An email was received from an RMA today which sets the 'reality' tone:

"I am looking at MARA and its functions due to a client who has become somewhat of a nuisance. The complaint was dismissed by MARA.

The client since has posted several claims online, shifted his claim to another issue etc.

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Under the Migration Amendment (Character and General Visa Cancellation) Act 2014, the Minister for the Department of Immigration and Border Protection now has a mandatory duty to cancel the visa of a person who fails to satisfy the “character test” by reason of having a substantial criminal record (defined to mean, among other things, having been sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 12 months or more).  This amendment came into force on 11 December 2014 and is now codified at section 501(3A) of the Migration Act.

Procedurally, decisions made by a delegate of the Minister to cancel a visa on character grounds can be challenged by means of an appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.  However, even if a visa holder is successful in the AAT, the Minister retains power (under section 501A of the Act) to personally substitute his or her own decision for a decision of the AAT and to direct once again that the visa be cancelled. The prerequisites for the exercise of this power are that the Minister must have afforded “natural justice” to the visa holder and must be satisfied both that the visa holder does not pass the “character test” and that it is “in the national interest” of Australia that the visa be cancelled.

The Minister’s powers to substitute a different decision from the one made by the AAT were recently tested in a case that was brought before the Federal Court of Australia, Jione v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (2015) FCA 144 (3 March 2015). The full text of the decision can be found at the following link:

Here is the media release from the office of the Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash on the sc457 reforms:

The Government will act on recommendations of a recent independent review of the 457 visa programme to strengthen integrity, ensure that Australian workers have priority and support employers with genuine skill shortages.

The Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash, commissioned the review in 2014. The panel was tasked with examining compliance within the 457 programme by sponsors of overseas workers to ensure that the scheme was being used as intended – to address skill shortages which cannot be met from the Australian labour market.

Please find today's response from the Office of the MARA regarding the monitoring of RMAs:

"Thank you for your email of 13 March 2015 to the Office of the Hon Michaelia Cash concerning monitoring activities being conducted by the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA).  I have been requested to reply on her behalf.

As you are aware, the OMARA undertakes monitoring as part of its consumer protection mandate and in its role as regulator of professional standards for registered migration agents. Monitoring the conduct of registered migration agents is one of the OMARA’s functions under S.316 of the Migration Act 1958 and S.317 provides the authority to do all things necessarily or conveniently done for, or in connection with, the performance of its functions.