Unreasonable

What do you think of these facts:

19. At the hearing on 9 November 2012, the Tribunal agreed to wait until close of business on 31 December 2012 to receive the results of the IELTS tests which the first respondent had booked on 17 November 2012 and 1 December 2012. In its own words, the “Tribunal said it would not agree to wait for further evidence after that date, as he made his visa application over 2 years before and he has had many opportunities to sit several English language tests”.
20. The Tribunal’s deadline of 31 December 2012 passed without the first respondent communicating with the Tribunal. However, the next day, 1 January 2013, the first respondent sent a facsimile to the Tribunal, attaching his test results and a letter. The results showed he had achieved the requisite marks in the December test on all topics except the topic of “Listening”, where he scored 5.0. In his letter to the Tribunal, the first respondent wrote:

Dear MRT representative,

Please find faxed documents in support of my above mentioned MRT Case No.: 1205119. I am sending copies of Test Report Card for IELTS tests taken by me on 17/11/2012 and 1/12/2012. Please be advised that I am going to apply for reevaluation/rechecking of test result for the test taken by me on 1/12/2012 and I hope to get the required result (i.e. enough to prove that I have competent English) for the same after reevaluation/rechecking.

21. On 3 January 2013, the Tribunal sent to the first respondent’s migration agent a letter informing the first respondent that it “has declined to grant any additional time” and that it would “now proceed to a decision”.

If you think the MRT's decision not to give an adjournment was unreasonable, you are not alone. This is the same view that the Full Federal Court came to in Minister for Immigration and Border Protection v Singh [2014] FCAFC 1 

Creative commons acknowledgement for the photograph.

Equivalent Terms

Sponsors for 457 visas have an obligation to employ visa holders on "equivalent terms and conditions" to what an Australian doing the same job would receive.

If this condition is not met, apart from sanctions that can be applied by DIBC for non-compliance, the sponsor might end up with an industrial law action on their hands. This is precisely what happened to the franchisors in the following case that was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Details of the sponsors obligations and sanctions can be found on DIBC website.

Mongrel Nation

"Mongrel Nation" was a 6 part documentary on ABC Radio National which explored a number of issues about immigration and multiculturalism in Australia, including:

1. The Asian Century
2. A Big Australia (about migration and population growth)
3. Ugly Mongrel - racism and aggressive nationalism
4. Multiculturalism - the Australian way
5. The life and times of Australian Multiculturalism

I missed it when it was first aired in August 2013, but caught up with the repeats in January 2014. very worth a couple of hours to listen to it. The program home page (where you can download audio files or read the transcript) is at: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/mongrelnation/

Creative commons acknowledgement for the photograph.