Net inward migration to Australia in the year to March 2014 stood at 380,910 according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This is slightly down from the January 2013 figure of 411,000. But, it still amounts to 1.65% of the Australian population which is relatively large. DIBP figures indicate that the Australian government remains committed to attracting around 250,000 immigrants per year for every year at least until 2017.

Where are the migrants settling?

According to the ABS, across the Australian capitals, some common trends in settlement are evident. Suburbs located in or near city centres are strongly favoured by migrants. With the exception of Hobart and Darwin, the central business districts (CBDs) of every capital city in Australia had more than half its residents born overseas in 2011.

Suburbs incorporating or situated near universities also featured high proportions of migrants. These include suburbs like Clayton (70%) in Melbourne, Robertson (62%) in Brisbane, Bentley and Crawley (both 62%) in Perth, Bedford Park (49%) in Adelaide, and Acton (57%) in Canberra.

Migration 2014

This year Migration Alliance has designed a unique conference which is all about shared values in the Australian migration agent space. Migration Alliance is creating a learning experience aimed at having a collective impact on the profession and a lasting impact on personal growth.

‘Together we can have a greater impact than on our own’.

URGENT UPDATE HERE

In the latest migration programme, more places have been made available for the reunion of the closest of family members, partners and children and ‘contributory-parents’. These places have been taken from the other family and parent (non-contributory) categories to maintain the balance of the programme, according to DIBP.

Perhaps the writing has been on the wall for a long time given the lengthy wait periods for the non-contributory parent visas and “Other Family Visa” (which incorporates the aged parent, carer visa and aged dependent relative).

The Budget 2014-2015 has now made it clear that these visas will cease shortly. This is likely to happen before or by the end of this financial year.

“The Family Stream will refocus on meeting the increasing demand for close family reunions. The additional partner and child places will be made available as a result of the cessation of new applications from the other family and parent (non-contributory) places. This cessation will also enable faster processing of existing applications," states the Budget Paper.

Once it ceases, each parent application will be expected to contribute a substantial amount of money as part of the application. Together with the application fees this can come up to about $50,000.00. No date has been set as to when DIBP will stop accepting applications. It would be no surprise if DIBP is inundated with applications in the coming weeks as it is unlikely that lodged applications will be affected by the change, although no details have been released. 

The following information has been received by Migration Alliance from Kay Ransome:

Dear Community Liaison network members

On 13 May 2013 as part of the Federal Budget 2014-15 the Government announced that the Migration Review Tribunal and Refugee Review Tribunal would be amalgamated with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, the Social Security Appeals Tribunal and the Classification Review Board. The amalgamation is planned to take effect on 1 July 2015. The amalgamation is planned to take effect on 1 July 2015 and the tribunals will fall under the portfolio of the Attorney General’s Department.

The battleground in the government’s sc457 review has now become more defined with both unions and industry bodies targeting the English-language standard as the key question the panel must decide on: should the panel recommend that the standard be maintained, or lowered?

The unions want it to be maintained given the current high-unemployment rates. But industry bodies indicate that due to the unrealistic English-language standards here, unemployment rates will go-up even further should employers be forced to send more jobs offshore in search of skills.

This stark industry warning has been put to the sc457 review panel by the Australian Industry Group (AIG), according to a report in The Australian.

Minimum English-language requirements were introduced in 2007 by the Howard government and raised by the former Labour government a few years later. Unions concerned about losing out jobs to foreign workers maintain that low English-standards threaten local jobs, lead to rorting and exploitation of workers.

Employers however maintain that evidence from their workforce surveys reveal that there is a national skills shortage which can be addressed with the lowering of the language standards to a level that is actually required in the workplace.