Trafficking in Unborn Children

I recently read this article on Trafficking in Unborn Children by Australia's Chief Federal Magiatrate, John Pascoe and thought I would share it on my blog.

No comment by me is necessary.

Detention and Alternatives - where is the balance?

Detention of people found to be illegally present in Australia is currently mandatory.

The Joint Standing Committee on Migration tabled its second report entitled Immigration detention in Australia: Community-based alternatives to detention this week. One of the recommendations is an overhaul of the bridging visa system which would see detainees released into the community with support (including health care and assistance with accomodation) and potentially work rights. While on one hand this sounds like a civilised way to treat other human beings, I must admit I have some sympathy with the view expressed by the shadow minister for immigration, Dr Sharman when she says:

“The newly proposed bridging visa for all other detainees does not meet basic public interest and security criteria, nor does it help to deter people smugglers from targeting Australia as a preferred destination. People smugglers would no doubt be delighted to be telling their clients that in the latest Government policy softening, they will not even have to remain in detention while their identity is being established."

This is a very difficult policy area and it's so hard to find a balance!

Smuggling vs Trafficking

I was just reading the ABC news about the charges laid against a Victorian father and son over their plans to assist 68 Afghans to illegally come to Australia. This comes after Indonesian boat captains were also charged earlier in the year. This made me think of two things - firstly what is the actual offence and is it different to trafficking? The answers are:

Section 232A of the Migration Act:

(1) A person who:

(a) organises or facilitates the bringing or coming to Australia, or the entry or proposed entry
into Australia, of a group of 5 or more people to whom subsection 42(1) applies; and
(b) does so reckless as to whether the people had, or have, a lawful right to come to Australia;

is guilty of an offence punishable, on conviction, by imprisonment for 20 years or 2,000 penalty units, or both.

I found the answer to the second question on the website of the Australian Federal Police:

Although the terms 'people smuggling' and 'people trafficking' are often used interchangeably, they are different. People smugglers are paid by those who wish to enter a country illegally. The people wishing to migrate are involved voluntarily. People traffickers, on the other hand, use coercion and/or deception, to force people to illegally enter a country. Once the illegal immigrants are in place, people traffickers often continue to exploit them.

Australia's tough stance on these matters is totally appropriate in my view.

Another 457 Change

Effective from 15 May 2009 the 457 visa is no longer available to applicants with occupations that fall within ASCO 5-7. In plain terms, this means that the skills threshold has been raised. It used to be possible for employers who wanted to sponsor workers in these categories to do so provided they had approval of a regional certifying body (ie there was a concession where the employee was to work in a regional area). Now the only way to achieve this outcome is to negotiate a labour agreement with the Commonwealth. Click here for more details.

This change comes hot on the heels of the increase in the English threshold and is designed to protect local employment. It also means that employers with large infrastructure projects outside of the metropolitan areas are going to have to have a labour agreement before they can get lesser skilled workers on their construction sites. I appreciate there is a difference between a labour shortage and a skills shortage, but this change doesn't recognise that there may be both in remote areas.

Detention Policy

Just thinking about some of the other immigration measures announced in the budget. On one hand, there is money set aside to implement the "New Directions in Detention" policy which was announced in July 2008. The aim of that policy is that there should be increased capacity to assist people to a migration outcome without the need for detention.

On the other hand there is $186M set aside for a renovation of Sydney's Villawood detention centre. So less detainees but more comfort - is that the idea?

Photo used under creative commons licence: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yewenyi/2886511171/sizes/s/

Migration Budget 2009-10

There have been a number of changes to Australia's migration program announced in this week's budget.

The key features are:

1. the number of permanent skilled visas available has been reduced to 108,100. This is the second cut in numbers announced this year is down almost 20% from the initially available number;
2. there has been an increase in the number of family (parents/partners) to 60,300; and
   
3. the english language threshold is going to increase to IELTS 6 for applicants who nominate trade occupations.

For more detail you can link to the 2009-10 skilled migration program fact sheet.

What do I make of this? Well, the decreasing numbers simply reflect local labour market conditions, but the real question is what investment has Australia made in training its own people? In my view "not much". University education is becoming more expensive and apprenticeships are rare. Until local skills are developed there will be a dependence on overseas workers to help fill the gaps. The higher english threshold will exclude applicants from many countries where English is not widely spoken. Language skills are important but it may end up limiting the diversity in the migrant intake that we have seen in recent years.

Forged Document Rackets

Although it seemed to go unnoticed in the mainstream media, there was a DIAC-Australian Federal Police raid on a migration agent's business in Sydney this week. The allegation is that the Australian citizen registered agent is involved in providing falsified documents to mainly the Chinese community.

There was a similar raid in Melbourne in March where it is alleged documents were being prepared for students wishing to apply for permanent residence in various trade occupations.

Both times, the Minister said:

1. Illegal activity by migration agents attacks the heart of Australia's visa programs and will not be tolerated;
   
2. People who obtain permanent visas based on falsified documentation can have their visas cancelled; and
   
3. The operation highlighted the need for a greater level of scrutiny on the migration advice profession.

The problem with these comments is that it is not the mainstream migration profession that is to blame - it is a small group (whether in the profession or not) who are engaging in criminal activity and who are preying on vulnerable people who desperately want to stay in Australia.

It would be unfortunate if tougher requirements are made of all because of the activity of a few, but unfortunately that's the way regulation usually goes.

Federal Magistrate's Court

It was announced today by the Attorney General that the Federal Magistrate's Court ("FMC") is being abolished. When the FMC was established in 1999 it's purpose was to provide an accessible and simpler alternative to the Federal Court of Australia. Now the government has decided that it is too expensive to maintain two courts and a revamped Federal Court will now have two tiers - with judges and magistrates (who will deal with the less complex matters).

This now means that most judicial review of migration decisions will be back in the Federal Court of Australia, but will be determined by the magistrates (who were previously part of the FMC). This is a classic case of the old is new again.

Photo used under creative commons licence: http://www.flickr.com/photos/citizensheep/518034349/sizes/s/

Trade Occupations

I had an enquiry from a potential client during the week who is an overseas trained tradesperson (in this case a motor mechanic). The body which does the skills assessment for trade applicants is Trades Recognition Australia (TRA). Once upon a time they used to recognise verifiable on the job training as being good enough for a positive skills assessment. Now, apparently because of fraudulent documents being submitted they only recognise formal training. Although there are different pathways unless the client can show the required number of hours in "formal training" then they won't pass. This effectively cuts out a lot of people because many countries simply don't have formal apprenticeships or technical colleges courses...another example of a minority abuse causing problems for everyone!

Photo used under creative commons licence: http://www.flickr.com/photos/docman/36125185/sizes/s/#cc_license