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A Bangladeshi man is facing deportation after the Canberra Fastway Couriers franchise he was working at was wound up, amid allegations of failures to pay employees and the tax office hundreds of thousands of dollars. The company, ANT Holdings Australia Pty Ltd, is under external administration, owing about $247,000 to six former employees and the tax office in unpaid superannuation payments, income tax and related penalties. It is unrelated to the new holder of the Fastway Couriers' Canberra franchise, who took it on after the deed with ANT Holdings Australia Pty Ltd was terminated in September 2015. Bangladeshi national Asik Arefin had worked for the company since August 2013 on a 457 visa and was one of six visa workers who were allegedly not paid superannuation and ultimately lost their jobs when the company stopped trading. While he found a new prospective visa sponsor, it was too late to meet the Immigration Department's 60-day deadline. After seeking help from Legal Aid ACT and the Fair Work Ombudsman and applying for a ministerial intervention and an appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, both of which failed, Mr Arefin now faces deportation by the end of May. It comes as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull moves to abolish the 457 visa scheme, announcing yesterday an "Australians first" approach, saying the government "will no longer allow 457 visas to be passports to jobs that could and should go to Australians". While existing 457 visa holders will not be affected, the government's new position suggests those whose visas have expired are unlikely to be granted any reprieve. "My job permission is now gone, my intervention application and the tribunal case has failed, so I am not allowed to stay and work in Australia, but without an income I am in big trouble," he said. "I came to Australia because this dollar here is a big dollar compared to my home country and I was sending money home to my father, but without a job permission now, the department says I have to leave in the next 28 days. "I am a good person, I have paid taxes and worked hard in Australia, but now what will I do?" Mr Arefin said if administrators could not recover the unpaid funds, then the head office of the franchise network should be responsible for compensating employees. "I want to stay in Australia and work, and I want them (Fastway Couriers) to pay back the money they owe," he said. Fastway Couriers Australia chief executive Peter Lipinski said all workers "should receive their lawful entitlements" and the company's head office worked with franchisees to meet their obligations, including completing annual audits. He said the franchise deed with ANT Holdings Australia Pty Ltd was terminated after the franchisees failed to provide information including "the audited financials contractually required to be provided" each year under the deed and the national franchising code of conduct. But national franchisors are not currently held legally responsible for the alleged underpayments. In the wake of a series of scandals involving national franchises including 7-Eleven, the federal government recently introduced new laws to hold franchisors responsible for such issues, "where they knew or ought reasonably to have known of the contraventions and failed to take reasonable steps to prevent them". Those reforms come too late for Mr Arefin. Workers in his situation are unlikely to see unpaid wages, except as a minor, unsecured creditor to a liquidation; they are not eligible for compensation under the Fair Work Entitlement Guarantee, unless they are from New Zealand; and without a new sponsor, they must return home. "I went everywhere looking for a new sponsor, it is not easy to find one, but when I finally found one, the department said I have to go back [home]," he said. "All I was asking for was some more time to find the sponsor, but everything was rejected." Documents lodged in a Federal Court case to wind up the company allege it failed to pay superannuation to Mr Arefin and five co-workers, and income tax, for at least a year. Affidavits also claimed one of Mr Arefin's co-workers was unknowingly signed up as company director, leaving him to foot a $247,000-odd bill in unpaid entitlements, income tax and penalties. Chamberlain's director of insolvency litigation Stipe Vuleta said the matter was now with Deloitte as the court-appointed external administrator. But he said the court's decision to wind up the company showed it granted his client "relief" from the company's debts and also recognised the court believed his client had been unknowingly signed up as director. "The sad thing is that often the entitlement scheme does not apply so it's going to be a really unfortunate situation for these guys," he said. "I really don't think there's much these guys can do." Deloitte liquidator Eddie Senatore said he was still investigating the company's finances, but confirmed various matters were referred to the Immigration Department and the companies regulator (ASIC). Mr Senatore said he was contacted by one of the two men believed to be the last official directors of the company, while the other had made contact through his lawyer. Mr Lipinski said that Fastway Couriers Australia "note the events referred to occurred after the date of termination of the franchise deed" and the head office had "no knowledge of these events". An FWO spokesman said the office was contacted by an "overseas worker" about the company last year, but as the company was being wound up at the time, the Ombudsman's "ability to take action" was limited. An Immigration Department spokesman said 457 visa holder were "expected to make arrangements to depart" if they did not find a new sponsor within 60 days after ceasing to be employed by their sponsor, but they "may apply to return to Australia at a later date". The tax office could not comment due to confidentiality and calls made to the former director's last known phone number were not returned.

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