Australian migration agents get frustrated with DIAC

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Created on Wednesday, 04 September 2013 16:11

Written by Editorial staff

All migration agents in Australia may be interested to read this article, which reveals that many in the industry are getting frustrated by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).

The article, which was written by Peter Mares of the InsideStory, says that DIAC seems to be having problems answering "important questions in a timely manner, if at all."

Mr Mares spoke to Savitri Taylor, a respected legal scholar, when conducting research for this article. He reveals that Mr Taylor says "far more questions have been asked about regional processing at Senate estimates than have been answered".

A quick glance at the 'Senate Committee' section of the Parliament of Australia's website seems to support this. Of the 509 questions raised at an Additional Estimates meeting in February, a large number are listed as not having answers.

In fact, Mr Mares reveals a whopping 176 questions haven't received replies from the DIAC yet.

These answers were all supposedly due on April 2, 2013.

More of the same can be seen in the recent Budget Estimates meeting, which was held in May. Of the 578 questions asked during this sitting, not a single one has been answered yet.

The answers to all of these were expected on July 12, 2013.

Australian migration agents can make of this what they will, but it seems as though the DIAC has some catching up to do.