Australian Immigration Daily News

The Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA) today welcomed the decision by the Coalition Government not to pursue plans to make testing stricter for people seeking Australian citizenship.

The Morrison Government had previously planned to make testing tougher and include an English test and questions on Australian values. FECCA Chairperson Ms Mary Patetsos said stricter language testing was not necessary.

“FECCA welcomes this decision because while there are many valid requirements around citizenship testing, stricter language testing is not necessary or required."

The following message can be found on Immigration SA's website dated today, 17 June 2019.

To complete system updates for the new program year Immigration SA will be closing the General Skilled Migration (GSM) state nomination 190/489 application system from 9am on Monday 24 June and will re-open in the first week of July (the date and time will be confirmed at the start of July).

If you have commenced a 190/489 application, you will need to submit & pay for the application prior to the system being closed.

Qantas will start non-stop flights from Brisbane to Chicago and San Francisco from April next year under a deal secured by the Palaszczuk Government.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the flights operating four times a week to Chicago and three times a week to San Francisco would pump more than $150 million into the Queensland economy over the next three years.

“As the world’s largest economy, the United States offers enormous potential for inbound tourism to Queensland,” the Premier said.

Below is the AAT Bulletin for 17 June 2019.  Citizenship decisions are on page 3, and Migration decisions are on page 4.

https://www.aat.gov.au/AAT/media/AAT/Files/AAT%20Bulletins/24-19.pdf

Australia and Malaysia launched Operation Redback XIII today, a joint border protection exercise to  fight maritime crime in the Malacca Strait. 

The thirteenth iteration of Operation Redback is being held from 17 to 21 June 2019 and will see  more than 80 officers from the Australian Border Force (ABF) and Malaysia Coast Guard (MCG) come  together in Klang, Malaysia. 

Through the joint operation, ABF and MCG officers will build their operational skills and enhance  their preparedness for combating a range of maritime threats including people smuggling, terrorism  and human trafficking.