Another brazen scam targeting migrants has been uncovered in Melbourne.

The Australian reports that a scam in which migrant women paid up to $3000, and studied for up to a year, only to be handed fake childcare qualifications has been uncovered in Melbourne.

The report states that up to 100 women are thought to have received fake Diploma in Children's Services qualifications in the scam, which ran from 2010 to 2013 and targeted the city's Somalian community.

The women were given work books and were duped into thinking they had enrolled in a course at a reputable training organisation.

"These women genuinely believe they have completed the work, and at the end they receive a certificate...A lot of these victims have then started to seek employment, or promotions, within the childcare sector and it is then discovered their certificates are fraudulent. Detective Senior Constable Kate O'Neill told AAP.

Women affected by the scam are urged to contact police as there is an offer to complete their training legitimately.

Against the grain of media coverage of viral videos of racist attacks on public transport, disparaging remarks of radio hosts and politicians against migrants, and of course the campaign against racism which suggests racism is rife in Australia, a Newspoll survey has revealed surprising results, some may say. What do you think?

The Australian reports that nearly half the people recently ­surveyed by Newspoll support Australia’s ­existing immigration intake, which settled 190,000 immigrants last year in the world’s largest per capita intake. Two-thirds were skilled migrants.

“Twenty-two per cent favour an even higher intake, with support strongest among the young, those on high incomes and capital city-dwellers.”

However, there is a lean towards European migrants with 26 per cent of Australians desiring more ­migrants from Europe. This is followed by a 20 per cent support for more immigration from Africa.

In contrast those surveyed seem to shy a little from Asian migrants who have support at 18 percent.  

The review of OMARA provides a rare opportunity for registered migration agents (RMAs) to voice their opinion on how the industry ought to be regulated. The Migration Alliance encourages RMAs to review its white paper and provide comments and suggestions before it is submitted to the reviewer.

The migration advisory industry is growing at a rate of over 6 per cent a year with currently some 5200 agents registered to provide migration advice. The demand for professional migration advice is on the rise. Perhaps the increase in the number of RMAs is due to the tightening of immigration legislation in Australia, making it a particularly tight-line for prospective migrants to walk alone in their aspiration for Australian residency. Perhaps the increase in the number of registered practitioners is also the result of the campaign against unregistered practice.

Undoubtedly, as immigration controls tighten and people become more desperate to gain entry or remain in Australia, the importance of good immigration advice will only intensify. Discerning clients will be looking to professional assistance given the complex migration laws and policies, the high stakes and increasingly expensive application charges.

Indeed, then the review of the industry’s regulatory is timely as the current regime is not working well enough given the numerous complaints from RMAs we have seen on this blog. The review then, provides a rare opportunity for RMAs to voice their opinions on how the industry ought to be regulated.

The Migration Alliance has taken the lead in this and has laid out a proposed framework for the regulation of the industry in its White Paper. To help ensure that this proposal properly reflects the views of RMAs, the MA has invited RMAs to comment on the White Paper and offer suggestions before it is submitted to the reviewer. The closing date for submission is 27 July 2014.

Amid allegations wealthy Chinese ­citizens are secretly transferring money into overseas property markets, Australian banks’ are being queried at various levels including the claim of the ‘mis-using’ of the ‘Significant Investor Visa’ funds for investment into Australian real estate, reports the Australian Financial Review.

Banks are telling a parliamentary economics committee inquiry investigating the foreign investment in Australian real estate, that they there are limitations on what they know about foreign real estate investors.

The AFR reports that the Macquarie Group was asked what it did to make sure loan clients were not mis-using the “Significant Investor Visa” and diverting the funds into property assets: “Macquarie said it did not directly monitor how loaned funds were being used but it had the power to call in the loan or seize collateral early if clients were dishonest.”

ANZ, which is targeting Asian customers, was asked whether it traced the source of income for individual foreign buyers when it was lending money to domestic property developers.

The bank’s response, said it did not trace foreign buyers’ source of income, but it checked the post-codes of “pre-sales” to make sure they were genuine.

The Coalition has invalidated legislation deeming oil and gas projects to be within Australia’s migration zone, insisting the controversial move was necessary to restore certainty to the $200 billion offshore oil and gas sector.

In response to a Senate vote Wednesday night that blocked several visa categories for foreign oil and gas industry workers, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Michaelia Cash issued a Legislative Instrument on Thursday to override the vote. The minister said that the controversial move was necessary to restore certainty to the $200 billion offshore oil and gas sector.

Labor’s legislation amended the Migration Act to ensure people working in an “offshore resources activity” were deemed to be in Australia’s migration zone. Therefore, foreign workers would have been required to hold an “offshore resources visa” or permanent visa.

Last Wednesday the Australian Senate voted to disallow a regulation that put foreign workers into three visa categories. That regulation, Migration Amendment (Offshore Resources Activity) Regulation 2014, was intended to quash a more restrictive law put in place by the previous government that would have required a new “offshore resources” visa for those workers. Both measures had effective dates of 30 June.

Following the disallowance vote, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Michaelia Cash quickly issued Legislative Instrument IMMI 14/077 – Determination Subsection A(6) Migration Act 1958 to override the vote.