Businesses in Adelaide have recently come under greater scrutiny with the Fair Work Ombudsman announcing that it will audit up to 125 businesses in Adelaide’s CBD and North Adelaide over the next three months.

Fair Work said that its inspectors will check that employers are paying the correct minimum hourly rates, penalty rates, allowances, loadings and providing appropriate meal breaks. Compliance with record-keeping and pay-slip obligations will also be monitored.

Recently, the operators of an Adelaide business were fined a total of $6460 after failing to pay an $850 on-the-spot fine for not issuing pay-slips to two overseas workers. This followed penalties of $3500 and $1500 respectively against Adelaide company Mobizone Pty Ltd and its part-owner Raymond Kebbe after they failed to pay a $550 on-the-spot fine issued by the Fair Work Ombudsman.

Dragon Tea House Pty Ltd and its sole director Xia Xu Zhou were issued with an Infringement Notice for not issuing pay-slips to two employees at the Chinese restaurant they previously ran on Pulteney Street.

Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James says inspectors determined that an Infringement Notice imposing an $850 on-the-spot fine was a proportionate response to the workplace contravention by Dragon Tea Houe Pty Ltd. However, the fine was not paid by the due date.

Deciding who is a parent for migration purposes is not as simple as it seems.

The definition of “parent “is found in Section 5(1) and Section 5CA of the Migration Act.

Section 5(1)

An email from a reader:

Hi Peter,

We recently represented a visa holder whose visa had been cancelled (my colleague Rosella William being the brains behind the submissions). The person had arrived in Australia on the day the DIBP had issued a NOICC to his overseas address. The NOICC claimed that the sponsor had withdrawn his sponsorship prior to his arrival in Australia, that he had known of the withdrawal and that he did not advise DIBP of a change in circumstances (s.104; s.107; s.109 refer). The sponsor claimed there had not been any communication with the visa holder since the visa was issued and they had no idea when or if he was coming to Australia.

A week of strikes are planned by immigration staff beginning at international airports in Cairns, Perth and Darwin. Walk-offs are also scheduled in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane from Monday.

The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) national secretary Nadine Flood told the ABC that staff were protesting a Federal Government bargaining policy, which she said would affect allowances compensating workers for weeks at sea, firearms, fitness and working conditions.

"Immigration and Border Force workers are facing the loss of up to $8000 a year from their take-home pay under the Federal Government's draconian bargaining policy," she said.

"These hard-working men and women undertake important, difficult and sometimes dangerous jobs on behalf of their community.

"The Government and the department have had more than a year to sit down with the union and work out a fair deal that protects the rights, conditions and take home pay of these hardworking people.

Below is a fascinating story of migration to Australia involving height, health, racism and a vaudeville performer.

https://www.destinationaustralia.gov.au/site/stories.php?task=detail&id=148

The writer came across the story when preparing material for the Facebook page of the apartment block in which he lives at Kings Cross.