Dear Members of Migration Alliance,

An AGM has been called for 17 July 2015 at 2pm.

In the intervening period Elections will be held for the positions of:

Dear Migration Alliance members,

Hope you are well. 

Official Invitation to support the Council of International Students Australia (CISA) National Conference 2015

Private education providers are set to face tougher regulations as the Department of Education sets out reviewing the legislative framework around foreign student compliance, according to a report in The Australian.

The review is linked to investigations by the Overseas Students Ombudsman which has warned private education providers of a systemic problem of non-compliance that is severely damaging the reputation of Australia’s education sector.

Sloppy student services and false attendance reporting are systemic problems plaguing overseas students at private education providers, the national Overseas Students Ombudsman has revealed.

In an ‘issues paper’ on poor compliance in the private education sector, the Ombudsman revealed that it investigated some 448 student complaints since the body's establishment in 2011. The Ombudsman had to intervene in 142 cases in order to prevent DIBP from sending students home. 

“It warned some providers were failing to intervene with at-risk students, allowing weak students to continue to study and fail.Student absences were also being miscalculated. Providers were marking students absent when they were merely late, or on days when it was a public holiday and there were no classes scheduled” noted the report in The Australian.

Students suffer the consequences of these inefficiencies as DIBP normally reacts by cancelling their visas if the issues it becomes aware of are not addressed properly.

I have commissioned an advice from Senior Counsel and have now been tasked with finding the perfect Group 5 candidate for foreshadowed legal action.

I am requesting that the word go out for a candidate who is as close to perfect as against the following:

1.  The candidate applied more than 5 years ago.

Under the 457 visa program over the last year, 104,780 foreign skilled workers were hired. This is less than 1 per cent of Australia’s workforce of some 11.5 million. Despite the small proportion of foreign workers in the workforce, the Labor party is once again ramping up warning of ‘rorts’ in the program and claiming that it undermines jobs and wages in Australia.

The number of people on the 457 skilled worker visa fell to 104,780 at the end of May, down 6.3 per cent since last July, according to DIBP statistics reported recently in The Australian.

Given this, the government as well as the Migration Council of Australia (MCA) says that the program is working as it should: “The 457 program is performing well and the measures to tighten regulation and compliance are working,” said MCA chief executive Carla Wilshire.

 “While there will always be a small portion of employers who do the wrong thing, the continued focus on rorts in the 457 program is disproportionate. By and large, this program works well and serves Australia’s interests well” she said.

Latest DIBP figures revealed in The Australian indicate that the number of employers sanctioned over the year was higher, at 15 per cent. But the government said the sanctions include ‘minor ­administrative problems’. The government targeted some 4000 sponsors over the year but only issued about 40 infringement notices.