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Migration Alliance is not associated with ME Alliance
Praveen Goyal (pictured below) has created an entity called 'ME Alliance', also known as 'Migration and Education Alliance of Australia'.
Migration Alliance members have written in and called us to ask us whether the ME Alliance has anything to do with Migration Alliance Inc. It is on that basis that we have found it necessary to release this information.
Migration Alliance is in no way associated with ME Alliance.
By way of a background, the ME Alliance headed up by Praveen Goyal approached Migration Alliance Inc last year, and if my memory serves me well, perhaps even the year before that. Mr Goyal attempted on numerous occasions to negotiate with me and Christopher Levingston to establish a new association. The offer presented to Migration Alliance was, strangely, an almost-replica model of Migration Alliance Inc so naturally we did not proceed.
Mr Goyal told us that we had a trustworthy brand, and that he would like me and Christopher Levingston to lend credibility to the establishment of a new association. We decided against that.
Interestingly, ME Alliance has used a similar logo, a southern cross star pattern, to the Migration Alliance logo. This has been pointed out to us on numerous occasions by our members.
ME Alliance makes the following claim in the first sentence of it's website:
ME Alliance is the alliance of all stake holders of the migration and education industry of Australia.
ME Alliance is not an official stakeholder of the DIBP. It is not listed on their website or on the Office of the MARA website. ME Alliance is not, as far as I can see, a stakeholder of Migration Alliance or the MIA. It is also not a stakeholder at the MRT-RRT liaison meetings. These are key stakeholders in the migration industry. Law Council is also not part of the ME Alliance. What I would like to see are some facts and evidence which support the claims made on the ME Alliance website. Perhaps some links to the 'all the stakeholders' supposedly involved.
By way of information, Mr Goyal operates a company in our industry called McKkr's and a magazine called ME Magazine.
As many members would be aware, Migration Alliance has an exclusive industry agreement with Bupa. No permission was granted by either Bupa or Migration Alliance for ME Magazine to display a Bupa logo in the ME magazine.
It is my best guess that big brands placed into the first edition/s of the ME magazine were put there to lend credibility to the magazine and create confidence in new readers. Logic has it that if big brands are advertising in a magazine then this would give readers the impression that the magazine was worth being in.
The distribution and reach of the ME magazine is questionable. It has been claimed that the ME Magazine would be sent to TAFEs. Sydney TAFE have an exclusive arrangement with Migration Alliance Inc and have confirmed that they will not be distributing the ME Magazine.
My advice to the migration profession, in particular to agents who might be thinking of advertising on any web platform or in magazines, is to proceed with caution. Fact-find-first and ask for the evidence in writing when claims are made about 'hits' and 'visitors' and 'readership'. Agents are encouraged to engage in their usual due diligence before parting with any money.
Agents who would like to cross-check information provided to them before parting with money are invited to email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
A recent photograph of Praveen Goyal is provided below. Praveen Goyal has given himself the title of 'Executive Director' of the ME Alliance. By providing this photograph we hope that RMAs can easily identify Mr Goyal. Members should be aware that if approached by Mr Goyal and sold 'advertising space' or given any other offer, that this is in no way linked with Migration Alliance Inc.
An example image suggesting people sponsor ME Alliance is below:
This imagery is is not Migration Alliance and any sponsorships are not with Migration Alliance Inc.
Praveen Goyal (pictured below) is in no way associated with Migration Alliance Inc.
Comments
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Saturday, 24 January 2015Thanks for the insight Lianne. I have now unsubscribed from his McKkrs emails. It is good to know who is behind these pop-up organisations preying on vulnerable new (not me I'm old, like the hills!) agents.
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Saturday, 24 January 2015
I attended both Christopher's CPD and Praveen's CPD.
I think Chris's CPD is better in terms of vivid way of presenting. He introduced business partner like NAB and bupa to the course. it is really helpful for me to earn extra commission besides being a migration agent. Some of his way to approach complex case also enlighten my own practice. But the guest speaker Michael Jeremy is a jerk. I do not learn much from him and even you ask specific question, his answer is less than satisfactory in my opinion. It seems he does not really care the feeling and learning expectation of students like us.
Praveen 's CPD is not as bad as some of my learned colleague described above. There is nothing wrong in CPD to sell his own products. All CPD's presenters hope to get referral from
our CPD participants anyway. Praveen at least prepares very well in delivering CPD. After his CPD, you will learn some new skills if you did not practice in certain area like 402 visa. He does not have profound knowledge to deal with tricky particulars. he may not have answer for the question you brought up but he will help you to his best. I appreciate that. -
Tuesday, 27 January 2015
Thank you, Liana, for raising this issue, which clearly reflects my concern of some weeks ago and those of our membership about the organisation in question.
As an RMA, it's important for me to align myself with an organisation which is a credible and responsibve legal entity and carries itself responsibly, without purporting to be everything to everyone - I think that we're all clear Migration Alliance has those attributes.
There are SIGNIFICANT differences between Migration Alliance and this group which I think are worth noting – the most apparent one being:
MA is a registered, not-for-profit organisation which represents the needs and issues of RMAs and advocates on their behalf. ME Alliance seems to be a commercial operation with no identifiable legal entity to give it credence (and please correct me if I am wrong but I can't find it on the ABN or ASIC register) AND if it’s an offshoot of a parent company, I find that a tad disingenuous that this is not identified - transparency is the key to credibility.
ME Alliance wants to be the one stop shop to ALL its identified stakeholders; it is unclear as how being a member of this organisation will benefit everyone across the board – a bit akin to lumping together all services under the banner of ‘Migration’ on the basis that we're all the same, spouse the same commercial and ethical values and deal extensively with each other, which we are not and do not, within this generalised context.
MY role as an RMA is VERY distinct to the role of an Education Agents and Education providers; of a Government Agency and individuals within it and from that of a migrant or a student; as are the issues which affect me as an RMA, many of which are in direct competition and/or conflict with many within the abovementioned broad group – not only ethically but in some instances, legally.
Whilst imitation may be the best form of flattery, this whole instance is rather deceptive and one could be forgiven for thinking that there may be ulterior motives to this, instead of lacking basic forward planning, creativity and decorum. ME Alliance is becoming an unsavoury dog's breakfast, entirely of its own doing.
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I wonder what's the purpose of ME Alliance and ME magazine other than fooling the migration agents. Liana hats off to you for opening our eyes. What is the purpose of CPD delivered by Mckkr's. I think for Mckkr's CPD is Continuous Promotional Development instead of Continuous Professional Development, the way it is delivered. CPD leaves an impression that Praveen has no knowledge of legislation and is just passing the time in CPD by giving irrelevant examples.
Also how can a CPD provider, who himself is a Migration Agent, claim in CPD's that spending 2 % on training benchmark is waste of money and migration agents and employers should spend 1 % on training benchmark. May be just to boost his own business at the cost of Australian Government bodies and this is a serious threat to Australian Economy.
I think MARA and other Government bodies should take a strict action against Mckkr's and these promotional and malpractices should be stopped immediately.
No wonder, this person may come with a different face tomorrow!!!!!!