Character, character character!

Issues relating to character are literally ubiquitous in Australian migration and citizenship law.

In order to get any kind of visa to enter Australia in the first place, one must be able to satisfy the “character test” of section 501 of the Migration Act.  Under section 501(6), a person will “fail” the character test if she/he has a “substantial criminal record”, which is defined by section 501(7) to include having been sentenced to a term of imprisonment for 12 months or more, or to 2 or more terms of imprisonment totaling 12 months or more.

INVITATION

Investment strategy in the new SIV policy regime

NAB Wealth, a part of NAB Group, provides holistic investment solutions to retail, corporate and institutional clients. It operates the largest financial advisor platform in Australia under brands MLC, JBWere, JANA and Plum.

Tourism Research Australia’ has for the first time released ‘region specific’ figures that show tourism is worth more than $4.7 billion annually to the tropical north’s economy. With analyst predicting that the Australian dollar is set to remain low for years to come, these already strong figures look set to remain strong in the coming years.

The report says that the sector is directly worth $2.5 billion a year plus another $2.2bn indirectly; and employs 14,600 people directly with another 9000 flow-on jobs. The latest figures come as hotels report strong growth, the region’s casino recorded a jump in profit and bookings rise for cruise ships departing from the Port of Cairns, notes a report in the Cairns Post.

“Domestic overnight travellers contributed $2.1 billion, international tourists $1.3 billion and day-trippers $242 million. They spent $714 million on long-distance transport, $539 million on food and $490 million on accommodation.

“Cafes, restaurants and other food outlets employed the most people (2900), followed by hotels and other accommodation houses (2500), and retailers (2110).

Tourism Tropical North Queensland deputy chairman Ross Steele said the figures proved how substantial the industry was to the region’s economy.

What type of conduct can land an RMA in hot water with the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (“OMARA”)? 

This is an issue that should be of interest and concern to all RMAs!

Under section 303 of the Migration Act, OMARA has the power to caution an RMA or to suspend or even cancel her or his registration. This power can be exercised when an agent’s application for registration is known to be false or misleading in a material particular; the agent becomes bankrupt; or the OMARA finds that the agent is not a person of integrity or is otherwise not a fit and proper person to give immigration assistance. 

Masters degree students at the University of Sydney's prestigious business school may have to undergo a compulsory English language course after the university revealed that more than 400 students, mainly from China, failed core units of their masters’ degree.

About 37 per cent of the 1,200 students studying the Critical Thinking in Business course were given a fail grade after the first semester, and about 12 per cent of students in the Succeeding in Business course also failed, according to a report on the ABC.

The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) has weighed into the stoush between the university and the group of students who complained that the university did not prepare them properly for the course.

NTEU president Jeanie Rae said universities should resist pressure to pass under-performing students, but in this case their treatment seemed unfair.

"I think the university needs to be much more honest about it, to me holding an exam at the end of a course and then wiping the students off after they've already paid their money to me seems quite cynical...If the students needed greater language skills, why were these students let in and given places if there were real doubts about their capacity to successfully complete?" she said.

University of Sydney Business School Deputy Dean (Education), Professor John Shields, however said English was not the only reason some Chinese students struggled with the course.