Billabong International’s chief executive, the American retail specialist Neil Fiske, is working in Australia on a 457 visa. Mr Fiske is the most high-profile – and, at $1 million a year, best paid – worker on the controversial 457 visa covered in a leaked monitoring report by the Fair Work Ombudsman.
The unredacted version of the report, obtained by Fairfax Media, reveals the names of 1800 visa holders and the companies that employ them – or in many cases, the companies that used to employ them. The audit, which involves less than 1 per cent of the 200,000 foreign workers in Australia, raises concerns over 40 per cent of 457 visa holders, including evidence that many are no longer working for their nominated employer or are not being paid at the rate at which they were promised.
The report also raises questions about the widespread use of the visa, which the government insists is available only to employers who “cannot find an Australian citizen or permanent resident to do the skilled work” they require.

