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MIA President Angela Julian-Armitage Tells ABC 457 Changes Are Not Substantive - WRONG!!!!!!

The Migration Alliance has learned that Angela Julian-Armitage, the President of our sister organisation, the Migration Institute of Australia, appeared on the national ABC news on 20 April 2017 and has said that she "doesn't have a big issue with the changes" and that the changes amount to no more than "re-branding" and "shoring" up of the temporary skilled migration programme.

It should be noted that during this interview, Ms Julian-Armitage was apparently speaking in her official capacity as the President of the MIA, and was not stating her personal views.

If you'd like to see the full interview you can watch it on You Tube through this link. 

You will note that during the interview, when Ms Julian-Armiatge was asked what reaction people should have to these out-of the-blue changes to the Migration Regulations, she said that the appropriate response was for people to “just breathe and stay calm”.

While of course we at MA would never recommend that anyone “stop breathing” (!!!),  we at Migration Alliance would take extremely strong exception to the characterisation of these dramatic changes as simply an exercise in"re-branding".

That is simply incorrect. It is inaccurate. And in my view it is not a characterisation of these changes that should be broadcast to the Australian public at-large.

The changes are not only “cosmetic” or “re-branding:” (In any event, even though the Department seems to like to refer to visas as a “product” they are anything but a marketable commodity. Visas are not toothpaste, soap shampoo or dog kibble!!! They confer exceptionally important legal rights and entitlements!)

In what respect are the changes more than just a “re-branding” exercise?

To quote a line from the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Let me count the ways”.

First, immediately and without any prior notice or consultation, 216 occupations have been removed from the list of occupations eligible for a 457 visa.

The occupations that have been removed include such “non-vital and common occupations” as airplane pilot, air traffic controller, emergency service worker, geophysicists, microbiologists and hydrogeologists.  Also people working in the creative arts like authors, composers, painters, sculptors and singers (who needs the arts when we have “footy”, but guess what sports umpires and sports administrators have also been crossed off the list.

Somewhat hilariously, Migration Agent (Aus) and Tribunal Member have also been removed from the list!!! What about Immigration Lawyer (US)? Guess no one is queuing up to sign up for that one right now!! (Maybe no immediate demand for “Border Wall Builder (Mexico) either!)

The Department’s really useful suggestion for people who have lodged 457 visa applications for any of the occupations that have been taken off the list is truly “brilliant” – no transition period, no “grandfathering” – what they are offering is the opportunity to withdraw the application and get a refund of the VAC.  Thanks a lot Department for all the innocent people caught up in this change, “touch luck, have a nice life” is really poor consolation, isn’t it.

More substance: on and after 19 April 2017, the maximum visa period for persons whose occupations are on the Short Term Skilled Occupation List is only 2 years. That includes for visa applicants whose applications were lodged before the changes!

The four year validity period previously commonplace for 457 visas will now be available only for persons whose occupations are on the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List.

Additionally, the Government has announced that effective 1 July 2017, there will be further substantive changes to the 457 programme, including:

  • Possible further “adjustments” to the eligible occupation lists (meaning that more skilled occupations may get the axe!);
  • An expansion of the cohorts for whom mandatory skills assessments will be required;
  • 457 visa applicants will no longer be excluded from providing penal checks and will be required to provide police certificates from countries where they have lived.

And here are the further substantive changes which the Government has announced will come into force in March 2018:

  • The 457 visa will be abolished and will be replaced with the Temporary Skills Shortage (“TSS”) visa (let’s not get confused here, abolishing one of the most significant visa subclasses isn’t really a “substantive change”, don’t worry!)
  • For the Short-Term Stream of the TSS, there will be capacity for visa renewal onshore only once; an English language requirement of 5 on IELTS, with 4.5 on each component, will be imposed;
  • There will be a genuine temporary entrant requirement, specifically designed to remove subjectivity and arbitrary decision making by Departmental offices (ok just kidding, the total opposite of course!)
  • For the Medium Term Stream: there will be capacity for renewal and a permanent residence pathway after three years as opposed to the current 2 years for ENS/186;
  • All streams for the TSS will be required to have at least 2 years’ relevant work experience;
  • Labour market testing will apply across the board unless there is an exception arising from an international treaty obligation;
  • The requirements for employers to contribute to training programs for Australian workers will be strengthened (giving employers additional financial incentive to employ workers under the TSS programme – not!)

So it is all just window-dressing, non-substantive “re-branding” of a “visa product”?

MIA: if you think that’s so, we respectfully disagree!!!!!!! 

In my view, and I suspect that on this topic I speak on behalf of many migration agents and lawyers, the appropriate response to these changes is not just to "breathe and stay calm". 

It is not the role of the migration profession to stand by happily and nod in agreement with every change that the government makes.

It is not our role as an advocacy organisation to blandly characterise a major, unannounced change to Australia's migration framework by saying that something that has a major impact on the rights of migrants and on the business activities of employers who depend on the 457 programme for skilled workers to say that something which is actually a huge change is "not a big change" and "not as bad as it looks".  

Sorry, MIA, and apologies and with all due respect, Ms Julian-Armitage, but in my opinion it is a big change, it is not just as bad as it looks, it is a whole lot worse than it looks. 

As I have said in happier contexts, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and swims like a duck, it is a duck.

Likewise, if this is a change to the law that will harm skilled migrants who can advance Australia's economy, and if it will harm Australian employers who need the skills these workers can offer, then we at Migration Alliance will give our frank opinion about it, and we certainly won't try to minimise these dramatic changes to the skilled migration programme by characterising them as "re-branding".  

That is not what this is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not remotely!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thoughts or comments?

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