Australian Immigration Daily News

Figures showing another record year for global displacement emphasise the important role Australia can play in helping the world’s most vulnerable, according to one of Australia’s leading refugee settlement experts.

Every minute in 2018, 25 people were forced to flee their homes, according to UNHCR’s Annual Global Trends report, released to mark World Refugee Day today. By the end of the year, 70.8 million people globally were forcibly displaced – representing the highest level since the UN Refugee Agency began 70 years ago and a year-on-year increase of 2.3 million people.

“These sobering figures show how important it is for Australia to accommodate the world’s most vulnerable people through a generous refugee intake in our humanitarian program,” said Violet Roumeliotis, who is the CEO of community organisation and social business Settlement Services International (SSI).

The MIA forum has been announced as 'down' on Facebook.

Until the forum is back up, and if agents need to talk to one another urgently, the Support Network for MARA Agents Facebook Group has 1600+ members and is an excellent alternative.

The following message is displayed on the NSW Department of Industry website:

Announcement – NSW skilled nominated migration (190) closed for 2018-19

We would like to announce that we have met our quota of nominations for the Skilled-Nominated visa (subclass 190) for the 2018-19 financial year.

We will announce the commencement of invitations to apply for NSW nomination for the 2019-20 financial year via our website in the coming weeks.

Migration Agents can hear directly from the NSW Department of Industry on the 15 November 2019 at the MIGRATION 2019 Conference in Sydney.  

Australia's population grew by 1.6 per cent during 2018, according to the latest figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). ABS Demography Director Beidar Cho said:

"Steady growth over recent quarters has resulted in a population of 25.2 million people at 31 December 2018."

The number of births in 2018 reached an all time high of 314,900, 161,900 of these were male and 153,000 female. The previous record was 312,200 in 2012.

On 19 June 2019, the Federal Court of Australia ruled that the Australian Government has to consider applications for refugees on Manus and Nauru made under the Medevac laws that are made in line with standard Australian medical practices.

In its findings, the Court noted expert opinion that medical professionals can evaluate a patient’s need for further assessment or treatment, without any personal engagement with the patient, on the basis of notes of other practitioners or information gathered from third parties.

Shortly after the Medevac laws passed, the Nauruan government passed legislation to ban doctors speaking with patients on Nauru for the purpose of medical assessment. David Burke, a Senior Lawyer with the Human Rights Law Centre said: