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Dear Angela

I refer to your MIA newsletter at point 3 'Constitutional Changes - Upcoming EGM' and attached fact sheet.

This email  from James Tan has been received by Migration Alliance and written permission provided for it's release in our news:

Dear Colleagues

I forward for your reading and consideration an email I have received from the Queensland/Northern Territory Committee of the MIA. It is a very powerful submission to explain why the motion for consideration by the upcoming EGM to be held in MIA Head office in Sydney should be voted against. I will be passing on my proxy vote to John Hourigan with specific instructions to vote against the motion for the reasons expounded in the submission of the QLD/NT MIA Committee.

The surge of Indian and Chinese migrants over the last ten years has driven the growth rate of overseas born Australians to a 120 year high.

Not since the gold rush of 1880s has Australia seen such high migration rates. The difference however is that Asian countries now figure prominently in this surge according to a media release by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

People born overseas now make-up 28 per cent of the resident population of Australia, sates the release. That equals to about 6.6 million people, numbers not seen in 120 years or since the tail end of the gold rush, said ABS spokesperson Denise Carlton in the media release.

“Overseas migration has been a large contributor to the total Australian population growth for several years: it has consistently been the main driver since 2005-06, contributing more than 50 per cent of population growth in Australia,” Ms Carlton said.

“While the largest migrant groups were people born in the UK and New Zealand, with a total of over 1.8 million Australian residents being born in those two countries, the next two most common birthplaces were from the Asian region.” These were China and India, with about 450,000 and 400,000 respectively.

Recently RMAs are reporting having received letters from the ATO which ask them to amend their tax returns. Migration Alliance is in receipt of emails from RMAs such as the following:

"Dear Sir/Madam,

Greetings!!!

As I have understood MA has been always there to help/guide the Migration Agents with any difficulties they come across time to time.

Recently lot of RMAs' has received notice to amend the tax returns from ATO. I was wondering if it has come to your notice and if there was any useful tips to handle the situation. Your support in this matter will be highly appreciated. Thanks for your cooperation. "

Migration Alliance believes that this is an ATO scattergun approach with business owners who are also RMAs.  If you have any concerns please speak with your accountant.  If you have nothing to amend then please have your accountant write back to the ATO advising them of 'no amendments'.   Please seek advice from your accountant.

Promoting deadwood, limiting openness, discouraging new thinking and probably the worst thing, undermining members trust: did the MIA National Board, consider any of these when they decided to put to the vote the changes to its Constitution to remove the 2 year term limits for the tenure of MIA Directors?

They must have, and figured that given how comfortably their Directors get re-elected each time, they would also have this easily passed. They seemed to have confused their members’ patience with apathy and are undoubtedly hoping to achieve a coup for the incumbents so that they can boast the title “MIA Director” for potentially a lifetime, without ever achieving anything much for their members.

However, the reaction in some quarters to this selfish move has been swift with the resignation of MIA’s Qld/NT committee member, Sharon Harris. In a selfless open letter which would not have reached RMAs if it wasn’t for the open nature of the Migration Alliance forum, Ms Harris outlined her concerns and objections.

“In 2010 whilst I was a Director on the MIA Board, there was some criticism from members of the Board which included:  they sat on Board for their self-interest; did not represent ALL members; were committee 'junkies' and there for the kudos; did not share information with members, was a 'closed shop',“ wrote Ms Harris adding, “I cannot support unlimited tenures for directors of MIA Board - remember they are elected by us and are there to best serve our interests.”

Other dual members of the MIA and Migration Alliance are offering to volunteer their time and resources to attend the MIA’s EGM on 18 February 2015 to vote ‘No’ against the motion. Liana Allan and Christopher Levingston along with John Hourigan are taking up the main fight for a 'no' vote.

With over 4000 RMA members, Migration Alliance has a huge number of dual members.  Migration Alliance represents the majority of the RMA profession.  This means that Liana Allan could effectively collect proxies to control the outcome of the MIA's motion.