Australian Immigration Daily News

Update: 4.04pm 22 September 2015 the MIA Survey, after this report below, is now closed.

The MIA is running a survey regarding engagement with the DIBP.  If readers would like to have their say then please complete the MIA survey, but please be warned that the survey results will be skewed.  

Both agents and members of the public should be aware that the survey results will be inaccurate as the survey is open to the public and is not restricted to RMA members of the MIA.  Migration Alliance will ensure that the DIBP is made aware of this, as it is important that they are not provided with inaccurate data from the migration profession.  We need information which comes from our profession to be accurate and a true reflection of our needs.

Migration Alliance would like to suggest that if the a survey is conducted in future that it is in a closed format which excludes access to the public and excludes access to non-members.  If the survey is not contained then the data gathered becomes flawed, and does not provide an accurate reflection of the members.  Data becomes skewed and the exercise just becomes a triumph of form over substance. 

Joint MIA-MA members should be aware of this fact when completing the survey.

Migration Alliance would like to suggest that best practice be applied to the conducting of a survey of the migration profession.  An example of best practice can be found here.

The Steps in a Survey Project

1. Establish the goals of the project - What you want to learn
2. Determine your sample - Whom you will interview [MA states: this should not be open to the public if it is supposed to be a MIA member survey]
3. Choose interviewing methodology - How you will interview
4. Create your questionnaire - What you will ask
5. Pre-test the questionnaire, if practical - Test the questions
6. Conduct interviews and enter data - Ask the questions
7. Analyze the data - Produce the reports

Migration Alliance has received a copy of the MIA survey from a member of the public who has completed the survey as a 'non-agent' and 'non-MIA member' and then sent it to us for comment.

Migration Alliance suggests that the MIA, in fairness to its members, and in fairness to the intended recipients (the DIBP) scraps the current survey.  We believe it should be closed down and that we as a profession start again with a 'whole profession', locked and restricted survey of RMAs only.

Migration Alliance has been provided with the following information from an MIA email which is circulating the greater migration industry (including non-RMAs and non-MIA members), as follows:

The MIA National Office has complied a short survey to allow members input to the feedback. As the timeframe for the response provided the Department is short, the survey will only be open for a week until 23 September 2015. 

The greater the response from members, the more productive the feedback the MIA can provide to the Department. 

Please be aware that there have been instances of profane language and abusive comments provided in other MIA surveys.  The results from any such surveys will be immediately deleted and not be included in the results provided to the Department.  

Also please do not refer back to comments in previous questions eg ‘as answer above’, as the survey software collates and combines the responses by question number, not by individual respondent.

Migration Alliance is able to conduct surveys which locks the survey just to migration agents with a MARN, which would then collect the relevant data and can be provided to the DIBP.  It is our intention to do that and to provide accurate results to the DIBP.

Finally it must be stated that the DIBP is not playing favourites with any peak professional association or other industry body and this includes the MIA. 

We are all agents and we all have similar issues irrespective of which industry association we belong to.  A survey by the MIA or MA will likely produce similar results, as the same or similar agents are going to complete it. 

The only difference might be that MA has 4200+ RMA members and the MIA has a lot less.  Therefore the data is likely to be more accurate if it comes from the MA as we will have a greater number of respondents to pool from.

It is really time the MIA and MA worked together to communicate with the DIBP.  The MIA are not in a more 'special' relationship with the DIBP than any other stakeholder.

Here's the content in the survey:

1. Please rate the Department's performance in the following areas: