Mission & Justice

Paul Maley; 23/7/08

Australia is continuing to look offshore for solutions to the deepening skills crisis, with new figures showing the controversial 457 visa program for temporary skilled migrants grew by almost a quarter last year. Figures released by the Immigration Department yesterday showed the number of primary 457 applicants jumped from 46,680 in 2006-07 to 58,050 in 2007-08 - about 24 per cent. A total of 110,570 temporary work visas were issued to workers and their dependents, an increase of 27 per cent. The figures show that Australia relies on overseas economies - increasingly in the developing world - to recruit doctors, nurses, IT professionals and construction workers. While NSW remained the biggest user of the program, importing 24,480 temporary skilled workers, Western Australia became the program’s second-biggest patron, recording a 41 per cent rise in applications.

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Rachel Buchanan; 20/6/08

…One in seven Maori (at least 110,000 people) now live in Australia and the number is rising. In 1966, it was one in 50; in 1986, one in 16. “It is apparent that Maori society has, to some extent, an Australian future,” wrote historian Paul Hamer in a report published late last year by Te Puni Kokiri (New Zealand’s Ministry of Maori Development) and Griffith University. Maori in Australia - known sometimes as “Maussies” - are part of New Zealand’s massive diaspora. Half a million New Zealanders live outside their country. In 2006-07, 40,000 New Zealanders moved to Australia as permanent or long-term migrants. For the first time, Kiwis overtook Brits as this country’s largest migrant group.

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Mark Metherell; 29/5/08

The Department of Immigration has paid $620,000 to eight former detainees and has written to more than 130 others to say they may be next in line for compensation. Department officials have told a Senate estimates committee the department sent 149 letters to notify individuals they “may have been unlawfully detained”. The development is a sequel to a series of inquiries triggered by the controversy over the department’s mishandling of the cases of the Australian resident Cornelia Rau, who was unlawfully detained, and Vivian Alvarez Solon, an Australian citizen who was deported to the Philippines.

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Ean Higgins; 24/5/08

Immigration Minister Chris Evans yesterday announced the first results of the Government’s efforts to speed up the processing of asylum-seekers, with those allowed to stay slightly outnumbering those being deported. The announcement drew criticism from asylum support groups, who fear for the fate of the thousands of people claiming to be political refugees. Senator Evans recently reviewed the cases of 72 people in immigration detention for more than two years. Of those, 24 have or will be removed because Senator Evans believes they have “no valid reason to be in Australia”. Five of the people have already been deported while steps are being taken to “fast-track” the removal of the remaining 19.

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Paul Kelly; 17/5/08

Immigration Minister Chris Evans wants a major overhaul of the migrant program to boost numbers, promote unskilled as well as skilled applicants and gear Australia to the new global competition for workers.Predicting a “great national debate over the next few years”, Senator Evans said he planned to bring a series of cabinet submissions to reform a “model that is out of date” and too unresponsive to employer needs. He said the debate about temporary migration was over; the coming debate would be about semi-skilled and unskilled migrants to meet labour shortages. Next month, cabinet is expected to approve a pilot program for a guest worker scheme from the South Pacific. Senator Evans called this a “stalking horse” for the larger debate on unskilled migration.

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Andra Jackson; 12/5/08

Coming to Australia after 18 months held in the Manus Island detention centre — 10 of them by himself — Aladdin Sisalem felt he had finally found a new beginning.Instead, the stateless Kuwaiti-born Palestinian found that he had merely exchanged one form of living in limbo for another. He was placed on a temporary protection visa that banned him from applying for permanent protection for five years.He has spent the past four years not knowing if he would have to uproot himself and try all over again to find another country to take him at the end of next year.

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Eamonn Duff; 11/5/08

A blitz by the Department of Immigration on more than 20 homes and businesses has uncovered “one of the worst cases ever” of foreign worker exploitation and migration agent fraud. The two-day sting across the NSW Riverina region was sparked by a Sun-Herald investigation that exposed an illegal migration racket involving hundreds of Indian tourists. Arriving on holiday visas, the men and women gained bridging visas through a network of crooked migration agents who, for thousands of dollars in cash, lodged “grossly unfounded” asylum claims. The tourists were then sent by a labour hire agency called Primary Contracting Services to Rorato Nominees’ tomato farm in Jerilderie where allegations of sexual assault, exploitation and a series of workplace violations had all surfaced.

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Matthew Moore; 19/4/08

In June last year, the then minister for immigration, Kevin Andrews, confirmed a report from the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union that three foreign nationals on 457 skilled worker visas had died in work-related accidents in four months. He said then 17 other foreigners employed on the same visas had died in Australia over the five previous years, but that none of those deaths were work-related. The revelation that 17 people brought to Australia to work, all of whom were in good physical condition, had died in circumstances unrelated to their work sounded unlikely, so the Herald lodged a freedom-of-information request in July.

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Patricia Karvelas; 14/4/08

Industrial relations commissioner Barbara Deegan has been hired to examine the integrity of the 457 skilled migrant visa scheme as the Rudd Government tries to improve the effectiveness of the system. Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Senator Chris Evans said Ms Deegan had been asked to look into concerns about the exploitation of migrant workers, salary levels and English language requirements.  The review will report periodically to Senator Evans and Workplace Relations Julia Gillard with a final report to be presented by October 1.

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