In the upcoming budget, the federal government is expected to allocate an extra AU$400 million to the department of immigration with staffing levels expected to hit a record 6000 officers within the next few years. Hundreds of people are currently being interviewed for jobs.

Labelled as the ‘once in a generation overhaul’ the department is the only one, other than Defence, to receive a funding boost. The new funds are to support the major reorganisation for bigger flows of people and goods in and out of Australia under a more ‘rigorous enforcement regime’ according to a report in The Sydney Morning Herald.

Part of the funds will go toward arming of officers; taking over Australia's immigration detention network; and taking up positions on the frontline at airports, shipping terminals and at sea to gather intelligence and detain offenders.

A new website, Border.gov.au, will also be launched to replace the websites for the formerly separate Immigration and Customs departments.

In a major speech on the future of the merged agencies in April, Immigration Department secretary Michael Pezzullo said the focus of the new department would be to "manage a system of border processes by which we will oversee the flow of people, and goods, to and from our nation".

RMAs are set to face-off directly with lawyers in the migration advisory business with the Coalition government planning to remove the present requirement of OMARA registration for lawyers who hold a law practising certificate.

Dual-registration for lawyers was implemented in 1992 as it was held that the various state and territories legal profession authorities did not deal with complaints against lawyers “with adequate timeliness or vigour”.  Submissions by the Law Council of Australia however argued that with the formation of the Legal Services Commissioner, that concern has been irrelevant for a long time and lawyers should no longer be subject to dual-registration and dual-monitoring by two authorities.

As at 30 June 2014 there were 1673 migration agents with legal practicing certificates in Australia. This equates to approximately 32 per cent of all practicing migration agents. When the review’s recommendation is implemented, the estimated 60,000 lawyers registered with the state and territories legal practitioner’s authorities will be able to provide migration advice under those licenses with no obligation to, or scrutiny by the OMARA.

The recommendation goes against 2007-2008 Hodges Review on the issue which recommended that lawyers remain subject to OMARA registration in order to provide consumers clarity and consistency of service standards.

The report has rejected calls to set up an independent commissioner comparable to that in the legal profession. It said that given the relatively small size of the migration advice profession, the creation of an independent statutory body to perform the role of the OMARA would be unsustainable. It added that in addition, the size of the sector will be reduced significantly with the removal of lawyers from the scheme.

Migration Alliance headquarters hosted a very different CPD today.  Provided by Legal Training Australia, the learning and development took on a new twist with RMAs donning Anonymous masks.

Did they attend?  Did they not attend?  Who were they?  Were they even agents?

Agents stand together in celebration of Migration Alliance's role in deregulating CPD and leaving it open to competitive market forces (see today's Minister's release on Review of the Office of the MARA).

GOVERNMENT RELEASES OMARA REVIEW 

Consistent with the Coalition’s deregulation agenda the Government will adopt the majority of the recommendations of the independent review into the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA). 

Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash, said the implementation of the review’s findings will reduce unnecessary red tape and improve outcomes for consumers of migration services who are often amongst the most vulnerable in the community. 

A blanket ban disallowing the counting of volunteer work for the purposes of qualifying for a second work holiday visa has been the response of the department of immigration to the alleged widespread abuse of the sc417 visa programme.

There will be nothing to stop legitimate volunteers working for worthy causes which deliver valuable community services but their good intentions will not be allowed to be counted towards eligibility for a second visa.

The reforms are part of the government’s new measures to increase the integrity of the program. The change essentially require those seeking to apply for a second Working Holiday visa to produce an official payslip from their employer, demonstrating they have completed their regional work component. A DIBP media release states that the change will take some time to introduce, and is not yet in effect, so it does not impact upon current second Working Holiday visa applications at present.

The damage of this blanket ban on voluntary work however could see the end of organisations like Willing Workers on Organic Farms (WWOOF) which has some 2,600 hosts in Australia.

"If the government brings in this business of backpackers needing to produce a payslip to get their 88 days to extend their visa for a year, that's going to hurt the WWOOF organisation quite a bit," Lismore farmer Geof Bugden told the ABC recently. Mr Bugden relies on WWOOF workers.

WWOOF essentially link backpackers to organic farmers by giving them the opportunity to work on Australian organic farms, exchanging 4 - 6 hours work per day for meals and accommodation, usually in the farmer’s family home.