Australian Immigration Daily News

Law Council of Australia President, Pauline Wright, has welcomed a report issued on Thursday by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee recommending the passage of the Migration Amendment (Regulation of Migration Agents) Bill 2019 without delay. The Australian legal profession is already subject to robust regulatory oversight. The Bill would remove unnecessary dual regulation for legal practitioners. 

“As highlighted by the Committee, the issue of dual regulation of lawyers who provide migration assistance has been long-debated. It is long overdue for this Bill to be passed,” Ms Wright said. 

“The discontinuation of dual regulation is in accordance with multiple major recommendations spanning a number of years, including those of the 2014 Independent Review of the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority, and a previous report by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee.”

AHPPC continues to monitor the effectiveness of the travel restrictions and self-quarantine procedures for people coming from mainland China. These measures have been successful to date, with a more than 60 per cent reduction in travellers and no cases detected in more than 30,000 Australians returning from mainland China since 1 February 2020.

This has been assisted by travel restrictions imposed by China. In addition, a significant number of students from China have spent 14 or more days in third countries and have arrived in Australia to commence or continue their studies, again with no cases detected in this group.

The only new COVID-19 detections in Australia in the last two weeks are eight cases in Australian passengers repatriated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship. There remains no evidence of community transmission in Australia, with thousands of negative tests for COVID-19 in the last week alone. 

Recommendation 1
2.42 The committee recommends that the Senate pass the bills without delay.

Source: MA-REG-BILL-SENATE.pdf

The ANMF notes that a number of Registered Nurse occupations (14) are a standard inclusion on the MLTSSL list and has been the case for a number of years under previous temporary visa categories.

While the MLTSSL list is directed to whether an occupation might be needed in two to ten years’ time we are not aware of evidence to suggest there is, or will be a genuine and unexpected skill shortage of Registered Nurses in that time frame.

We are aware that some employers report difficulties recruiting (and retaining) registered nurses in some sectors and locations such as aged care and regional and remote areas, but in general, this is not related to a lack of supply of registered nurses.

This instrument operates to specify the approved form for making a valid application for a number of visa classes. The instrument also operates to specify the place for lodgement and the manner in which an application must be made to ensure a valid application is made for the relevant visa class.
Item was tabled on 24/02/2020
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2020L00148