so I choose to fight back. Very different story for someone who’s passport is of another nation.
Half of Australia are migrant’s or children of migrant and I believe that’s what makes this country great. Let’s hope this doesn’t scare of future Australians from moving here.