DIMA Annual Report 1996-97

Supplementary statement 8 — Other matters

8a Property usage

Table 1: Office space used in 1996–97, as at June 1997

Program	m² office space	Staff numbers	m² per occupant	Rental charges $/m²
1.1 Immigration Multicultural and Population Research	644	26	24.77	304.55
1.2 Migration Program	3 184	149	21.37	322.92
1.3 Entry	4 846	189	25.64	273.62
1.4 Health and Character	178	8	22.25	301.62
2.1 Economic Entry	5 596	202	27.70	319.20
2.2 Family Entry	1 460	52	28.08	311.37
2.3 Residence Determination	3 168	151	20.98	329.29
3.1 Off-Shore Refugee and Humanitarian	451	23	19.61	301.45
3.2 Onshore Protection	5 321	229	23.24	309.50
3.3 Humanitarian Settlement	132	8	16.50	301.11
4.1 Off-Shore Service Development, Delivery and Support	1 061	52	20.40	301.36
4.2 On-Shore Service Development, Delivery and Support	7 443	369	20.17	312.21
5.1 Litigation	749	36	20.81	301.32
5.2 Legal Services	503	37	13.59	301.22
5.3 Internal Review (MIRO)	961	46	20.89	306.56
7.1 Multicultural Affairs	544	26	20.92	301.31
7.2 Citizenship	1 547	72	21.49	325.56
7.3 Community Affairs and Settlement	6 049	286	21.15	327.02
8.1 Investigation and Compliance	5 862	252	23.26	314.28
8.2 Detention	194	7	27.71	300.96
8.3 Boats	283	16	17.69	373.37
9.1 Ministerial and Executive Services	1 231	63	19.54	301.35
9.2 Corporate Strategy and Services	7 977	455	17.53	301.42
Total	59 384	2 754

Table 2: Non-office properties, 1996–97

	Number of premises	Rental per annum ($)
Detention facilities
Sydney	1	525 000
Melbourne	1	150 000
Perth	1	67 750
Port Hedland	1	55 000
Curtin RAAF Base	1	65 000
Sub total	5	862 750
Migrant flats
Sydney	71	469 756
Melbourne	83	522 435
Brisbane	25	142 943
Perth	45	201 119
Adelaide	69	450 772
Sub total	293	1 787 025
Adult Migrant Education Program
Canberra		182 800
Sydney		5 678 431
Melbourne		1 368 885
Perth		255 648
Adelaide		590 800
Sub total		8 076 564

8b Business Regulation

i) Temporary business entry

New temporary business entry arrangements were introduced on 1 August 1996 as a result of Government acceptance of the Roach Committee Report Business Temporary Entry – Future Directions.

The new arrangements provide for streamlined entry of key business personnel with business sponsors accepting a higher level of responsibility for temporary residents.

The streamlined arrangements include waiver of labour market testing for personnel undertaking key activities and simpler and faster health assessment procedures.

They represent a balance between giving business more flexibility to build up international competitive links while safeguarding employment opportunities for Australians.

The new temporary business entry arrangements provide for longer-term temporary business entry of:

• personnel for Australian based companies;
• personnel (both executives and specialists) from offshore companies seeking to establish a branch of the company in Australia; to participate in joint ventures; or to undertake employment in relation to a contract awarded to an offshore company;
• individual entrepreneurs seeking to establish new businesses or joining existing businesses in Australia; and
• personnel coming under a labour or Regional Headquarters agreement.

The most significant benefit to business is that key personnel can be quickly accessed. These personnel often have highly specialised skills or proprietorial knowledge critical to the success of the business. Access to these skills is essential in ensuring that business opportunities are not lost. Business has welcomed the reforms.

ii) Migration agents regulation scheme (MARS)

MARS was the first regulatory arrangement to be reviewed by the Commonwealth under the Competition Principles Agreement. The review was conducted from July 1996 to March 1997, by a task force within the Department.

The task force was guided by a reference group of independent experts, chaired by Mr Ian Spicer, former Chief Executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Following consideration of the review, the Government decided to move the migration advice industry to self-regulation via a transitional period of statutory self-regulation administered by the industry association, the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA).

The current scheme has been extended a further six months (until March 1998) to allow for passage of the legislation to put into place statutory self-regulation and to enable the MIA to develop the infrastructure to take on the role of regulator.

The key focus of statutory self-regulation is to improve consumer protection through increased industry responsibility for professional and ethical standards and improving competency standards.

The Department will be working with the MIA to put the Government's changes into effect. Statutory self-regulation is to be reviewed within two years of its operation, to assess the extent to which the industry has developed the capacity to move to full self-regulation.

8c Grants

a) Multicultural Affairs Branch

Amounts	Grantee/purpose of grant
$350 000	Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia Inc, core funding.
$11 500	Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia Inc, sponsorship of FECCA Fourth National Congress.
$40 000	Association of Non-English Speaking Women of Australia for agreed outcomes, including research and policy advocacy.
$6 250	Ethnic Communities Council of the Australian Capital Territory, final payment of special grant.
$6 250	Ethnic Communities Council of the Northern Territory, final payment of special grant.
$11 250	Multicultural Community Council of South Australia, final payment of special grant.
$11 250	Ethnic Communities Council of Tasmania, final payment of special grant.
$11 250	Ethnic Communities Council of New South Wales, final payment of special grant.
$11 250	Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria, final payment of special grant.
$11 250	Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland, final payment of special grant.
$15 000	World Conference on Religion and Peace, to recognise creative initiatives in religious work in Australia.
$25 000	Australian Multicultural Foundation, 1997 Religion and Cultural Diversity Conference.
$20 000	Oz Concert Inc., sponsorship for the 1997 Oz Concert – Hands up for Harmony.

b) Immigration Advisory Services Scheme grants in 1995–96 and 1996–97 and 1997–98

Grant recipient	1995–96 $	1996–97 $	1997–98* $
Victorian Immigration Advice and Rights Centre	125 000	125 000	31 250
Immigration Advice and Rights Centre – NSW	90 000	90 000	22 500
South Brisbane Immigration and Community Legal Service – Qld	42 500	42 500	10 624
Catholic Migrant Centre – WA	30 000	30 000	7 500
Migrant Resource Centre of SA	22 500	22 500	5 625
Total 310 000	310 000	77 499

* Notes:
1 July 1997 to 30 September 1997
In May 1997, the Minister decided to streamline the scheme by combining it with the Application Assistance Scheme (AAS) which provides reimbursement on a fee for service basis for the delivery of similar services for asylum seekers. Services under the combined scheme will be awarded on a contractual basis following a competitive tendering process.

Existing grantees have been given a three month pro-rata extension of their grants pending the outcome of the tendering process.

[Previous] [Next] [Table of Contents]