_The couple said they had not made a complaint to the authorities.
“We didn’t want to get involved in things that are complicated, because we are afraid the problem will become more complex,” said Dimas._
if they did they might make things a little bit better for people coming after them. I hope they change their minds.
Yeah I agree. It’s tough, but the people responsible for this need to be held accountable. But the only way that can ever happen is if victims report the crime.
Part of it may be, as another comment mentioned, that reporters often are not believed or taken seriously by police and immigration authorities, and in some cases can even end up penalised. A hard institutional change to make, and I don’t have a lot of faith it can be done (police being what they are and overwhelmingly standing up for those with power at the expense of those without). But even worse, even if the change was made here, communicating to victims that they will be safe reporting to authorities in Australia (especially if they might be used to authorities being likely corrupt and unhelpful where they’re from). One thing that might help is if we had a guaranteed amnesty from any honest mistakes in the working holidayer’s visa status if they contact immigration to allege wrongdoing (with the amnesty holding even if their complaint is not upheld).
I also hope Indonesian authorities crack down hard on any Indonesian residents doing false marketing on behalf of these predatory businesses.
These stories always make me so sad because the mistreatment of people on working holiday visas has been a widespread problem for such a long time and yet there is seemingly little desire for a solution.
