A couple watches boats as they stand on the harbour foreshore opposite the Sydney Opera House in Sydney on Oct 1, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP)

CANBERRA — Weaknesses in Australia's immigration system have paved the way for the exploitation of migrants and international students, a review commissioned by the government has found.

The Minister for Home Affairs, Clare O'Neil, and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles on Wednesday released the findings of the Rapid Review into the Exploitation of Australia's Visa System.

Exploitation has become normalized in much of the labor market and found that 45 percent of backpackers and 40 percent of international students working in Australia are paid less than 15 Australian dollars per hour

The review, which was commissioned by O'Neil in January and conducted by former Victoria Police chief commissioner Christine Nixon, found that criminal syndicates have exploited loopholes in Australia's immigration system to facilitate human trafficking, modern slavery, money laundering and import of illicit drugs.

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It said that exploitation has become normalized in much of the labor market and found that 45 percent of backpackers and 40 percent of international students working in Australia are paid less than 15 Australian dollars ($9.4) per hour - below the minimum hourly wage of 23.23 Australian dollars ($14.6).

Nixon handed the report to the government in March, but it remained classified while the government formulated a response.

Revealing the response at a press conference in Canberra on Wednesday, O'Neil and Giles announced 50 million Australian dollars ($31.5 million) in funding to establish a new division and strike force within the Department of Home Affairs to crack down on immigration violations.

"This system has been used to perpetrate some of the worst crimes to humanity, sexual slavery and human trafficking,"  O'Neil told reporters.

"Delay and dysfunction and poor management of the immigration system lie at the heart of the ability of people to commit these crimes and exploit the system in the way Christine Nixon has elaborated on."

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According to the report, 40 percent of migration agents used by people hoping to come to Australia are unregistered.

In response, O'Neil said the government will double the size of the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority, strengthen character tests for migration agents and increase penalties for agents involved in misconduct.

"We are making very significant transformation to the way that we regulate and make sure that migration agents in our country are following the rules," O'Neil said.