Last year, an unlicensed immigration adviser for New Zealand visas, Richard Martin, was sentenced to three years and seven months’ imprisonment after being found guilty on 93 immigration-related charges.

The New Zealand’s Immigration Advisers Authority (IAA) said that this was the heaviest penalty handed down to an unlicensed adviser, since the IAA’s inception in 2007. Undoubtedly, it reflects how aggressively the IAA pursues and prosecutes fraudsters in the industry and how seriously it takes its role in protecting vulnerable people.

Acting Assistant General Manager of Compliance and Border Operations at Immigration New Zealand (INZ) Arron Baker said the sentencing is a result of a thorough investigation by INZ and the IAA. 

“Today’s sentencing should act as a deterrent to any other unlicensed adviser operating outside the system. They can expect the full force of INZ, IAA and New Zealand Police, if necessary, to ensure the integrity of our systems are maintained and vulnerable people are protected” said Mr Baker in a statement.

Like New Zealand, Australia has a system of licensing migration advisers. The system managed by MARA aims to promote and protect the interests of people receiving immigration advice. Essentially, it does this by issuing licenses to people who:

Australia’s is ageing faster than ever and birth-rates have fallen over 3 percent last year, according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The figures show that immigration remains critical to Australia’s sustained growth but what is troubling is that migrants are flocking to Sydney and Melbourne while the other states are experiencing drastic falls in the rate of population growth. The statistics certainly indicate that there is an urgent need to better manage Australia’s immigration system to encourage a more even distribution of new arrivals.

Immigration added over 212,700 people to Australia's population in the year ending June 2014.  Net Overseas Migration (NOM) remains the key driver to Australia’s population growth, contributing over 58% to growth over the year to take the country’s resident population to 23,490,700people.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics Australian Demographics report, released last month, found that while all states had population increases from migration over the 12 months, some states saw drastic falls in the rate of growth.

Western Australia's migrant intake dropped by 40% or almost 20,000 people over the same period - on par with the Northern Territory (down 40% or 2000 people) and dropped further than the Australian Capital Territory (down by 700 people or 25%). Queensland's rate fell 24% with nearly 10,000 migrants coming to the state in the year to June.

New South Wales and Victoria continued to experience growth in net overseas migration, adding 6,300 people in NSW and 2,300 people in Victoria.

The University of Melbourne and the Australian National University are the top two universities in Australia and amongst the world’s best according to the latest annual QS World University Rankings by Subject.

The QS University Rankings is a comprehensive guide to the world’s top universities in a range of popular subject areas. The ranking is largely based on a survey of academics view of the reputation of the universities. To a lesser extent the rankings also takes into account other data like the number of times the university is cited in research publications and the student ratios.

The rankings highlight the 200 top universities in the world for 30 individual subjects.

The University of Melbourne demonstrated its consistency as Australia’s best by once again being named Australia’s best performing university. It was placed first nationally in 12 of the 30 disciplines.

According to a report in The Australian, Melbourne's best performance was in education, where it was named the second best faculty in the world, behind the University of London’s Institute of Education, up from third last year. Melbourne also took the crown as Australia’s most comprehensive university, named in the top five in 29 of the 30 disciplines. Melbourne was particularly strong in science, maths and technology subjects, ranking first nationally in eight of the 16 subject areas.

Since the introduction the Significant Investor Visa (SIV) program there have been calls for greater scrutiny of the sources of funds of the applicants. There has been a steady climb in the number of applicants and grants under the program with over AUD$2.85 billion already invested in Australia. Pressure is now mounting on DIBP to step up its checks on the investors sources of funds after Canada tightened applications for a its similar scheme to prevent money-laundering.

Under the current SIV program, the department of immigration’s case officers rely on information provided by the applicants to determine if the funds are lawful. These officers have a high degree of discretionary authority to determine if additional documents are required and what type of documents would be satisfactory. It’s not exactly clear what level of consistency there is in this process of investigations or how the case officers verify if the sources of funds are lawful.

All that is clear is that there have been a steady increase in the number of applicants and the number of grants. In contrast, Canada which recently introduced a similar scheme has shown concern over money-laundering and tightened applications for its investor visa program. Under the Canadian program “forensic accountants” from the private sector are appointed to investigate if the applicants have a ‘criminal past’ or are ‘politically exposed’.

The Australian reports that pressure is mounting on DIBP to boost scrutiny of investors trying to buy residency in Australia under the significant investor scheme after Canada tightened applications for its similar scheme.

“Experts say Australia is one of the top destinations for corrupt officials fleeing China, and with the Canadian changes there are fears the country could become a haven for white-collar criminals,” reports The Australian.

The Australian recently revealed the former chief of the giant Chinese utility State Grid was hiding out in Australia with millions of dollars he stole from the company. Chinese investigators have identified at least six other former officials and state company executives accused of bribery and embezzlement involving about $1 billion.

Tourism is predicted to surge more than 10 per cent a year, according to the business consultancy firm Deloitte which has nominated tourism as one of Australia’s super-growth sectors. However the hospitality industry says that to reach this potential, there is need for simpler visa rules for both employees and tourists including the introduction of a premium pathway for luxury travellers.

Billionaire James Packer’s Crown Resorts says VIP travellers should be able to use a dedicated path at Australia’s international airports, separate from the mass tourism market. The nation’s busiest airport, Sydney Airport, is also calling for a “premium” model for passengers willing to pay for it, according to a report in The Australian.

Ratcheting up its push around opening the door to Chinese tourists, Crown Resorts says to make Australia more attractive to “premium” tourists, Customs should provide a better service with fast-tracked arrivals and departures processing at major international airports.

On a more general note, the group warns that the tourism industry has “great difficulty” recruiting Mandarin-speaking staff; that the growth rate of visitors from China has halved in the past year; and without government action, Australia is at risk of losing out on the benefits of mass tourism from China and greater Asia.

Earlier this year, the federal government department responsible for tourism, Austrade, said that regional tourism is suffering and urgently requires workers in hotels, pubs and restaurants. It says that as early as next year, there will be a shortage of some 56,000 workers in the hospitality industry.  It has thus backed industry calls for increased flexibility of the 457 work visas and working holiday visas.