University of Sydney: Human Trafficking Criminal wwww.ielts.agency 100
to exploitation when they enter the market place to purchase goods and services to support their
application to immigrate to an advanced developed capitalist economy such as Canada (e.g.
United Nations, 2017c).
Extortion
IELTS’s business practices are extortionate and unconscionable. As context, I draw on a news
article published by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). The ABC is a respected, not-
for-profit public institution. In an article dated 2015, this news agency uses a sub-header to make
prominent a quote from an IELTS test-taker from the Irish Republic who has repeatedly failed his
IELTS exam by a narrow margin. The native language of this IELTS test-taker is English and he
requires IELTS scores for immigration purposes.
In his interview with the ABC, this Paralympian states that the IELTS “test is, ‘almost like
extortion’”. Figure 58, overleaf, documents this claim. It is exceptionally rare for the ABC to use
such confronting accusatory language. The ABC has the authority to quote or omit any
statements provided by interviewees. I strongly suspect that the word ‘almost’ was inserted by
ABC’s editors on the advice of their legal team to avoid a lawsuit and for no other purpose.