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Tag Archives: immigration

Big drop in skilled migrant applications, as higher costs for employers and migrants proposed

February 16, 2009 – 3:39 am

Last week, the federal Immigration Minster released a draft of new regulations affecting temporary skilled workers in Australia – often known as 457 visa holders.
These changes flow on from a review conducted last year by Barabara Deegan, who has a background in industrial relations.  Her final report is available at this link.
This visa class has been the [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in economic issues, immigration | Also tagged , , | Comments (1)

Lessons from Haneef inquiry report

December 24, 2008 – 12:05 pm

The release of the report of the Clarke inquiry into the Dr Mohamad Haneef debacle that occurred at the tail end of the previous government has generated a lot of commentary.  This report on the ABC’s website drew over a 100 comments in just a few hours. 
I followed this issue with interest, as I had a lot [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in human rights, immigration | Also tagged , | Comments (1)

Immigration politics reappearing in Qld?

December 20, 2008 – 9:28 pm

There was some curious and occasionally concerning commentary in Brisbane’s Courier-Mail this week regarding migration intake into Queensland.  Many people are quite rightly urging that governments do not react to the current economic difficulties by winding back the openness of their economies.  Yet calls to slash migrant numbers can sometimes equate to another path to [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in Queensland politics, immigration | Also tagged | Comments (2)

No need to use Christmas Island for asylum seekers

December 19, 2008 – 11:31 am

The news that the federal government is going to put some asylum seekers in the massively expensive, high security detention facility on Christmas Island for the first time is being portrayed as unavoidable.  This report says the government has been “forced” to open the centre after the number of asylum seekers arriving by boat rose to [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in human rights, immigration, refugees | Also tagged , | Comments (2)

Refugee from Vietnam elected to US Congress

December 9, 2008 – 5:21 pm

A belated contest for a House of Representatives Congressional seat in the USA has delivered a result against the trend.  A Republican challenger with no political experience defeating a Democrat incumbent with decades of experience in the current electoral climate is significant in itself.  In addition, the winner is someone who came to the US [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in US election, immigration, multiculturalism | Also tagged , | Comments (1)

Parliamentary Commitee report into immigration detention

December 2, 2008 – 12:07 pm

The federal Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Migration has released the first report of its inquiry into immigration detention.
It is a sign of how far the debate has shifted back into rational and humane territory that many of the Committee’s recommendations – which a few years ago would have been seen as ground breaking – [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in human rights, immigration, refugees | Also tagged , | Comments (2)

Natural born President

November 7, 2008 – 3:29 pm

The provision in the US Constitution prohibiting a person from being President unless they are “natural born” sits strangely for a country who’s economic and political might owes so much to immigration.  Presumably it made sense when the US Constitution was adopted in 1787, but it is simply unjust now.*
This provision obviously means no migrant [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in US election, immigration, multiculturalism | Also tagged | Comments (9)

US election: Immigration issues ignored

November 4, 2008 – 5:55 pm

Given some of the other toxic lines of attack that have been used during the US election, perhaps it is a blessing of sorts that the immigration debate has barely featured in the campaign. If immigration had become the hot-button issue it looked like being twelve months ago, the campaign could have been even uglier [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in US election, immigration | Also tagged | Comments (2)

Our discriminatory immigration system

October 30, 2008 – 10:12 pm

Next time you hear someone talking about our “non-discriminatory” immigration system, keep stories like this one in mind – a doctor who has already been living and working in Australia for over two years, being denied permanent residency because he has a 13 year old son with Down Syndrome.
Whilst this sort of thing only makes news [...]

By Andrew Bartlett | Posted in human rights, immigration | Also tagged | Comments (5)