Everyone working in Australia or planning to work in Australia has rights relating to minimum wages, work conditions and your treatment at work. These include:

• Working rights - you can learn about your working rights on Fairwork Australia. They offer useful factsheets which outline your minimum rights at work, responsibilities and entitlements under Australian workplace laws.
• Protections against slavery and slavery-like offences - find out more on the Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecutions website.
• International student rights in the workplace - access in the Department of Education and Fair Work Ombudsman toolkit. It’s free to download and offers useful information, such as tips for identifying the warning signs.
• Right to protection from exploitation, violence and abuse - you should check the Australian Attorney General’s Department for information on protection from exploitation, violence and abuse. 

Due to the hidden and intimidating nature of modern slavery, most victims of modern slavery go undetected in Australia.  Here are some of the main signs according to Anti-Slavery Australia:

• controlled or restricted freedom of movement
• intimidation and threats including threats of deportation
• threatened or actual physical and/or sexual violence
• travel or other important documents taken away
• withholding, underpayment or no payment of wages
• repaying inflated debt with labour or services
• no discretion over life decisions
• unable to end employment at any time.

Young people, including students, are at a heightened risk of experiencing modern slavery both in Australia and overseas.  They are particularly vulnerable to being exploited in the workplace in the form of:

• employer wage theft, sham contracting, threats of dismissal, unfair dismissal and excessive work hours
•  employers taking advantage of international student visa status work limits to underpay staff
• deceptive recruitment or labour services where the person has been deceived about their work and the work involves exploitation through a specific type of modern slavery
• 'paying' students in food and housing instead of paying wages.

Find out further information on modern slavery and  how to report concerns about yourself or someone else at the Australian Federal Police. 

If you need specialist legal support and advice, contact Anti-Slavery Australia on +61 9514 8115 or email [email protected]. They provide free legal and migration services to people who have experienced or are at risk of modern slavery in Australia. 
  
 If you need support and help regarding forced marriage you can contact My Blue Sky on [email protected] or send a text to 0481 070 844. They can help you with a translator if you would like one. 

If you feel unsafe on campus or are concerned for someone else’s safety on campus you can contact UWA Security on +61 8 6488 2222, 24 hours a day. 

UWA students who need support can access free counselling and support from UWA by emailing [email protected]. More support options are available through UWA’s student support page.  

Employees can access free counselling and support from the Employee Assistance Program and find out more about how to make a complaint/report to UWA via Reports and Complaints.