Tough visa rules to ban countries

Original article by Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 27-Mar-24

The House of Representatives has passed legislation that targets failed asylum-seekers who refuse to co-operate with immigration authorities regarding their removal from Australia. The legislation allows them to be jailed for up to five years and specifies that fears of persecution if they are returned to their home country will not be regarded as a reasonable excuse for their lack of co-operation. The government will also have the power to block visa applications from all citizens of countries that refuse to refuse to accept the return of failed asylum seekers. The legislation was passed with the support of the Coalition, although it has forced Labor to agree to a Senate inquiry into the bill.

CORPORATES

Aussie unemployment is set to soar in 2023

Original article by Leith van Onselen
MacroBusiness – Page: Online : 24-Aug-22

The fall in Australia’s official unemployment rate to 3.4% has capped off a tremendous post-pandemic rebound that has delivered the best labour market in generations. The result also signalled that the boom is nearing an end, with total jobs and hours worked falling sharply in July; the unemployment rate only fell due to a decline in the participation rate. The collapse in immigration during the pandemic is the primary reason why Australia’s unemployment rate has fallen to a 48-year low. However, it has been widely reported that the Albanese Government will use the upcoming Jobs & Skills Summit as a trojan horse to increase Australia’s permanent migrant intake to its highest ever level. Accordingly, Australia next year faces its biggest ever intake of net overseas migration, easily eclipsing the all-time high 316,000 recorded in 2008 during the Rudd Government’s reign. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate is a lagging economic indicator that will not have captured the RBA’s aggressive rate hikes over the past four months. Never has the RBA commenced a rate tightening cycle with consumer confidence in such a poor state. Outside of the pandemic, consumer confidence is tracking around its lowest level since the early 1990s recession. Ramping-up immigration at the same time as the economy grinds to a halt from aggressive rate hikes is bad news for Australian workers. They will soon find it more difficult to score and job and negotiate higher wages.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA