At BizCover, we understand our clients and the hard work that goes into being a dedicated small business owner. As much care as you may take to do your job right, the unfortunate reality is mistakes do happen and that’s where business insurance plays an important role in protecting your business.

Here are a few recent claim examples where migration agents have made accidental errors which resulted in their client’s making a claim against their business. 

Claim 1

Australia will consider invoking the Biosecurity Act to detain its citizens suspected of carrying the coronavirus, Attorney General Christian Porter warned Monday.

In an interview with CNN affiliate Sky News Australia, Porter said there is a range of powers available that will allow the government to control people’s movements as it handles outbreaks such as the novel coronavirus.

He said detention may be an option for those who refuse to cooperate with health officials, including undergoing "a brief decontamination" or providing "information on where they have been or who they have been in contact with.”

APC Australian Physiotherapy Council

New fees criteria applies to all the services: https://physiocouncil.com.au/overseas-practitioners/fees/

AACA - Architects Accreditation Council of Australia

New application guidelines are available from Jan 2020. You can access the new guidelines here: https://www.aaca.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Overseas-Qualification-Assessment-Stage1-and-Stage2-Combined-Guide.pdf

AMSA - Australian Maritime Safety Association

According to the recent changes in the definition of ANZSCO, AMSA is the assessing authority for following occupations:

Law Council of Australia President, Pauline Wright, has welcomed a report issued on Thursday by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee recommending the passage of the Migration Amendment (Regulation of Migration Agents) Bill 2019 without delay. The Australian legal profession is already subject to robust regulatory oversight. The Bill would remove unnecessary dual regulation for legal practitioners. 

“As highlighted by the Committee, the issue of dual regulation of lawyers who provide migration assistance has been long-debated. It is long overdue for this Bill to be passed,” Ms Wright said. 

“The discontinuation of dual regulation is in accordance with multiple major recommendations spanning a number of years, including those of the 2014 Independent Review of the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority, and a previous report by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee.”

AHPPC continues to monitor the effectiveness of the travel restrictions and self-quarantine procedures for people coming from mainland China. These measures have been successful to date, with a more than 60 per cent reduction in travellers and no cases detected in more than 30,000 Australians returning from mainland China since 1 February 2020.

This has been assisted by travel restrictions imposed by China. In addition, a significant number of students from China have spent 14 or more days in third countries and have arrived in Australia to commence or continue their studies, again with no cases detected in this group.

The only new COVID-19 detections in Australia in the last two weeks are eight cases in Australian passengers repatriated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship. There remains no evidence of community transmission in Australia, with thousands of negative tests for COVID-19 in the last week alone.