It is troubling that abuse of migrant workers is called ''reverse racism''.
This week, Today Tonight ran a promo on ''the undercover investigation exposing reverse racism - where you are too white to work''.
The camera zoomed in on a strawberry farm in Queensland where ''Aussies are overlooked in favour of Asians'' and ''Australian strawberries are only picked by Asian hands''.

Sometimes behind the headline there's a really good story. The story was actually about migrant workers doing ''jobs'' in which they are underpaid or not paid at all, abused, degraded, and forced to work in dangerous conditions.
It is troubling that the TV station felt the need to sell a story about workplace exploitation of migrant workers as a story about ''Asians stealing Aussie jobs''. The workers at the strawberry farm said ''strawberries come from hell'' and those who spoke up about the abuse or lack of pay were further abused.
Apparently the Fair Work Ombudsman - who plays a vital role in making sure migrant workers can access the same basic rights and protections as Australian workers - is investigating the treatment of the strawberry pickers.
But there's also a bigger picture. Around the world, migrant workers are especially vulnerable to exploitation. Research by the International Labour Organisation suggests that globally the most common form of human trafficking is labour trafficking. It occurs on a spectrum of exploitation from violations of workplace laws to, at its worst, human trafficking and slavery.
Migrant workers may not understand their rights under local laws, may fear being deported, and sometimes cultural and linguistic barriers make it hard for them to seek help. These vulnerabilities can make migrant workers, as the farmer onToday Tonight's story put it, ''easier to control''.
Human traffickers use a range of coercive techniques to exploit their victims. These can range from threats about deportation, to deception about the legal consequences of making a complaint and threats to a worker's personal safety or the safety of their family.
While the exact number of trafficked people in Australia is unknown, human trafficking does happen here. In the past couple of years, more than 100 people have been identified by the Australian federal police as possible victims.
Of course, not every migrant worker who has a bad job in Australia has been trafficked or enslaved. Recent court decisions have helped draw the line between harsh employment conditions and criminal exploitation such as slavery and trafficking.
We cannot comment on where the experience of the strawberry pickers lies on the spectrum of exploitation. However, we do believe people need to be more alert to the issue.
As lawyers at the Anti-Slavery Project, we've seen cases in the hospitality industry, the agricultural industry, the sex industry and in domestic work - where international research suggests women are especially vulnerable to exploitation.
Contrary to the popular assumption that trafficking happens only in the sex industry, trafficking and slavery can happen in a range of industries to men and women of any age and any nationality.
Employers, employees and the Australian community need better information about how to spot signs of labour trafficking and exploitation.
In some cases, the exploitation might be so severe it falls within the criminal offences of trafficking or slavery. In other cases, the Fair Work Ombudsman might be the best port of call.
People who are exploited at work have a right to legal remedies and should have access to legal advice. As the US State Department has made clear, effective prevention of human trafficking must address the continuum of labour exploitation and include ''targeted initiatives to protect the rights of marginalised, low-income workers such as domestic servants, farm workers, miners and garment workers''.
Today Tonight's story wasn't about ''reverse racism'' against ''Aussie'' workers; it was about gross exploitation and abuse of vulnerable migrant workers. Let's hope the next time a serious case of workplace exploitation is uncovered, it isn't distorted by fearmongering about Asians taking Aussie jobs.
Frances Simmons and Brynn O'Brien work at the Anti-Slavery Project at the University of Technology Sydney, a specialist legal service for trafficked and exploited people.