Australian Immigration Daily News

Overview of the legislative instrument

The Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Amendment (Home Affairs Measures No. 5) Regulations 2023 amend Schedule 1AB to the FF(SP) Regulations to establish legislative authority for government spending on the Community Language Schools Grants Program (the program) which will be administered by the Department of Home Affairs.

The program is intended to strengthen the cohesion and prosperity of Australia’s multicultural society by supporting community language schools (CLS) to support more children in Australia to acquire a second language, specifically to:

• connect them to the languages of their parents, grandparents and broader communities; and
• enable their participation in a broader range of jobs in an economy closely integrated into a global market of diverse trading partners.

Eligible not-for-profit CLS across Australia will receive a one-off grant to expand the delivery of languages to more school-aged children from Kindergarten to year 12, and a supplementary payment for pre-schoolers. Grant money may only be used for school administration and operational costs, educational equipment and resources, appropriate venue hire, and teacher professional development.

Funding of $18.2 million over four years from 2022-23 will be available to the program.

Source: Financial-Framework-Supplementary-Powers-Amendment-Home-Affairs-Measures-No-5.pdf

The purpose of the instrument is to specify chemicals of security concern under subclauses 8551(2) and 8560(2) of Schedule 8 to the Migration Regulations, for the purposes of visa conditions 8551 and 8560.

These visa conditions require that visa holders who hold a Subclass 050 Bridging (General) visa or a Subclass 070 Bridging (Removal Pending) visa must obtain the Minister's approval before:

• taking up employment in an occupation that involves the use of, or access to, chemicals of security concern; or 
• acquiring chemicals of security concern

Source: LIN23053.pdf and LIN23053-Explanatory-Statement.pdf

A former migration agent’s legal aspirations have been dashed by a Supreme Court that found his history of providing inadequate advice to clients and lying to authorities was too recent.

Based on negative reports from a Board of Examiners and the Law Society of South Australia, the Supreme Court of South Australia found Ryan Raygan was not a fit and proper person to practise law and dismissed his application to join the legal profession.

The instrument, Departmental reference LIN 23/062, is made under subregulation 2.07(5) of the Migration Regulations 1994 (the Migration Regulations) and subparagraph 1224A(3)(b)(iii) of Schedule 1 to the Regulations.

The purpose of this instrument is to retrospectively add Papua New Guinea passport holders to the class of persons who are excluded from the requirement in subparagraph 1224A(3)(b)(iii) of Schedule 1 to the Migration Regulations. This enables applicants from Papua New Guinea to make valid applications for a Subclass 462 visa without providing evidence of support for the grant of the visa from the Papua New Guinea government.

This instrument amends LIN 21/019 to implement Subclass 462 visa arrangements agreed to by the Australian Government and the Government of Papua New Guinea. This will assist to simplify the application process and remove the administrative burden for both countries.

Purpose

3Subsection 26(1) of the Act requires a person to make a pledge of commitment to become an Australian citizen, unless they are a person to whom paragraphs 26(1)(a), (b) or (c) of the Act apply. Section 27 of the Act sets out how the pledge of commitment is to be made, and subsection 27(3) provides that the pledge of commitment must be made before a person mentioned in that provision.

Paragraph 27(3)(c) provides that a pledge of commitment may be made before a person who is included in a class of persons authorised under subsection 27(5) of the Act.

Subsection 27(5) of the Act provides that the Minister may, by legislative instrument, authorise a class of persons for the purposes of paragraph 27(3)(c).