We have slavery in Australia today.

How widespread is it? I don’t know yet. It’s a matter of power imbalance. I have now heard too many stories of international students (mostly Indian) whose passports get taken off them by employers/contractors as they are forced to work. More common is the prospect of “sponsorship” dangled over them as they work unpaid or significantly underpaid, sometimes for years. Rural Australia In countryside towns, other mostly Asian Australian sub-contractors act as a middleman between farmers and international students. If you are an Australian farmer, I urge you to ask questions of your middleman contractor, times may be tough for you but the people who work on your land are humans. They do not deserve to be “housed” in terrible conditions jammed with another 10 people. No they don’t just like living like this, they have no choice. Our Reliance on International Students for Prosperity International education is Victoria’s largest services export but we are not doing enough to protect the humans to whom we “export” education. The Victorian economy is built off international students and it is our responsibility to do more to protect their human rights. Australia hides behind the surface level multiculturalism while simultaneously denying International Students their human rights through systemic oppression. My Visit to Punjab, India When I visited Punjab in India earlier in January this year to start my social impact initiative Bold Punjab I was shocked by the reality of the situation. 11 year old children were being taught IELTS (the English Language Test jointly owned by the British Council, IDP and Cambridge Assessment English.). ID are “International Education Specialists” and they are a publicly listed company on the Australian stock exchange (ASX: IEL) with more than 100 offices in 31 countries. It’s a company that is very profitable because of government requirements for their product – the English test. The story for young Indians is this “to make it in life you must go to Australia/Canada/UK/America.” This simply is not true, yes international students can come to Australia to study and have a brilliant experience like many do but if you come here with the sole purpose of migration you need to know the reality. The numerous unpaid internships, free labour disguised as a “professional year” and real risks of being exploited. The problem at a surface level Too many migration agents are lying to you. Telling you of a picture that is not true, I know it’s hard. Your family may take on debts and sell their only land to send you abroad in the hope of a better future for you. You may feel deep shame if you don’t make it here in Australia. Perhaps even guilt to tell your family you have not been able to create the better future they wished for you. But there are better ways to build a better future for yourself that uphold your human dignity. The story that you must go abroad to be successful is a lie that is strengthened by the education industry and deeply embedded in our culture. The Real Problem Why do we have this problem to begin with? I have finally come to the conclusion that this is tied to our colonial history. The British, Dutch, French & Danish took so much from India under the banner of trade – the English East India Company. Read history, understand how this affects India today. How they divided and conquered our land, how our grandparents fought wars for them and then were left to fend for themselves when they departed but drew boundaries that to this very day create such instability. Riz Ahmed’s latest album lays down the truth that makes us all uncomfortable. “She saw I was at war with myself and I’m a fool Couldn’t decide who I was, so easy to divide and rule Had me locked down Beat me red and blue ’til I knew right was white and not brown When they make you hate yourself you hand over your crown She moved in, I was a guest unwanted in my own house.” Vice released a video this week titled “The British Rule over India: What They Don’t Teach in Schools “ It talks about how the belief that many Indians hold about Colonialism having some positive impact on India is very misguided. My Story My parents migrated to Australia in in the early 1990’s, they were qualified but worked long hours on farms in Griffith NSW as no one wanted to recognise their qualifications. As a child I remember going to orange farms with them as they worked hard to make a living to “give us a better future.” Depression, suicide and sadness plagued my childhood. My mother had finally saved up enough money to buy a farm which seemed like the right thing to do for her. My father had fallen into deep depression not being able to cope here in Australia. She thought buying a farm would remind him of India, instead he temporarily moved out on us. She worked on the farm herself alongside another Indian woman and her husband who lived with us. The woman (who I called auntyji) worked on our farm desperately wanted to have children, she would jokingly ask me if she could adopt me. Her IVF treatments were expensive and alongside her husband she worked hard on the farm to pay for treatment. One afternoon as I returned from school I saw ambulances outside our farm house she had committed suicide. I was 14 years old and that was my first experience of death. Yes I am grateful to be in Australia today, I mean if I wasn’t it seems like I’d be told to “go back to where I came from” but it came at a cost and I question now if I should perpetuate the systems that create this inequity. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if my parents stayed in India, could they have been better off? I know for sure they would have the happiness and joy of having family and community around us rather than being lonely, isolated and desperate to make ends meet. Only later in life would I learn about an aunt of mine who runs one of the most profitable design firms in the entire country and built a great business in India. I started to learn more about the people who stay in India and those who study abroad but return and become successful in their life. These stories are common, but unfortunately not as widespread as the agenda of “going abroad