She spoke no English when she first went to kindergarten as a little girl in Wollongong, several years after her Italian parents migrated to Australia. But she went on to graduate as a lawyer from the ANU and in 2005 became a Senator for the state of New South Wales.

Last year, against the odds, Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells was appointed as the Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs in the Department of Social Services by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in his drive to have more women in Cabinet.

The Senator is described as perhaps the Liberal Party’s most vocal spokesperson for conservative multicultural views. Speaking to Jana Wendt in an SBS news feature recently, the Senator stated her conservative core beliefs – traditional marriage, family values, hard work – with a twist in the tail. These same beliefs, she insisted, are common to many migrant families. Based on years of interaction with such groups, she stated bluntly that the immigrant community was essentially conservative.

Bridging visa holder, Jaspal Singh’s father collapsed and died of a suspected heart attack upon arriving at Melbourne Airport on Monday morning. If he escorts his distressed mother, and father’s body to India for the funeral, he cannot return to Australia thus leaving his pregnant wife and 11 month old baby who is undergoing medical treatment, to fend for themselves indefinitely – unless the immigration minister intervenes.

Mr Jaspal Singh, who is the only son of Mr Gurdyal Singh, is currently on a bridging visa pending a decision on a reportedly complicated partner visa application. He had stayed on in Australia illegally for 3 weeks after his visa expired in 2013. According to an ABC report, he subsequently “applied for a new visa with his new wife but it can now only be approved by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton.”

As it stands, his current bridging visa disallows him from returning to Australia, if he leaves the country. Mr Singh's wife Mandeep Kaur, who is pregnant with their second child, told the ABC that the family was incredibly distressed.

"I am 12 weeks pregnant, I have an 11-month-old baby and my baby is suffering from kidney problems and I'm going to regular appointment with the doctor, and I can't stay overseas with the baby. We're all very upset, all the family, me, my mother-in-law, Jaspal."

Carina Ford Lawyers have lodged an appeal for ministerial intervention and the DIBP has told the ABC that it is looking into the matter.

It’s a new year – a time of renewed energy and a time for people to set their goals for the year ahead.

For business owners, it’s also a great time for them to look back at the year gone by and set their goals, including a check that the financial and business goals of the company still meet the needs of the business. As part of this review it makes sense while you’re doing this to review your insurances and ensure your cover is right for your business and you are paying the right price.

As a Migration Agent you are across your requirements for your Professional Indemnity Insurance but have you thought about the other types of insurance your business may need.  If you have an office or even if you work from home and have clients and other members of the public coming to visit you, or if you are going out to meet clients, consider Public Liability insurance, which can help protect your business against the damages from a claim for personal injury or property damage which occurs as a result of your business related activities.

With the sc457 review underway, business groups have stepped up their campaign against increasing the income threshold of sc457 workers and have also made calls to abolish the ‘Labor-era labour market testing’ calling it a ‘needless and burdensome requirement’, according to a report in The Australian.

Australian Mines and Metals Associations (AMMA) has warned against increasing the income threshold for 457 skilled worker visas beyond inflation and argues that employers in regional areas should be able to hire skilled foreigners on salaries at a ¬discount to the threshold, so long as this was in line with Australian market rates for people in that -regional area.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (ACCI’s) employment, education and training director Jenny Lambert told The Australian that the threshold should stay at its current level, though there were good arguments for indexation to inflation. Ms Lambert however said that, for regional areas, there was an argument for a discount because of the difference in the metropolitan and regional labour markets.

The case-officer wasn’t impressed with the applicants written submissions and refused his visa application as Marketing Specialist, but Michael Saturnino’s flawless presentation at the Tribunal convinced the member he is a worthy marketing specialist, in deed.

Having to market himself as an "Advertising and Marketing Professional ANZSCO Group 2251", Michael Saturnino, laid out his circumstances candidly at a recent AATA hearing. He said he had not completed secondary school but had instead started to work and learnt his trade as a stonemason and after this he moved to a bigger role within his employer’s company in Italy, undertaking many tasks, only some of which involved marketing and promoting the company.

This lack of formal qualifications and his ‘varied experience’ had led the case-officer to refuse the visa application. Mr Saturnino had apparently provided differing descriptions of his previous employment in Italy. He however explained to the Member that the company for which he worked was a small company and did not specify staff roles in a narrow way because everyone was required to ‘do a bit of everything’.