Migration Alliance has been sent the following information.  We are aware that this relates to the Presidential candidate from the State of Victoria.  It is NOT Anka Sahin.

"The AEC has notified the MIA that they have received reports of candidates offering 'collection services' for ballot papers.

The AEC has provided the following information on this practice:

There probably hasn’t been any “hotter topic” before the Federal courts this year than the cancellation of visas on character grounds. The issue has also gotten a lot of attention in the news media lately, especially in relation to the cancellation of visas (almost always, “Special Category” visas) held by New Zealand citizens.  

In view of the continuing high level of interest in this subject, it is timely to look at a fairly recent case that came before the Federal Court (23 June 2015) in which a New Zealand citizen unsuccessfully sought to have the cancellation of his visa overturned.  

The case was Rangiwai v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (2015) FCA 621. The case is particularly noteworthy because it was one where the visa holder was able, in the first instance, to have a decision made by a delegate of the Minister set aside in the AAT, only to have that cancellation restored personally by the Minister on “national interest” grounds and then to have his application for judicial review of the Minister’s decision dismissed by the court. 

Immigration officials have put up the shutters against students from the subcontinent, causing the first setback in the education sector’s comeback from its 2009 crash, notes a report from The Australian

Student visa grants to these countries fell in the June quarter, after the crackdown on students from India, Vietnam and Nepal by the department of Immigration (DIBP).

Inadequate visa applications by unqualified brokers which fail to properly address the genuine student criteria is often cited as the reason why so many applications from these countries are failing.

Student Visa grants to these countries fell last year by 13 per cent, 18 per cent and 16 per cent respectively. In addition to these refusals, the DIBP cancelled a record 11,000 student visas in the last financial year, which is a 30 per cent increase in the number of cancellations from the previous year.

Is there anything you can do if the Administrative Appeals Tribunal refuses to grant your client an adjournment which would make it possible to provide information which demonstrates that the client satisfies the criteria for the grant of a visa? 

What if the issue that is of concern to the Tribunal only comes up during the Tribunal’s hearing?

And what if the Tribunal refuses to grant an adjournment not because it is unsure that the applicant can supply the information which would satisfy the particular criterion for grant of the visa, but instead, the Tribunal refuses to grant the adjournment because it harbours “doubts” about whether the applicant satisfies a different, unrelated criterion?

Already facing a current shortage of 38,000 workers, the tourism industry woes are set to drift into dire straits if it doesn’t find an extra 123,000 workers - including 60,000 skilled workers - by 2020, according to a report by Deloitte Access Economics commissioned by Austrade.

A key recommendation of the report was to relax working-holiday visas for tourism sector work so that visa holders have no restrictions on staying on with the same employer beyond six months and are allowed to extend their stay for a further 12 months for working in the industry.

Former ACTU president cabinet minister Martin Ferguson told The Australian Financial Review (AFR) that the government must be flexible and allow temporary skilled workers when and where they are most needed.

"…with such an unprecedented pipeline of new hotel development and with record international demand, it will be important for governments to be flexible and allow temporary skilled workers when and where they are most needed,” said Mr Ferguson.

Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive Margy Osmond, told the AFR that the report should ring "alarm bells" about the need to attract and retain workers in the tourism industry.

"The Australian government recently announced that they will extend working-holidaymaker visas from six months to 12 months with one employer in Northern Australia – this reform needs to be expanded to cover the entire country," she said.