Australia’s Role in the Global Governance of Migrant Labour

Abstract

It is in Australia’s best interest to promote and spearhead an international body dealing with issues of migration for the purposes of employment, here called the “Organization for Migrant Labour” (OML) for purposes of simplicity. The OML is seen here as the missing link in the international economic law area in comparison to a labour equivalent of the World Trade Organization. The hypothetical institutional architecture here proposed is grounded in current political and legal realities, thus taking into account the core normative issues, problems and literature that in recent times have emerged at the institutional, policy and scholarly levels. Accordingly, the following analysis seeks to tackle the major issue of state/OML interface, namely the extent to which Australia might derogate border sovereignty, as well as the effects of a globally structured migrant labour and its transnational arrangements on Australian social security aspects. Effectively, this submission argues that assuming leadership in the global migration governance discourse should be framed and justified in terms of reclaiming Australia’s sovereignty, rather than ceding it.