Australian Immigration Daily News

Source:  Benchmark

The General Skilled Migration (GSM) program for the 2019/20 financial year has now closed. 

The State & Territory nomination program will remain temporarily CLOSED until the Commonwealth Government s allocation of state nomination places for 2020-21 takes place. This means that State & Territory governments have no ability to nominate applicants in visa subclass 190 & visa subclass 491. 

The GSM 2020/21 program year is scheduled to re-open from early August however, changes to the composition of the Australian Migration program might be made in October under the new budget. 

A nationwide study involving 5000 international students has found the majority are experiencing serious wage theft with three in four students earning below the minimum casual wage and one in four earning less than half the minimum.

‘International Students and Wage Theft in Australia’ is the latest report from UTS Law Associate Professor Laurie Berg and UNSW Associate Professor Bassina Farbenblum who co-direct the Migrant Worker Justice Initiative.

It builds on their 2016 national survey of temporary migrant workers. This new study finds that, despite efforts from the Fair Work Ombudsman over the last three years and stronger penalties against employers, it is still ‘business as usual’ in terms of the exploitation of international students.

Source: International-Students-Wage-theft.pdf 

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Today the High Court unanimously allowed an appeal from a judgment of the Federal Court of
Australia. The issue raised by the appeal was whether an invalid certificate purportedly issued by a
delegate of the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection ("the Minister") under s 473GB of the
Migration Act 1958 (Cth) was "new information" within the meaning of s 473DC(1) of the Act. Section
473GB relevantly provides that the Minister may issue a written certificate certifying that certain
information given by the Secretary of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection ("the
Department") to the Immigration Assessment Authority ("the Authority") as part of the "fast track
review process" established by Pt 7AA of the Act should not be disclosed because it would ground a
claim of public interest immunity by the Commonwealth. Section 473DC(1) relevantly defines "new
information" to mean "documents or information" that "were not before the Minister when the Minister
made the decision [under review]" and that "the Authority considers may be relevant".

The first respondent's application for a protection visa was refused by a delegate of the Minister and this
decision was referred to the Authority for review under Pt 7AA of the Act. The "review material"
provided by a delegate of the Secretary of the Department to the Authority included a "Draft IMAPS
Identity Assessment Form" ("the Identity Assessment Form"). A certificate was purportedly issued
under s 473GB(5) ("the Certificate") certifying for the purpose of s 473GB(1)(a) that disclosure of the
information contained in the Identity Assessment Form would be contrary to the public interest
"because it is a Departmental working document". The Authority affirmed the delegate's decision and
an application for judicial review was dismissed by the Federal Circuit Court.

ORDER