Illegal Workers found in Canberra

This week DIAC in Canberra raided a building site in Belconnen and detained a number of illegal workers: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/08/2619988.htm

Some were people who had overstayed their visas. Others were working contrary to conditions on their visa.

Some of these people have now been shipped off to immigration detention.

The unions have (unremarkably) weighed into the debate (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/08/2620522.htm), but what does all this really say about our immigration system? These people are often taken advantage of - indeed, a large percentage of the time, they simply don't understand their rights and obligations as foreign nationals inside Australia.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to excuse the fact that they were working unlawfully, but let's think about this a bit more carefully...

These people (obviously) were working. This is not in itself a bad thing. If paid, legally, this would mean tax dollars into the government's coffers, and have obvious other benefits for the economy in terms of increased productivity, and not to mention the spin-off services required to enable these people to work (housing, food, transport, etc).

Then there's the employer - a cynic will say they were out to take advantage of people who didn't know better. But then there's no denying the ongoing shortage of skilled and unskilled workers and again I repeat the benefits for the economy in improving productivity etc. Maybe the employer genuinely needed those people in order to get the job done?

So why, instead of jailing people who simply want to earn a living, aren't we making more of an effort to address skilled (and unskilled) shortages and filling them with people who actually want to work?

Just a thought.