The following email was received on 29 August 2014:

Our reference: 2014-505119

Dear Ms Allan,

If the estimated ten million wealthy Chinese wanting to move into Australia for a ‘clean environment and better education for their children’ get their wish then Australia’s demographics will change permanently. According to a report in The Herald Sun, a parliamentary committee reviewing foreign investment in Australian real estate has been told that there has been a surge in real estate investments by overseas Chinese.

Melbourne has come into focus for these rich Chinese desiring the ‘Aussie lifestyle’ with ‘crowds buying in Melbourne’s most exclusive suburbs’ according to experts quoted in the Herald Sun.

“Suburbs close to private schools and the CBD were the most popular, with Toorak, Brighton, Hawthorn, Albert Park, Middle Park and Deepdene in high demand. And 36,000 new apartments bought by foreign investors are currently being built — more than half of them in Melbourne and some of them wholly bought by foreigners,” notes the report.

The trend has resulted in a parliamentary inquiry investigating foreign ownership of residential properties. The concern is that wealthy foreigners, particularly from China, are buying homes in Melbourne and Sydney and pricing out locals.

First National Real Estate’s Stewart Bunn told the committee that as many as a quarter of all home buyers in the top end of the Melbourne, Sydney and Queensland markets are mainland Chinese.

11 – 13 February, 2015, at Rydges on Swanston, Melbourne, Australia

The First International Conference on Migration, Social Disadvantage and Health will be held on 11 – 13 February, 2015 and is being hosted by the Global Health and Society Unit under the leadership of Associate Professor Andre Renzaho, Director, Migration, Social Disadvantage and Health Programs, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University. 

Migration Alliance is partnering with Monash University and is running the session on 'Immigration policy and its impact on migration:  Global and Australian contexts.'

Author:

JUSTIN K. RICKARD

B.A LL.B M.A (SYD.) M.M.I.A

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection has finalised guidelines for Designated Area Migration Agreements (DAMA) which will stimulate local economies providing more business and job opportunities for Australians in areas experiencing labour and skills shortages, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash said in a media release.

The DAMA proposal, commenced under the former Labor government as regional migration agreements, has been developed after extensive negotiations with state and territory governments and other stakeholders including labour unions.

“It is important to be clear that these agreements require employers to pay workers at least the same wage as Australian workers. Where employers within the agreement area are unable to recruit Australian workers, DAMAs can support them to supplement their workforce with skilled overseas workers.

“If businesses cannot access labour then they cannot create more jobs for Australians. Targeted skilled migration under the DAMA guidelines will provide incentives to grow businesses and local economies for the benefit of Australians” says the Minister.

DAMAs are designed to ensure employers recruit Australians as a first priority and prioritise initiatives and strategies to facilitate the recruitment and retention of Australian workers.