Australian Immigration Daily News

Tomorrow a landmark trial will be held in the High Court of Australia to determine an important threshold question as to whether Aboriginal Australians can be considered an ‘alien’ under the Constitution and, as a result, be deported following a serious criminal conviction.

The special case is being brought on behalf of Aboriginal Australian men, Daniel Love and Brendan Thoms. It will be argued that both men are Australian nationals because they are Aboriginal people who, although born overseas, are not aliens under the Constitution.

Maurice Blackburn Senior Associate Claire Gibbs, who is acting for Mr Love and Mr Thoms, said the case was important in seeking to make clear that it was unacceptable, under the Constitution, for people who were clearly Australians to be subjected to the alien deportation powers.

The vast majority of agents get along well, and co-exist in the profession without problems. 

Part 4 of the Code of Conduct has always interested me.  Why is it there?  Why do we need it?  We are all professional and we all compete in this space without incident.  We know all know what to do, and we all know how to behave. Why do we need to have a section of our Code of Conduct called “Relations Between Agents”?  We are all peaceful.  Right?  WRONG. 

Based on stories told and emails sent to me from RMAs, plus my own experiences over the last 15 years, I think Part 4 of the Code has its place.  This part of the Code of Conduct attempts to deal with agent-to-agent relationships which can become unhealthy, and unprofessional.  It does happen.  When do agent-to-agent relationships become unhealthy?

Immi account issues

Users of Immi account are advised that there are ongoing technical issues affecting the system. Certain visas applications are showing the following items as outstanding regardless of whether these were provided:

• Health Assessment
• Character Assessment
• Biometrics
• Additional payment requirement

Home Affairs advised that the above issues are being investigated by the technical team and will be fixed in due course.  In the meantime, if applicants or agents should disregard notice for outstanding documents if the documents or information has already been provided to immigration.

A comprehensive review of the international student industry is urgently needed to assess the true costs and benefits to Australia, according to Conservative Party WA Senate Candidate Jonathan Crabtree.

Mr Crabtree also called for an overhaul of student visa rules, citing a recent report showing that the explosion in international student numbers was contributing to Australia’s extremely high levels of net overseas migration (NOM). In 2017-18, net overseas migration to Australia was 236,733 – one of the highest per capita immigration rates in the world.

The report by the Australian Population Research Institute states that the universities’ growing reliance on full-fee paying overseas students as a source of revenue has eroded education standards.