VISAS – GOVERNMENT POLICY – AUSTRALIA

Scared, scarred: the women Giles forgot

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Original article by Alexi Demetriadi, Rhiannon Down, Liam Mendes, Simon Benson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 5-Jun-24

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles will announce a replacement for Ministerial Directive 99 by the end of this week. However, it could take up to six weeks for the new directive to take effect, based on Home Affairs’ advice to Giles in late 2022. Shadow immigration spokesman Dan Tehan says Giles must explain how he will deal with decisions made by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal during this period. Meanwhile, single mother Jesica Mills has revealed that she had lived in constant fear of a former neighbour after he subjected her to threats and harassment; the New Zealand-born career criminal was released from immigration detention in February under MD99. Giles is on record as having stated that Australia has an "obligation" to foreign-born criminals who have been in the country for most of their life.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS, AUSTRALIA. ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS TRIBUNAL

Number of days since Giles’ last blunder: 0

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Original article by Simon Benson, Rhiannon Down
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 4-Jun-24

The future of Immigration Minister Andrew Giles is under renewed scrutiny after he admitted that drones are not being used to monitor foreign-born criminals who were released into the community due to the High Court’s NZYQ ruling. However, Giles claimed that he had relied on advice from Department of Home Affairs officials when he initially claimed that 28 violent offenders were being monitored via drones. Meanwhile, it has been revealed that the controversial Ministerial Directive 99 was introduced in response to pressure from the New Zealand government over the deportation of NZ-born criminals. A government spokeswoman has indicated that Giles will announce a replacement for Directive 99 by the end of this week.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Rapist attacks 25 women, teen – and keeps his visa

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Original article by Paul Garvey, Rhiannon Down
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 29-May-24

The federal government is continuing to attract scrutiny over Direction 99, which requires the Administrative ­Appeals Tribunal to take into account a foreign-born offender’s ties to Australia in assessing an appeal against the cancellation of their visa. It has been revealed that a serial rapist, a child sex offender and a Chinese national who was in possession of a huge quantity of child pornography are amongst those who have had their visas reinstated due to Direction 99. It has also been disclosed that Immigration Minister Andrew Giles’ own department had warned that about 25 per cent of foreign-born criminals could have the cancellation of their visa overturned via Direction 99.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH AND AGED CARE, AUSTRALIA. ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS TRIBUNAL

Brutal portrait of ALP’s detainee woes – and ministers go missing in action

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Original article by Geoff Chambers, Paul Garvey
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 30-Apr-24

The federal government is under renewed scrutiny following revelations that a former immigration detainee participated in a home invasion in which a 73-year-old woman was brutually assaulted. It is alleged that Kuwait national Majid Jamshidi Doukoshkan was one of three men who robbed a Perth couple. He was released into the community in late 2023 after the High Court ruled that indefinite detention is unlawful. Doukoshkan was granted bail earlier in 2024 after being charged with two counts of breaching a curfew order. The Opposition has called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to sack Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles if they refuse to accept responsibility for the detainee disaster.

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HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Overseas student numbers expected to drop by 100,000

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Original article by Julie Hare
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 12-Dec-23

Experts say the federal government’s new visa requirements on international students will help to ‘weed’ out people who are seeking to use the student visa system as a ‘back door’ to the Australian jobs market. Internal government estimates indicate that the new requirements could see the number of foreign students coming to Australia to study fall by around 70,000, while 38,000 graduates could find themselves being sent home for failing to meet English-language tests.

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Labor urged to keep golden ticket investor visa primarily used by Chinese migrants

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Original article by Paul Karp
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 10-Jan-23

The Productivity Commission recommended abolishing the significant investor visa in 2016, and Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil stated in September 2022 that the visa could be scrapped because it is not "adding value" to Australia. However, the Australia China Business Council has used its submission to a migration review to argue that these visas can generate significant economic benefits and should be retained. Some 2,300 significant investor visas have been granted since 2012, with migrants from Chinese receiving some 85 per cent of them.

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AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION,AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS,AUSTRALIA CHINA BUSINESS COUNCIL

Labor defends agricultural visa scheme as farmers brace for minimum wage rise

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Original article by Natasha May
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 27-Apr-22

Labor will make changes to the federal government’s Pacific Australia Labor Mobility scheme if it wins the 21 May election. It will introduce a Pacific Engagement Visa for agricultural workers from the Pacific Islands, which will offer a pathway to permanent residency. Meanwhile, a minimum wage for horticultural workers will take effect from Thursday; Daniel Walton of the Australian Workers’ Union describes it as a "momentous shift" for fruit pickers, saying they have been "routinely and systemically exploited and underpaid" under the piece rate system.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES

Tennis Australia board breaks silence to commend Craig Tiley following Novak Djokovic saga

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Original article by Emma Kemp
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 19-Jan-22

Tennis Australia has issued its first public statement on the Novak Djokovic visa controversy. Tennis Australia’s board says it respects the decision of immigration minister Alex Hawke to cancel Djokovic’s visa and the federal court’s ruling against the Serbian tennis champion’s bid to have it reinstated. The board has also praised Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley, who has been under pressure to resign in the wake of the Djokovic crisis.

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TENNIS AUSTRALIA

Federal government offers Hongkongers Australian permanent residency pathway

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Original article by Joshua Boscaini, Stephen Dziedzic
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 2-Nov-21

The federal government will offer two new permanent residence visa streams for Hong Kong passport holders who have lived in Australia for at least four years. Almost 9,000 people are expected to be eligible to apply for the new visas from 5 March, including temporary skilled workers, temporary graduate workers and student visa holders. Applicants for the new visas will not need to be sponsored by an employer or be in a job that is on the list of current skills shortages. In 2020, the government agreed to offer "safe haven" for Hong Kong passport holders after China’s introduced new national security laws in the former British colony.

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Australian government urged to expand refugee intake as Afghans seek to flee Taliban rule

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Original article by Ben Doherty, Daniel Hurst
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 20-Aug-21

Australia has set a figure of 13,750 humanitarian visas for the current financial year, with 3,000 of that number to be set aside for Afghan nationals fleeing the Taliban regime. However, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has stated that the 3,000 figure is a "a floor, not a ceiling" and that "we can think we can achieve more". It is possible that the allocation of 13,750 humanitarian visas may not actually be met, as COVID-19 travel limitations are particularly restrictive on humanitarian visa holders.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET