A new reciprocal Work and Holiday arrangement with Vietnam will enable up to 200 young Australians and 200 young Vietnamese to experience each other's culture through a new exchange programme.

The Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Peter Dutton and Vietnam's Minister and Head of the Government Office Mr Nguyen Van Nen today signed a work and holiday Memorandum of Understanding between Australia and Vietnam.

Mr Dutton said the agreement is just one of several that the Governments will sign this week.

'The new arrangement will increase opportunities for young adults between 18 and 30 to experience a new culture whilst being able to work and study for a year.'

Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Senator Michaelia Cash said over the coming months, both countries will be working closely to implement the necessary legal and administrative processes to bring the new visa into effect.

I am just about to do something I have not done before on this website.  Swear. 

Sh*t.  

There you go.  I did it.  That wasn't too hard.  Especially when I had to find an appropriate word to describe the SBS's 457 'Explainer'.

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: