News

Refugees finding more jobs than before A new report has found an increase in refugees finding jobs in Australia within the first six months. The report by the Australian Institute of Family Studies was released on Thursday. As many as 2,400 refugees were tracked across the country, excluding the ACT, in the study, revealing that 23 percent had now found work, up from six percent in the first six months. But researchers have expressed their concern over the finding that they had to accept jobs that were at least two levels down of what they were doing in their home countries. “Australia.. had forced them to skid down the employment ladder into low-skill jobs,” one of the researchers said, urging the government to launch better-targeted programs so their skills can be used at their best.

Australian restaurant industry set to suffer shortages of up to 120,000 Australia’s largest job search company, Indeed, has warned that the Australian restaurant industry is ‘at risk’ after Peter Dutton’s 457 visa crackdown and may suffer a shortage of up to 120,000 people in the next 10 years. According to a Sydney Morning Herald report, there has been a 10 percent drop on searches on job websites almost instantaneously after the government announced its crackdown on foreign workers. The company’s spokesperson said that of the 4 million job searches during 2017, the greatest interest in jobs in the Australian hospitality industry came from Britain, not from non-English speaking countries. The company had detected a 78 percent increase in searches for Australian hospitality roles but that was now being undermined by the abolition of the 457 scheme. According to the Department of Immigration, as of September, there were 96,000 foreign workers in Australia with about a quarter from India, nearly 20 percent from Britain and 6 percent from China.

Airport security tightened after foiled attack Just three months after police foiled a plan for a bomb attack on an Emirates flight from Sydney, the police have yet again tightened security at the airport after foiling another attack last week. This time, police say, Australia will also introduce random searches of workers entering and inside its airports. Earlier this month, the Council of Australian Governments signed off on a facial biometric agreement to give state and federal police real-time access to passport, visa, citizenship and driver’s license images for criminal investigations including those involving suspected terrorists.

New scandal emerges in systematic abuse of foreign workers After the 7-Eleven migrant workers scandal of 2015, migration and law experts fear that  Australia’s horticulture industry may be the next big industry to be enslaving foreign workers on temporary visas. According to an Australian Parliamentary Inquiry, this could become a bigger migrant slave scandal. The inquiry is nearing completion with the one and only regional hearing at Mildura, in Victoria, to be held on October 30 and a report slated to be released in November. Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) Natalie James has time and again been calling on international students and foreign workers on temporary visas to come forward and report employers who may be exploiting them. Foreign workers are involved in more than three-quarters of legal cases initiated by the FWO against unscrupulous employers.

Call for investigating dodgy migration agents, AAT A notable number of government MPs are pushing for a 10-member migration committee to investigate the migration appeals process over concerns about the number of times the tribunal overturns government decisions to deport criminals who are in Australian on visas. The MPs said they were concerned about dodgy migration agents, who clogged up the system with a string of appeals often giving false hope to clients. The MPs also want the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to be investigated for its increasing overrule of the decisions by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton. The Police Federation of Australia is also not happy with certain “elements of the judiciary” for “flouting laws” that allows visas of criminals to be cancelled.

North Korean youth football team refused Australian entry over nuclear program The federal government has prevented a North Korean youth football team from coming to Australia to play in a tournament, saying allowing them would be contrary to its opposition to the rogue nation’s nuclear program. The fixture is now to be moved to a “neutral venue”, a spokesperson told news reporters.

Indonesia wants open doors to Australia for its workers under free trade deal Indonesia wants Australia to whole-heartedly open its doors to more Indonesian workers, including nurses and cooks. It also wants Australia to remove tariffs on textiles as free trade negotiations between the two countries enter the final month. Negotiations between the two countries stalled since 2013 amid diplomatic tensions but resumed last year.

Visa requirement is seen as threat to Games The Australian government is adamant on its requirement for all athletes and officials to obtain visas to attend next year’s Commonwealth Games and people in the business are not happy, saying this might threaten the Games in the longer run. According to news sources, the government is defying decades of international sports convention by insisting that accredited Games attendees must obtain a “temporary activity’’ visa via an online application. Normally, as a tradition, Olympic and Commonwealth Games host nations waive visa requirements for accredited athletes and officials. This system was in place for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Family violence against women on temporary visas on the rise: report More women on temporary partner visas across Australia may be experiencing family violence than what was perceived until now. A new and first of its kind study of family violence against temporary female residents in Australia suggests that at least 9,112 women on temporary partner visas are experiencing family violence. The report titled ‘Temporary migration and family violence: An analysis of victimisation, vulnerability and support’ is said to be the first major study in Australia to examine the link between migration status and family violence. According to the report, there were 529 family violence provision applications made by women on such visas in 2015–16. Of these, 403 were successful. The report, by Monash University Associate Professor Marie Segrave, was launched by Victorian Multicultural Commission Chair Helen Kapalos on Thursday, October 12, at the Monash Law Chambers.  

Call for universities to give more scholarships to refugees Did you know that only 1 percent of the world’s 65 million refugees have a university degree? Alarming, isn’t it? This may change if a [much needed] recommendation by a Portuguese diplomat who spoke at the Australian International Higher Education Conference last week is substantiated. Portuguese diplomat Helena Barroco urged universities around the world to offer more scholarships to refugees, and attendees from more than 30 countries at the Conference that took place in Hobart agreed. In Australia, refugees or asylum seekers have vastly different experiences in accessing university. The ambitions of most of them have been put on hold due to their visa statuses. Do you think that refugees/asylum seekers in Australia should be given access to education until their cases are being decided on?