Women from Hong Kong and Thailand are being lured to Sydney brothels on student visas and forced to sell drugs and sex, reports The Sun-Herald. Perhaps the most damning claim in the report is that despite detailed evidence having been lodged with the DIBP more than a year ago, “nothing has been done to close the visa loophole on which the scam thrives”

The reckless exploitation of some Asian women has been uncovered by a recent Sun-Herald investigation. The paper reports that after arriving in Sydney on travel visas, dozens of women from Hong Kong and Thailand are being met by brothel managers who lodge study visa applications on their behalf. In some Sydney parlours, women are said to be forced to work up to 20 hours a day.

“During that time, the women are at the mercy of traffickers who restrict their freedom and force them to work around the clock as prostitutes. While some are aware they are arriving to work in the sex industry, many are oblivious to the fact. Sources on the periphery of the sex ring have testified that within months, an increasing number of workers are finding themselves broken, battered and hooked on crystal meth (ice), which, in some parlours, they are obliged to offer to clients,” the report states.

Commander of the NSW Police Sex Crimes squad, Detective Superintendent John Kerlatec, said: ''These are serious crimes and we work closely with our federal counterparts to ensure we tackle them not only in Australia, but offshore. The difficulty is in trying to get victimised witnesses to come forward.''

According to the report, a consultancy firm, Brothel Busters provided a paper trail to DIBP that demonstrated exactly how sex traffickers were utilising the student visa system. What was of particular concern was that most of these women 'can't speak a word of English' and yet could lodge student visa applications and stay through to the finalisation of the appeals process which could take 2 years.

...

Access to higher education in Australia has been made easier for overseas students from ‘high-risk’ countries like India, Pakistan and China with the removal of stringent grant criteria for students enrolled in selected education institutions.

Confident that it has broken the nexus between education visas and permanent visas, the coalition has relaxed the rules for the grant of student visas to ‘high-risk’ countries.

A total of 60 education providers are now on the list for fast-tracked and low-doc student visas. In essence, students – regardless of their country of origin – who are enrolled with these education providers for higher education courses, will be considered low risk. These students hence will need to provided less information to DIBP and are expected to receive simpler and quicker visa processing. Perhaps most significantly, under the new arrangements, they are expected to show about $20,000 less in available funds in order to be granted a visa.

The changes which were flagged late last year, came into effect on 22 March 2014. Minister Scott Morrison said that he is confident that the Coalition has broken the nexus between education visas and permanent visas. “We are in the business of having a world leading international education sector in this country, not selling visas. Those reforms that have broken that nexus are important…” he said speaking at the CPD Immigration Law Conference, Sydney.

The eligible education providers for SVP for sc 573, sc 574 and sc575 now include 41 Universities and 19 non-universities.  Non-university education providers on the list are starting to see increased enrolments. One such provider, Navita’s recently reported a 6 per cent increase in enrolments to 18,862 students this year. "This solid result was driven by a more than 25 per cent increase in recruitment of international students from their source countries… Vietnam, India, Nepal and Pakistan." the company said in a statement. The listed company’s share price  on the ASX surged over 15% since the beginning of the year on news of increased enrolments and strong future prospects. 

The latest Skills Shortages Report from the Department of Employment states shortages exist “… in the automotive and food trades, where candidate fields are relatively small and there are few applicants who have the required qualifications and experience.” In particular, 26 occupations have been assessed as being in national shortage. Of these 7 are in the managerial and professional levels, while 18 are at the technicians and trades level.

Accountants, Solicitors, Dentists and Pharmacists may have to make way for Cooks, Butchers, Floor Finishers, Roof Tilers and Landscape Gardeners in the Skills Occupation List, if the report on Skills Shortages in Australia is followed. The report has identified occupations in automotive trades and food trades as being ones that employers are “unable to fill or have considerable difficulty filling vacancies for ...at current levels of remuneration and conditions of employment...”

While the report notes that there are often many applicants for vacancies, the applicants are often unable to meet the skill level required. Employers need experienced workers. The report states that regional vacancies often require experienced workers (this is particularly the case in some nursing and health specialisations), and opportunities for new graduates in some locations are restricted due to limited available support and mentoring.

New South Wales is now the tightest labour market, with employers in that state filling a relatively low proportion of their vacancies and attracting few suitable applicants.

Notably, the report has declared there are “no shortages’ for the following occupations Accountants, External Auditor, Solicitor, Valuer, Construction Project, Manager, Architect, Surveyor, Urban and Regional Planner, Quantity Surveyor, Carpenter and Joiner, Painting trades workers, Plumber, Electrician (general), Lift Mechanic, Electronic Equipment/Instrument Trades Worker, Radio Communications Technician, Chemical Engineers, Mechanical Engineer, Civil Engineering Draftsperson, Electrical Engineering Draftspersons, Metal Fabricator, Welder, Fitter, Metal Machinist, Metallurgist, Dentist, Pharmacists, Medical Laboratory Scientist, Medical Laboratory Scientist, Medical Radiation Therapist, Occupational Therapist, Podiatrist, Speech Pathologist, Nursing Clinical Director,  all the 6 ACS assessed occupations on the SOL, Secondary School Teacher, Special Needs Teacher, Child Care Centre Manager,

Australia's Working Holiday Maker visa program grew by close to 16% last year with the grant of over 258,000 visas last year. Minister Scott Morrison is looking to expand the program further saying that the program significantly benefits the economy in general and is of particular importance to the hospitality and tourism sectors.

Impressed with the economic benefits backpackers bring to Australia, DIBP Minister Scott Morrison is looking to expand and improve the working holiday visa programme.

Speaking at the Transport and Tourism Forum in Canberra recently, the Minister said he has noted calls from the tourism sector for improvements in the program.

“I am aware that many in the tourism sector would like to see substantial changes to the program. These will be potential considerations for the government going forward. We also anticipate the program will continue to grow, as will the support it provides to both the tourism sector and those sectors which are crucially interrelated,” said the Minister.

Acting on complaints from overseas investors and industry bodies about the difficulties and costs of doing business in Australia, DFAT has made submissions to the Coalition government to keep politics out of the sc457 programme and called for the introduction of a new “less politicised” visa for foreign workers.

Foreign companies and governments in the region have raised concerns with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) about the high cost of labour and the language requirements attached to the 457 visa program for temporary overseas workers, reports The Australian.

DFAT has taken these complaints to parliament in submissions calling for a less onerous programme in order to encourage overseas investments. The complaints raised include the following:

• Chinese investors have complained that the English-language requirements on the sc457 visas are discouraging investments. They also cite Australia’s foreign investment screening processes, long-time frames for environmental and other approvals, and infrastructure bottlenecks as a barrier to extra investment.
• Japanese businesses have told DFAT officials they want deregulation of environmental, labour and immigration restrictions.
• Indian investors have cited the cost of labour and access to visas for temporary workers, costs on resources projects and the “onerous” nature of regulatory approvals process.

The Australian also reports that Australia China Business Council national president Duncan Calder said the usual English-language test used was designed by universities and not appropriate for tradespeople and managers.

Mr Calder said requirements for higher test scores had excluded “vital” labour, and was “unreasonably” increasing costs for overseas investors on major projects. Recent changes to the English requirements had been “problematic” and the labour market testing introduced last June - which require companies to show they have tried for four months to recruit Australians - were even more concerning.