A 24 year old man is reportedly ‘near death’ after being on a hunger strike for 44-days. Leading refugee rights activist Victoria Martin said that this young person’s tragedy is another example of “the failure of the case workers at the Department of Immigration to support people and deliver honest, accurate information in a timely manner.”

Saeed Hassanloo fled Iran with his brother as a nineteen year-old in 2009. His refugee status was rejected but because Iran does not take forced returns, Mr Hassanloo has been in immigration detention since his arrival in Australia.

“Saeed has repeatedly complained to advocates that his case manager at Yongah would not return his calls would not come in and see him would not give him information about his case,” said Ms Martin in a report in thestringer.com.au, an independent news site.

Ms Martin said she “sees this a lot” in her advocacy. Advocates across the nation tell much the same.

“We find people who have not got copies of their documents, who are harassed, as Saeed was harassed, to just go home,” says Ms Martin

Latest reports indicate that Ms Hassanloo’s condition is improving after he accepted medical assistance, according to Immigration Minister Peter Dutton.

Once a year Bupa reviews its premiums and benefits in line with industry standards to ensure your customers are getting great value from their cover. We have improved our Overseas Visitor Health Cover brochure to keep it simple and easy for our customers to understand. We’ve also included a full table of benefits so your customers can see exactly what they’re getting from their cover. Please click on the link below to find our latest Overseas Visitor Health Cover brochure for Working and Non-Working visas, applicable from 1st of April 2015.

http://www.bupa.com.au/staticfiles/BupaP3/pdfs/10306-OVC-Brochure-Important-Information-Guide.pdf

Please take some time to review these changes and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your Bupa representative.

A message has been received from, Innovation, Trade and Investment, Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorat, as follows:

"As of 5 pm AEST tomorrow Friday 3 April 2015, the ACT is closing applications for the Skilled Nominated Visa (190)  from all overseas residents due to reaching our 2014-15 numbers . The ACT Government  will continue to process applications from ACT residents.

Acceptance of overseas applications,  will recommence on 1 July 2015."

Changes – updated 26 Mar 2015: http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2015L00351

Explanatory: http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2015L00351/Explanatory%20Statement/Text

457 recommendation – government response – updated 18 Mar 2015: http://www.immi.gov.au/pub-res/Pages/reviews-and-inquiries/government-response.aspx

FIRB fees for foreigners who buy property here could harm the education sector, according to a report in the Australian Financial Review. The intended measures indicate a lack of understanding of the full contibutions of foreign students to Australia.

The fact is overseas students often buy property as a short to medium term investment to cover their accommodation needs and provide a decent return which potentially could cover some if not all of their education costs. They benefit, but so does Australia.

However the government’s move in February to introduce a minimum fee of $5000 to foreign property buyers is short-sighted and will send the wrong signal to overseas students – that “they are not welcome”, says the senior economist at Fairfax- owned Domain Group Andrew Wilson.

Australian education exports are worth a lot and we “need more of these revenue sources, not less” Wilson told the AFR.

“…xenophobia is alive and well in certain sections of the community, and certain sections of the media want to stir it up. And yet there are so many positives about overseas students on temporary visas buying property in Australia. If they don’t buy property here and only rent, it pushes up rent,” says Wilson.

Wilson adds that foreign student buyers of property are providing substantial stamp duty revenue for state governments.