Australian Immigration Daily News

Last night Christopher Levingston, Liana Allan and Jennifer Fong from the Migration Alliance board and committee along with Glen Frost and Renee Zhao from PwC, Dina Goebel from Bupa, Stacey Martin from NAB and Karen Berkley from VETASSESS attended an Italian cooking class with the Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Scott Morrison MP and his wife, Jenny.

As you will see from the images below, just for a bit of fun everyone was wearing a Migration Alliance apron.

Just came across this article and not sure if anyone has seen it before and it is now 'old news', but I felt that it was something that needed to be covered.   It is a story on Chris Bowen and his treatment of a Hazara he ordered back to Afghanistan.

This is the type of government we have had to deal with for a while now and this is indicative of the contempt shown for these Hazara visa applicants by the previous Immigration Minister.

The point I would like to raise is why did it have to take an Australian court to dictate to Bowen what is and what is not acceptable?

Migration Alliance members might be interested to learn that His Excellency Baron Waqa MP, President of Nauru and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd have signed a Memorandum of Understanding relating to the transfer of people to Nauru, assessment of their claims and other issues in relation to the transfer of people to Nauru.

The release has been made via the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website and is dated 12 August 2013.  The details available on the DFAT website are things such as a peamble, interpretations, objectives to combat people smuggling. 

People who will be transferred to Nauru for processing have travelled irregularly by sea to Australia (normally called irregular maritime arrivals - IMAs), or have been intercepted by Australian authorities in the course of trying to reach Australia by irregular maritime means.  They must then be authorised by Australian law to be transferred to Nauru and must have undergone short health, security and identity checks in Australia.

It is with great pleasure that I announce Migration Alliance's full membership with Philanthropy Australia.

Philanthropy is defined as:

The planned and structured giving of time, information, goods and services, voice and influence, as well as money, to improve the wellbeing of humanity and the community.

Philanthropy Australia is Australia's peak association for philanthropy, and like Migration Alliance, is a not-for-profit organisation made up of members.  The members of Philanthroy Australia, like Migration Alliance, are families, trusts, foundations and people who want to create positive change through their own philanthropy and to encourage others to do the same.

I received a phonecall today from someone I know and trust.  The DIAC is about to restructure as part of  'budget cuts'.  The news is as follows:

A/S is going to be Richard Johnson (former PMC guy).

First Assistant Secretary is going to be Garry Fleming (taking over Kruno Kukoc's role).