Minister Australian Migration News 2010

Australian Immigration News on Changes February 2010

Australian Immigration Minister’s announcement on Skilled Migration visas – 8 February 2010. On 8 February 2010, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, announced the following changes to the General Skilled Migration program:

1. the outcomes of a review of the Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL)
2. the replacement of the current Skilled Occupation List (SOL) in the second half of 2010
3. offshore GSM visas made before 1 September 2007 would be capped and ceased
priority processing arrangements
4. skills assessment requirements for GSM applicants nominating a trade occupation.

Australian Skilled Immigration Populatin Growth

From Michael Danby chairman of parliament’s joint standing committee on migration.

It’s better for us to sustain skilled migration.

“MY good friend Barry Cohen’s combative contribution to the de bate about Australia’s population policy (The Australian, February 2) is a reaction to the debatable claims that Australia’s population will grow to 35 million by 2050. He supports those who argue that we should cut back our migration rate in the interests of our stressed environment and our strained infrastructure….…..Migration contributes enormously to our economic growth ……Migration has been of great benefit to Australia in the past, and if we are smart it will go on benefiting us in the future. “

Finally some sensible news coming out…..

Australian Immigration News 2010

Why prospective immigrants are “collateral damage”.

Afraid those prospective migrants whose plans have been suspended or stopped have become victims of what is known as “collateral damage”, and demanding answers from politicians is barking up the wrong tree, their interest is not what is right or fair, but power, non citizens do not vote.

Politicians, DIAC and DEEWR actions regarding recent migration processing, skills assessment, Job Ready test etc. are symptons of change in past fifteen years, i.e. politicisation of refugees, multicultural and related migration policies that used to be bipartisan. However. these issues became partisan, i.e. “wedge issue” used by the Howard government for both personal and political reasons (copying tactics used by the right wing christian conservatives in the USA, BNP etc.).

All governments are terrified of losing the next election by offending (perceived over 50s “white” or “anglo” Australian) voters who have been influenced by “wedge issues” or “dog whistling” used by politicians and informed by the media (plus employment concerns caused by global financial crisis).

Unfortunately, as opposed to the U.K. (and even for example Turkey), Australia does not have a “media” anymore but a “medium” i.e. SMH/Age centre left (Fairfax part owned by Murdoch), and The Australian centre right (wholly owned by Murdoch), with ABC in between, all rather incestuous and interrelated cronyism.

Has anyone been aware of any real political scandal or corruption ever breaking in the Australian media? I rest my case…….

Issue is lack of investigative journalism (Mares and few others excepted) and analysis in the Australian medium which relies more upon press releases, PR puff and spin which are accepted at face value. Add the 24/7 news cycle and Australians seeming demand for quick yes no, black white views or answers on all issues of the day, leads to “collateral damage” for those unable to vote, or defend themselves.

The Australian’s Higher Education supplement in January had a report about the issue that many of prospective immigrants maybe facing, i.e. DIAC moving the goal posts on migration affecting existing (PhD.) candidates, “PhDs victims of migration laws”. The writer correctly referred the issue to Dr Birrell, whose research helped inspire the tighter rules for skilled migration, said the plight of the Blazek twins did seem to be “collateral damage”, and informs the media as an “academic expert”, Dr. Bob Birrell of the Centre for Population & Urban Research CPUR, at Monash University.

The CPUR, and its journal “People & Place” actively seeks out research and fields of study which make immigrants, refugees etc. appear be at best a burden upon Australia, especially those of Non English Speaking Background NESB (read non white i.e. Asian). No surprise to many, as Dr.Bob Birrell was reknowned, at best, as anti immigration, like asking rugby league or Aussie rules to research and consult objectively on the round football code…..

What was his reply to evidence of unseen consequences of his advice to government for prospective immigrants? “Collateral damage”……in his and others’ culture wars……

For a more balanced view of Australian demographics and migration Bernard Salt who writes in The Australian like today, “Inconvenient truth on ageing” How to manage an ageing population …. Increase the worker base through ramped-up skilled migration.

AUSZTRÁL HÁZ Budapest Állatkertben

BM Temsilcisi Downer, Kıbrıs görüşmelerinden memnun

BM Genel Sekreteri’nin Kıbrıs Özel Danışmanı Alexander Downer ile KKTC Cumhurbaşkanı Mehmet Ali Talat, Kıbrıs görüşmelerinde “önemli ilerleme sağlandığını” açıkladı. BM Genel Sekreteri Ban Ki-mun’un Kıbrıs ziyaretinde “ilerlemeye” ilişkin açıklama yapacağı belirtildi.

My School Website

Media release My School website launched

The Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, today officially launched the My School website during a visit to Tempe High School in Sydney.

The My School website went live this morning and has had more than 1.5 million hits as Australians have logged on to access comprehensive information about their local school.

My School contains important information about each of Australia’s 10 000 schools including the number of students at the school, the number of teachers at the school and how the school is performing in national literacy and numeracy testing.

Parents and school communities are also able to compare their school’s results with neighbouring schools and up to 60 statistically similar schools.

Dodgy Colleges and Quality

Shoddy Schools sully sector

A RECURRENT theme in the Senate report on the welfare of international students is criticism of the link between education and migration. Indeed, the submission from the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations is that Australia is in the process of decoupling education and migration.

There is a need for more proactive quality control, but that would mean across the whole sector both private and state.

Triple JJJ Radio Australia Hottest 100 Music Chart out now!

ETS, Environment, Van Onselen, Population Growth, Migration, Multicultarlism, People and Place

ETS, Environment, Van Onselen, Population Growth, Migration, Multicultarlism, People and Place

Referring to recent to recent reports in The Australian by Peter Van Ostelen, “Emissions target cannot be met” and “leader won’t face the music”.

Need for an ETS, according to these pages based on manipulated or skewed IPCC climate data and research methods, maybe a moot point anyway, possibly the writer could more usefully focus like he has on another article “X and Y will pay for ageing population”.

But firstly, the “academic study” in ‘People & Place” from the Centre of Population & Urban Research (CPUR) I assume has lots of words and references …….. could also be accused of selective choice of research fields, and using skewed data for political or ideological ends? Maybe Mr Van Onselen’s (young) age precludes priorknowledge of Dr.Bob Birrell, Betts et al and their “form” on migration related issues?

“Population growth and Australia’s 2020 greenhouse gas emission commitments”

The Australian Government has stated an unconditional commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by five per cent on year 2000 levels by 2020. However, in the absence of new abatement measures, Treasury-led modelling indicates that Australia’s emissions will grow from 553 million tonnes in 2000 to 774 million tonnes in 2020. This article disaggregates the Treasury modelling in order to estimate the contribution of population expansion to this growth. It shows that 83 per cent of the forecast increase in greenhouse emissions to 2020 will be attributable to population growth. The article concludes that it is very unlikely that Australia will achieve the five per cent reduction target by 2020 in the absence of attention to the population growth factor.


The abstract uses the key word “attributable” (directly or indirectly?), i.e. likely to have been caused by migration, how likely? How likely for example could lack of compromise of Australia society, government and industry be seen as contributing to increased carbon emissions? Or, could we attribute concern about population and envronment to our lack of innovation, creativity and tolerance? Or even worse, we have a media and political elite in their own minds) who act like firebug memebrs of the fire brigade?

If the media paid as much attention to analysis of population data as they have climate data, they may not be spruiking high growth figures so much.

Australia’s population data measured at an absolute historical peak early 2009 due to a booming economy attracting international attention i.e. visitors and new residents, includes temporary residents (minimum 12/16 months) e.g. overseas students and 457 temporary working visa holders, in both cases numbers are decreasing at a rate of knots (the former from larger market India, 50%+ due to scare stories in media about perceived study to PR rorts leading to wider visa restrictions, and racial violence, plus visa restrictions impacts biggest markets i.e. China, while temporary working visas are down 50%), meanwhile offshore skilled independent migration processing has ceased till end of next year.

So, population growth could well be much lower by 2011, implying rates of growth vary from year to year depending upon the economic and political climate, but the property industry will not be happy. …..

Further, the CPUR appears to be selective in choosing fields of research, and actively seeking out differenceand negatives about non English speaking background (NESB) foreigners and Australians, cultural clashes, employment opportunites for Australians versus foreigners, refugees, migrants, religion (meaning Islam), population, environment etc. with “People & Place” the new “Toorak Times” with its infamous “white Australia” agenda?

“For years opponents of multiculturalism and the immigration program had been calling for a “national debate” or even a referendum. That these and related issues had regularly been aired in the media at roughly six monthly intervals does not seem to have been noticed. Part of the paranoia which grew during the 1990s centred around the proposition that governments would not listen to the people and that elites were shifting debate. The most elaborate version of this had already been developed by Katharine Betts in her study Immigration and Ideology 13. Betts emerged as a close ally of Bob Birrell who has consistently opposed mass immigration for twenty years. Together they launched the quarterly journal People and Place in 1993, which effectively carried on the very debate which was supposed to be “suppressed” by the “politically correct”. With the election of the coalition government in March 1996 and the overt attack on “political correctness” by John Howard, many got the message that the orthodoxy had changed. The tide flowed rapidly against immigration and multiculturalism. At the extreme, Pauline Hanson and those who supported her reopened once more the issue of Asian immigration which has haunted Australia for more than a century and a half now” (James Jupp, Tacking into the Wind: Immigration and Multicultural Policy in the 1990s)

One could argue that such approaches to issues of the day from the CPUR are an insult not only to their university landlord’s namsake, Sir John Monash (son of economic refugees, NESB and Jewish) , but to Australia’s self image of tolerance, optimism, adaptability, innovation and ability to find compromise and find solutions. After all we are a first world country, not a developing country with an inferiority complex?

Аустралији, Australia Open, Studiranje, Posao i Zivot u Australiji

Australia Open Jelena se teši u vili od 2.000 kvadrata. Jankovićeva će iskoristiti prerano ispadanje u Melburnu da obiđe radove na svojoj vili koja se gradi u San Dijegu. Jelenin „dvorac” ima 2.000 kvadrata, vredi bar pet miliona evra, ima bazen, bioskop, teniske terene, teretanu…

Life in Australia – Serbian. Аустралији (Living in Australia) на вебсајту Министарства за имиграцију и држављанство … Започињање живота у Аустралији (Beginning a Life in Australia)..

Studiranje, posao i zivot u Australiji AIEC Budapest. AIEC (Australian International Education Centre) Australijski medjunarodni obrazovni centar je nezavisna australijska institucija koja pomaze zainteresovanima pri upisu na privatne i drzavne fakultete, koledze i skole u Australiji.