Senator George Brandis QC, infamous for proclaiming that people had the ‘‘right to be a bigot’’ in his drive to wind back section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act has been “rolled” and “humiliated” according to Opposition Leader Bill Shorten after the Coalition’s “embarrassing backdown” on the the controversial bill.

Before last year’s election, the Coalition had promised to repeal section 18C, which became known as the "Bolt laws" after News Corp columnist Andrew Bolt was prosecuted under the existing legislation for two comment piece on white-skinned Aboriginals.

Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act makes it unlawful to: "offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of people" because of their race or ethnicity".

Senator Brandis', (the Attorney-General) draft bill proposed a new section that would make it: "unlawful for a person to do an act ... that is reasonably likely to vilify another person or a group of persons or intimidate another person or group of persons".

The proposed law would have removed protections against offending, insulting or humiliating someone.

The 485 visa enables graduates who have completed their studies in Australia, to live and work in Australia temporarily after they have finished their studies. When applying for this visa, applicants must provide evidence that they have made appropriate arrangements for health insurance in Australia for the duration of the visa processing period, and their stay in Australia once the visa has been granted. Many graduates start this process on their OSHC cover however they must ensure they have non-OSHC cover in place when their student visa expires. Bupa can help, by offering these graduates overseas visitors working cover that is 100% Australian Government visa compliant.

Please click here to find out more about our overseas visitors working covers https://www.bupa.com.au/staticfiles/BupaP3/Health%20insurance/MediaFiles/PDF/visitors-cover-brochure.pdf

And, until August 31^st, any customer who purchases Bupa overseas visitors cover will get a $50 Virtual Visa Card.*

The following are a selection of the responses from the entries received by RMAs to 'the funniest thing' compeition:

The funniest thing from the client that I have heard from the client was when I received a message from one of my Filipino client in which she called me Mr Prime Minister of Australia, Alexander Brodsky, and said that she believed in me more than she does in G-d and asked me to grant her and her family a visa to stay in Australia.

Following the grant of her visa, she attended the office and said that if she had not called me Prime Minister of Australia, the G-d would not have given her and her family a visa to stay in this beautiful country. Every now and then she sends me short messages to thank me and reminds that the G-d will always be on my side.

The Fair Work Ombudsman on Monday revealed it has begun a national review of the 417 visa, which many young people use to work on holidays for up to two years. Ombudsman Natalie James said the review would examine "anomalies" in the system in specific regions where lots of workers take temporary jobs.

It is estimated there are more than one million foreigners with work rights — or 10 per cent of the national workforce — on temporary visas.

FWO Ombudsman, Natalie James said trends showed the number of overseas workers could rise to between 2.5 million and 3.5 million over the next five years, with an expected increase in vulnerable workers seeking help for job issues.

According to the FWO media statement, among the issues the review will focus on were collecting government data to investigate businesses "most commonly" helping workers get the second-year extension, and talking directly to employees.

According to the report, in the past two financial years, the FWO has received about 2000 requests for help from workers on the 417 visas, or one-third of all requests from visa holders.

Cathrine Burnett-Wake Director at Harris Wake an incorporated Legal firm specialising in Australian and New Zealand immigration

The wider MA membership might be interested in a short film that one of our members, Catherine Burnett-Wake (MARN 0324641) produced for the SBS ‘Join in competition’.  It's less than 1-minute long.

The film is titled: ‘What is it to be an Australian?’

The film features a number of Catherine's former clients who she have helped migrate to Australia and who now proudly call themselves Australian.

We're trying to spread the word to help Catherine win the competition. Catherine needs as many views of the video and social media shares and likes using the imbedded icons on the Genero.tv site as she can get.

See link to watch the film:

http://genero.tv/watch-video/38408

If Catherine is fortunate enough to win, any prize money will go towards another film that she is producing, with the same team, about a young Afghani girl and her journey to Australia as an IMA.

I hope members like it and I encourage members to share it with everyone they know to help Catherine win.