The Pilbara region covering an area of half a million square kilometres is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples, its ancient landscapes, the red earth, its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore and as a global biodiversity hotspot for subterranean fauna. The region’s population is estimated to be about 50,000 people.

It is no wonder that the Pilbara Regional Council is complaining of a severe worker shortage and has formally applied to the Department of Immigration to allow small businesses in the North West to employ foreign workers on 457 visas. It is hoped a regional migration agreement will help fill a shortfall of jobs in the community sector.

Council chief executive Tony Friday told the ABC that during the height of the mining boom, small businesses in the Pilbara were struggling to secure local staff.

"It represents a really good option for small business when we find ourselves in the middle of a boom cycle and are unable to staff important community positions," he said.

"The perfect time to do it would have been in time for the last boom, before small businesses were screaming because they couldn't get hold of staff and positions were going unfilled.

Vulnerable people with genuine claims will soon be precluded from raising them in a fresh visa application, simply because a previous application which they did not understand and which may have been made by someone else without their permission was refused. There are several amendments proposed in the Migration Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2014 but the amendments to section 48 remains the most contentious.

Section 48 of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth( (the Act) in general prohibits an individual whose onshore application for a visa has been refused or cancelled from making a further onshore application, with limited exceptions applying to the application ban.

Submissions to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee opposed the amendments for various reasons including the following (as summarised in the Parliamentary Library Bills Digest 4 June 2014):

• the changes increase the potential for instances of injustice to arise as some vulnerable people will be denied the opportunity to present their claims for asylum in their own right
• the changes will prohibit re-consideration of issues that have been considered in a previous application even though such an application may not have appropriately taken into account the views and capacity of a minor or other vulnerable person
• the changes will adversely affect particularly vulnerable groups of asylum seekers due to factors entirely beyond their control
• the changes could result in unintended consequences such as refoulement
• the changes are not proportionate to the administrative burden on the Department
• the changes raise doubts about Australia’s compliance with international law such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
• the retrospective nature of the changes is not fair for applicants
• the changes are premature and misconceived and
• the Minister’s personal and non-compellable powers under section 48B of the Act to exclude the operation of the provision on public interest grounds is a grossly inadequate safeguard against refoulement for particularly vulnerable people subject to the prohibition in section 48A of the Act.

The Refugee Advice and Casework Service (RACS) provided some scenarios to illustrate the gross unfairness of the proposed legislation which its states unfairly "extends the s48 bar on subsequent applications to individuals who have been refused a protection visa even where they did not know about or understand the nature of the original visa application made on their behalf because of a mental impairment or because they were a minor."

 “A 17 year old young man lives independently of his parents in a relationship not approved of by his parents. He is included on a non-meritorious protection visa application by his parents without his knowledge. This application is refused. He only learns of this visa application history when he makes his own visa application in the future, which is deemed invalid.

“A 16 year old girl remains in conflict with her father due to family violence and remains living in a refuge with her mother. She is included in a non-meritorious visa application without her knowledge by her father which is refused. When her mother includes her on a subsequent meritorious visa application as her dependent, she is informed that the application by the daughter is invalid due to the father’s previous application.”

With expensive university fees and a loss of interest in VET colleges since the removal of the likes of hairdressers and cooks from the skills occupation list, students are starting to turn to cheaper ELICOS colleges as a stepping stone into Australia. Perhaps, the high English language threshold required for immigration into Australia is also fuelling the rise of the ELICOS student visa.

Last year, there were 147,828 students in Australia studying English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students or ELICOS, according to a report by Australian Education International (AEI), which is based on survey findings of peak body English Australia (EA).

The EA survey showed that overall ELICOS enrolments in 2013 grew by 19% to 147,828 students from 124,603 in 2012. The figures show that there has been trend over the last three years for  ELICOS students to move away from tourist visas and into student visas. According to EA, last year, some 62 per cent were on student visas, 19 per cent on tourist visas and 15 per cent on working holiday visas.

Victoria is the preferred place for ELICOS students. In 2013, all states showed growth in ELICOS students. Victoria had the strongest growth with 38% followed by Queensland (27%) and Western Australia (21%). South Australia grew by 7% and NSW by 6%.

The ELICOS sector continues to draw its largest numbers of students from the Asia Pacific (64%, a slight increase from 63% in 2012). Students from China were the largest cohort and accounted for 17% of all ELICOS students in 2013. The remaining top ten student nationalities in order were: Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Thailand, Colombia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Italy and Saudi Arabia. All of the top ten countries showed growth in 2013.

The Coalition Government is set to change regulations to allow pipe construction vessels to use workers on maritime crew visas - so companies will not need to staff a ship with Australians.

Assistant Immigration Minister Michaelia Cash has conceded today the coalition may not be able to repeal the Migration Amendment (Offshore Resources Activity) Act 2013 (or the 'ORA Act') which was pushed through in the dying days of the Labor government that demanded employers on offshore pipe-laying vessels seek to employ Australian workers first.

Instead, the government will try to change the regulations to allow the less onerous martime crew visa to be used for such work.

"I want to see visa service delivery that meets the needs of employers without overburdening them with red tape, while ensuring that migration delivers social and economic strength, prosperity and unity," said Senator Cash to the Western Australian newspaper.

In 2012, the Federal Court ruled that foreign workers on pipe-laying vessels working on the the multibillion-dollar Gorgon gas project were outside the migration zone and did not need Australian work visas. The decision angered the powerful Maritime Union of Australia and last year the Gillard government introduced laws to recognise that anyone taking part in an offshore resources activity needed a visa.

DIBP statistics reported in the Australian indicate that half of Australia’s migrant workers are recruited onshore, with one in every 20 backpackers last year receiving a 457 visa to stay working here for four more years. Unions say that unemployed Australians are being by-passed and have demanded for the expansion of labour market testing.

CFMEU national secretary Michael O’Connor said that employers should be forced to advertise all jobs on job-search websites or in newspapers before hiring migrant workers. “Backpackers are being engaged in the construction industry on semi-skilled labouring work where there would be many ideal candidates locally to do the work,’’ he said.

However, the Master Builders Association said companies preferred local workers, who were much easier to hire. “All labour market testing does is delay the process,’’ MBA spokesman Ben Carter said yesterday. “No building contractor has any incentive to employ foreign labour.’’

Figures released by Scott Morrison at the Transport and Tourism Forum in Canberra earlier this year indicate that on average, each Working Holiday Maker spends A$13,218 during their stay in Australia. Approximately 71 per cent of this expenditure occurs in the three interrelated areas of tourism, accommodation and transportation.

The Minister noted that Working Holiday Makers generally tend to spend more than they earn, making a small but important contribution to the creation of Australian jobs. For every 100 Working Holiday Makers who arrive in Australia there is a net gain to the Australian economy of 6.3 full time jobs. This means that the 258,000 Working Holiday arrivals in the last financial year generated more than 16,000 additional Australian jobs.