Australian Immigration Daily News

There is no doubt that Australia has seen a massive year in many aspects relating to immigration.

Swooping changes last April resulted in the Government announcing the abolition of the Subclass 457 visa, a visa programme which allowed businesses to bring skilled workers for the past 24 years. The same month saw the Government halt processing of citizenship applications in hope of passing legislation to existing toughen eligibility criteria including stricter English language as well as residency requirements.

This year, a more restrictive TSS visa was introduced in March.  Further changes included increasing the pool pass mark for General Skilled Migration as well as removal of 230 occupations from the previous skilled occupation list.  Finally, this year Australian population has surpassed the 25 million.  This is a significant milestone for a country which is still fairly young, yet very modern and advanced in many aspects.

Naturally, the series events described above sparked a national debate on our current as well as future migration levels.  Accordingly, plebiscite bill was introduced to address Australia’s current migration intake.  As the explanatory statement reads, the Plebiscite (Future Migration Level) Bill 2018 (the Bill) would establish the legislative framework for a compulsory, in person vote in a national plebiscite that would ask Australians, in view of the level of population increase from migration in the ten years to 2016:

“Do you think the current rate of immigration to Australia is too high?”

The statement further explains that The Bill is not a standalone piece of legislation. It would apply several provisions from the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984 (the Referendum Act) and the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (the Electoral Act), as well as other pieces of Commonwealth legislation. The effect of this would be that the plebiscite would be conducted in much the same way as a referendum.

Australia so far had 44 referendums and only 8 of these have been successful. The most successful referendum in Australia's history was in 1967 where 90.77% of the nation voted 'Yes for Aborigines'.

Plebiscites on the other hand generally involve issues put to the vote which does not affect the Constitution. A plebiscite is not defined in the Australian Constitution, the Electoral Act or the Referendum Act. A plebiscite can also be referred to as a simple national vote.

Governments can hold plebiscites to test whether people either support or oppose a proposed action on an issue. The government is not bound by the 'result' of a plebiscite as it is by the result of a Constitutional referendum. Federal, state and territory governments have held plebiscites on various issues.

Military service plebiscites were held in 1916 and 1917 but, as they were not proposals to amend the Constitution, the provisions of section 128 of the Constitution did not apply. Voters in all federal territories were permitted to vote. Both the military service plebiscites sought a mandate for conscription and were defeated. 

Our recent plebiscite was on the issue of same sex marriage held last year where every state voted in favour of the change.

In summary, this Bill would:

• provide that people who are entitled to vote at elections would be asked to vote on the following question at the plebiscite: “Do you think the current rate of immigration to Australia is too high?”
• require the plebiscite to be held in conjunction with the next general election
• specify that the outcome of the plebiscite would be determined by a simple majority; that is, more than 50 per cent of the votes cast. Any informal ballot papers (as determined by the Australian Electoral Commission in accordance with the Referendum Act) would not be included in the count of the number of votes cast
• extend the application of broadcasting rules in conduct relating to the plebiscite. This would include the requirement for a blackout period in which broadcasters are prohibited from broadcasting advertisements about the plebiscite. Broadcasters would also be required to provide reasonable opportunities to any person or organisation wishing to broadcast plebiscite material for 30 days prior to the blackout period

The result of the plebiscite would be determined by a simple majority. That is, the result of the plebiscite would be determined on the basis of whether, across all of Australia, more people vote in favour of the plebiscite proposal or more people vote not in favour of (against) the plebiscite proposal. 

The bill was introduced and read for the first time on 15 August 2018 and moved to the second reading on the same date.  For those wishing to track progress of this Bill, visit the following link: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=s1138