The Bill aims to provide that, when an unlawful non-citizen is in the process of being removed to another country and the removal is aborted, or is completed but the person is not permitted entry into the receiving country, and as a direct result the person is returned to Australia, then that person has a lawful basis to return to Australia without a visa; provide that, when such a person does return to Australia without a visa, the person will be taken to have been continuously in the migration zone for the purposes of certain sections of the Act which bar the person from making a valid application for certain visas; and allow the department to use an online account to provide clients with certain legally required communications; Customs Act 1901 to: allow the department to make a recoverable payment to a person who is entitled to it; and make technical amendments; and Passenger Movement Charge Collection Act 1978 to insert a new head of power so that regulations can prescribe the charging and recovery of fees for, and in relation to, the payment of passenger movement charge or an amount equal to the charge.

The bill was first introduced into parliament on 28 March 2018 and is now awaiting Royal Assent.

The purpose of Schedule 1 to the Bill is to provide that when a non-citizen is removed from Australia under section 198 to another country (the destination country), or an unsuccessful attempt is made to remove that non-citizen under section 198, that non‑citizen can be returned to Australia without needing to hold a visa. Further, the amendments in this Schedule are intended to provide that when the non-citizen is returned to Australia, then despite their temporary absence from Australia, if the non‑citizen was barred from making certain visa applications under section 48 or 48A prior to their departure, they will continue to be barred on their return.

In a report released today, The Business Council of Australia recommends:

 The ‘ceiling’ for the permanent migration intake should remain at 190,000 per annum in 2019-20, with 128,550 places reserved for skilled migrants and the remainder for the family stream.

 Consider setting the ceiling of 190,000 per annum for the next three years – 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 – to provide business, governments and the community with greater certainty about the future intake and to support better long term planning for growth

The following Migration Newsletter 713 for February 2019, produced by Lewis & Bollard makes excellent reading:

Migration_Newsletter_713.02.pdf

Department of Home Affairs conducted public consultation “Australia’s 2019-2020 Migration Program".  The purpose of the discussion paper is to seek public and stakeholder views on Australia’s current immigration program to ensure that immigration continues to serve the national interest and the interests of all Australians in the coming year. The rate, composition and distribution of immigration has significant impact on Australia's current population and distribution of the population (especially regional areas). Australia’s immigration programs are continuously reviewed to ensure that settings maximise the benefits migration brings to Australia.

Specifically, the paper focuses on the following permanent streams:

• Skill stream – improves the productive capacity of the economy and fills skill shortages in the labour market, including those in regional Australia. 
• Family stream – allows Australian citizens and permanent residents to reunite with close family members, including partners, and certain dependent relatives. 
• Special Eligibility stream - provides visas for those in special circumstances that do not fit into other streams, including former residents. The Special Eligibility stream is a very small component of the overall permanent Migration Program.

At current planning levels, the government anticipates to allocate approximately 190,000 places to permanent residency.  The government fell short of the target last year granting approximately 165 000 permanent residency visas.

Invitation rounds for Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189) and Skilled Regional (provisional) visa (subclass 489) visas will be run once a month.

Current round