This report examines the precarious conditions facing pregnant women in Australia, focusing on the intersection of immigration status, labor exploitation, and statutory gaps in employment law.

本報告探討澳洲孕婦面臨的不穩定狀況，重點關注移民身分、勞工剝削以及就業法中法定漏洞的交集。

The Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme, while facilitating economic remittances for Pacific Island nations, has created a subclass of vulnerable workers. A significant cohort of these individuals, termed 'disengaged' workers, operate outside formal visa frameworks, thereby forfeiting access to Medicare and statutory maternity support. This precariousness is exacerbated by the absence of dependent visas for most participants, which frequently results in the fragmentation of nuclear family units and the emergence of clandestine domestic arrangements. Consequently, a shadow infrastructure of informal childcare has materialized, characterized by unregulated home-based care and significant financial burdens on the parents.

太平洋-澳洲勞動力流動計劃 (PALM) 雖促進了太平洋島國的經濟匯款，卻也創造了一群脆弱的勞工。其中一大批被稱為「脫離」的工人，在正式簽證框架之外運作，因此喪失了使用 Medicare 和法定孕產支援的權利。由於大多數參與者缺乏家屬簽證，這種不穩定性進一步加劇，經常導致核心家庭破碎，並出現秘密的家庭安排。因此，一套非正式的陰影托育基礎設施隨之產生，其特徵為缺乏監管的居家照護，並給父母帶來沉重的財務負擔。

Clinical observations from healthcare providers in regional hubs indicate a pattern of delayed prenatal care and financial distress among non-citizen workers. The prohibitive cost of reproductive services often leads to the avoidance of medical intervention or attempts at self-induced termination. Furthermore, the intersection of precarious employment and social isolation increases the prevalence of domestic violence, with victims facing a binary choice between abusive partnerships and absolute economic destitution due to their lack of legal residency.

區域中心醫療提供者的臨床觀察指出，非公民勞工存在延遲產前檢查和財務困窘的模式。由於生殖醫療服務費用高昂，往往導致勞工逃避醫療干預或嘗試自行終止妊娠。此外，不穩定就業與社會孤立的交織增加了家庭暴力的盛行率，受害者由於缺乏合法居留權，面臨著在虐待關係與完全經濟匱乏之間的二選一抉擇。

Parallel to these systemic failures in the migrant sector, a legal deficiency exists within the National Employment Standards (NES) affecting domestic professionals. The current statutory requirement for twelve months of continuous service prior to securing return-to-work protections creates a window of vulnerability for employees who become pregnant shortly after commencement. This is exemplified by the litigation involving a former senior researcher at the Australian National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS), where the organization maintained that internal policies did not constitute binding contractual rights. Legal scholars suggest that Australia remains an international outlier by linking maternity protections to a tenure threshold that exceeds the duration of gestation, thereby facilitating pregnancy-based discrimination.

與移民部門的系統性失敗平行，針對本地專業人士的國家就業標準 (NES) 亦存在法律缺陷。現行法定要求在獲得復職保障前須連續服務十二個月，這為入職不久即懷孕的員工創造了脆弱期。這在澳洲國家婦女安全研究組織 (ANROWS) 一位前高級研究員的訴訟案中得到了體現，該機構主張內部政策並不構成具約束力的合約權利。法律學者認為，澳洲將孕產保護與超過妊娠期的任職門檻掛鉤，使其成為國際上的特例，從而助長了基於懷孕的歧視。

The current landscape is defined by a dichotomy of risk: migrant workers face total institutional invisibility, while domestic employees are subject to restrictive statutory thresholds that limit their professional security.

目前的格局定義為一種風險的兩極分化：移工面臨完全的制度隱形，而本地員工則受限於嚴格的法定門檻，限制了其職業保障。