Portfolio Budget 1998-99 - Fact sheet 3
3: Achievements in the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Portfolio
A number of recent changes and developments have taken place in the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Portfolio aimed at ensuring the integrity of Australia's entry and border control policies and practices, reducing fraud in visa applications and reducing litigation over refugee and humanitarian decisions.
At the same time, there have been moves to streamline the Migration Program, simplify entry arrangements for tourists and business visitors, as well as additional funding for migrant settlement services, with increased emphasis on help for humanitarian entrants.
Recent achievements
Recent achievements include:
-
Increased emphasis on data matching and inter-agency cooperation between the Department of Social Security (Centrelink), the Australian Tax Office and DIMIA, making it easier to detect 'overstayers'. This led to savings of about .5 million in welfare payments last year alone.
-
A crackdown on overstayers and illegal workers which, in the first three months of this year, led to the detection of 2 700 people who had breached their visa conditions.
-
Increasing bona fides checks for certain visa applicants, such as prospective spouse/fiance migrants, resulting in a 45 per cent drop in applications from overseas. Other new measures relating to spouse/fiance applicants include:
-
a two-year temporary visa for some overseas applicants before permanent residence can be granted;
-
a one-year co-habitation requirement for de facto spouses;
-
limiting the number of spouse sponsorships to two, at least five years apart.
-
-
Introducing to Parliament legislation to strengthen measures to exclude criminals from Australia and to give the Government greater powers to cancel the visas of people who are of character concern.
-
Ensuring that the Migration Program contributes positively to Australia's economic development by:
-
Shifting the balance of the migration intake from the Family stream to the Skilled stream which has increased from 22 per cent of the intake in the first quarter of 1996-97, to more than 50 per cent in the first quarter of 1997-98;
-
Raising the standards in Skilled stream points-tested categories to help Australia attract migrants with skills or abilities which will ensure they are quickly employed;
-
Placing a stronger emphasis on migrants' skills, qualifications and English-language ability;
-
Ensuring that sponsors contribute a greater proportion of the economic costs associated with the entry of parents and other Family Category entrants;
-
Opening DIMIA Business Centres which advise the business community on immigration matters and establishing a Business Advisory Panel to advise the Minister how best to respond to business needs;
-
Creating opportunities for State/Territory Governments to attract the skilled migrants they need through new and expanded regional migration initiatives.
-
-
Shifting the emphasis of the Humanitarian Program to assisting those in greatest relative need - the number of places for refugees was increased from 3 334 in 1996-97 to 4 000 in 1997-98 and will be maintained in 1998-99. The Refugee and Special Humanitarian components now account for about 80 per cent of the overseas Humanitarian Program.
-
Limiting access to work rights for people making Protection Visa applications in a bid to deter people from lodging frivolous applications.
-
Steps have been taken to introduce a privative clause for many decisions under the Migration Act to limit the cost and volume of litigation challenging these decisions. In the four years since the Refugee Review Tribunal was established, appeals to the Federal Court have cost the Australian taxpayer about million.
-
Introducing a 00 Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) post-decision fee, payable only after an RRT decision is made and only when the application is rejected and the Department's decision is confirmed by the RRT, in a bid to deter frivolous applications.
-
Increased specialist assistance for refugee and humanitarian entrants with the allocation of an additional .8 million over four years towards a national service delivery framework.
-
Providing an additional .7 million over four years and introducing competitive tendering to improve flexibility and effectiveness of the Adult Migrant English Program.
-
Appointing the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) as the migration agents registration authority, responsible for regulating the migration advice industry.
-
Streamlining the operation of the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) from 1 July 1998, to take advantage of new technology, improve cost-efficiency and provide better access to the service nationally.
-
Introducing to Parliament legislation to enable the three portfolio review bodies to be merged into two review tribunals. The Migration Internal Review Office (MIRO) will merge with the independent Immigration Review Tribunal (IRT) to create a new one-tier Migration Review Tribunal (MRT), while the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) will remain a separate body dealing exclusively with review of Protection Visa decisions.
-
Disseminating an issues paper, Multicultural Australia: The Way Forward, produced by the National Multicultural Advisory Council, as a focus for discussion on Australia as a culturally diverse, tolerant and open society and for a final report by the Council on multicultural policies over the next decade.
-
The allocation of million for an anti-racism campaign to promote harmony.
-
Improving accountability in the community grants programs with the introduction of service agreements specifying more clearly the outcomes to be achieved from government funding.
-
Facilitating community input to policy and service development, particularly through the Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council.
1998-99 Budget
-
The 1998-99 Budget includes a number of measures aimed at better management of our borders including:
-
posting additional Australia-based staff to countries where there is a known high risk of abuse of Australia's entry and visa systems;
-
increasing staffing levels at airports to identify passengers of immigration concern;
-
a major overhaul of the Movement Alert List (MAL), aimed at ensuring people with serious criminal backgrounds or serious character concerns are brought to the Government's attention if they try to enter Australia.
-
-
The 1998-99 Budget also includes a major redevelopment in 1998-99 of the Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) at Villawood in Sydney in line with a long-standing commitment by the Commonwealth. A million redevelopment, due for completion in mid-1999, will be undertaken in conjunction with Australasian Correctional Services (ACS), the successful tenderer for the outsourcing of the Department's detention services and related infrastructure development.
-
Providing in the 1998-99 Budget
Portfolio Budget 1998-99 - Fact sheet 3
3: Achievements in the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Portfolio
A number of recent changes and developments have taken place in the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Portfolio aimed at ensuring the integrity of Australia's entry and border control policies and practices, reducing fraud in visa applications and reducing litigation over refugee and humanitarian decisions.
At the same time, there have been moves to streamline the Migration Program, simplify entry arrangements for tourists and business visitors, as well as additional funding for migrant settlement services, with increased emphasis on help for humanitarian entrants.
Recent achievements
Recent achievements include:
-
Increased emphasis on data matching and inter-agency cooperation between the Department of Social Security (Centrelink), the Australian Tax Office and DIMIA, making it easier to detect 'overstayers'. This led to savings of about .5 million in welfare payments last year alone.
-
A crackdown on overstayers and illegal workers which, in the first three months of this year, led to the detection of 2 700 people who had breached their visa conditions.
-
Increasing bona fides checks for certain visa applicants, such as prospective spouse/fiance migrants, resulting in a 45 per cent drop in applications from overseas. Other new measures relating to spouse/fiance applicants include:
-
a two-year temporary visa for some overseas applicants before permanent residence can be granted;
-
a one-year co-habitation requirement for de facto spouses;
-
limiting the number of spouse sponsorships to two, at least five years apart.
-
-
Introducing to Parliament legislation to strengthen measures to exclude criminals from Australia and to give the Government greater powers to cancel the visas of people who are of character concern.
-
Ensuring that the Migration Program contributes positively to Australia's economic development by:
-
Shifting the balance of the migration intake from the Family stream to the Skilled stream which has increased from 22 per cent of the intake in the first quarter of 1996-97, to more than 50 per cent in the first quarter of 1997-98;
-
Raising the standards in Skilled stream points-tested categories to help Australia attract migrants with skills or abilities which will ensure they are quickly employed;
-
Placing a stronger emphasis on migrants' skills, qualifications and English-language ability;
-
Ensuring that sponsors contribute a greater proportion of the economic costs associated with the entry of parents and other Family Category entrants;
-
Opening DIMIA Business Centres which advise the business community on immigration matters and establishing a Business Advisory Panel to advise the Minister how best to respond to business needs;
-
Creating opportunities for State/Territory Governments to attract the skilled migrants they need through new and expanded regional migration initiatives.
-
-
Shifting the emphasis of the Humanitarian Program to assisting those in greatest relative need - the number of places for refugees was increased from 3 334 in 1996-97 to 4 000 in 1997-98 and will be maintained in 1998-99. The Refugee and Special Humanitarian components now account for about 80 per cent of the overseas Humanitarian Program.
-
Limiting access to work rights for people making Protection Visa applications in a bid to deter people from lodging frivolous applications.
-
Steps have been taken to introduce a privative clause for many decisions under the Migration Act to limit the cost and volume of litigation challenging these decisions. In the four years since the Refugee Review Tribunal was established, appeals to the Federal Court have cost the Australian taxpayer about million.
-
Introducing a 00 Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) post-decision fee, payable only after an RRT decision is made and only when the application is rejected and the Department's decision is confirmed by the RRT, in a bid to deter frivolous applications.
-
Increased specialist assistance for refugee and humanitarian entrants with the allocation of an additional .8 million over four years towards a national service delivery framework.
-
Providing an additional .7 million over four years and introducing competitive tendering to improve flexibility and effectiveness of the Adult Migrant English Program.
-
Appointing the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) as the migration agents registration authority, responsible for regulating the migration advice industry.
-
Streamlining the operation of the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) from 1 July 1998, to take advantage of new technology, improve cost-efficiency and provide better access to the service nationally.
-
Introducing to Parliament legislation to enable the three portfolio review bodies to be merged into two review tribunals. The Migration Internal Review Office (MIRO) will merge with the independent Immigration Review Tribunal (IRT) to create a new one-tier Migration Review Tribunal (MRT), while the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) will remain a separate body dealing exclusively with review of Protection Visa decisions.
-
Disseminating an issues paper, Multicultural Australia: The Way Forward, produced by the National Multicultural Advisory Council, as a focus for discussion on Australia as a culturally diverse, tolerant and open society and for a final report by the Council on multicultural policies over the next decade.
-
The allocation of million for an anti-racism campaign to promote harmony.
-
Improving accountability in the community grants programs with the introduction of service agreements specifying more clearly the outcomes to be achieved from government funding.
-
Facilitating community input to policy and service development, particularly through the Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council.
1998-99 Budget
-
The 1998-99 Budget includes a number of measures aimed at better management of our borders including:
-
posting additional Australia-based staff to countries where there is a known high risk of abuse of Australia's entry and visa systems;
-
increasing staffing levels at airports to identify passengers of immigration concern;
-
a major overhaul of the Movement Alert List (MAL), aimed at ensuring people with serious criminal backgrounds or serious character concerns are brought to the Government's attention if they try to enter Australia.
-
-
The 1998-99 Budget also includes a major redevelopment in 1998-99 of the Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) at Villawood in Sydney in line with a long-standing commitment by the Commonwealth. A million redevelopment, due for completion in mid-1999, will be undertaken in conjunction with Australasian Correctional Services (ACS), the successful tenderer for the outsourcing of the Department's detention services and related infrastructure development.
-
Providing in the 1998-99 Budget
Portfolio Budget 1998-99 - Fact sheet 3
3: Achievements in the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Portfolio
A number of recent changes and developments have taken place in the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Portfolio aimed at ensuring the integrity of Australia's entry and border control policies and practices, reducing fraud in visa applications and reducing litigation over refugee and humanitarian decisions.
At the same time, there have been moves to streamline the Migration Program, simplify entry arrangements for tourists and business visitors, as well as additional funding for migrant settlement services, with increased emphasis on help for humanitarian entrants.
Recent achievements
Recent achievements include:
-
Increased emphasis on data matching and inter-agency cooperation between the Department of Social Security (Centrelink), the Australian Tax Office and DIMIA, making it easier to detect 'overstayers'. This led to savings of about .5 million in welfare payments last year alone.
-
A crackdown on overstayers and illegal workers which, in the first three months of this year, led to the detection of 2 700 people who had breached their visa conditions.
-
Increasing bona fides checks for certain visa applicants, such as prospective spouse/fiance migrants, resulting in a 45 per cent drop in applications from overseas. Other new measures relating to spouse/fiance applicants include:
-
a two-year temporary visa for some overseas applicants before permanent residence can be granted;
-
a one-year co-habitation requirement for de facto spouses;
-
limiting the number of spouse sponsorships to two, at least five years apart.
-
-
Introducing to Parliament legislation to strengthen measures to exclude criminals from Australia and to give the Government greater powers to cancel the visas of people who are of character concern.
-
Ensuring that the Migration Program contributes positively to Australia's economic development by:
-
Shifting the balance of the migration intake from the Family stream to the Skilled stream which has increased from 22 per cent of the intake in the first quarter of 1996-97, to more than 50 per cent in the first quarter of 1997-98;
-
Raising the standards in Skilled stream points-tested categories to help Australia attract migrants with skills or abilities which will ensure they are quickly employed;
-
Placing a stronger emphasis on migrants' skills, qualifications and English-language ability;
-
Ensuring that sponsors contribute a greater proportion of the economic costs associated with the entry of parents and other Family Category entrants;
-
Opening DIMIA Business Centres which advise the business community on immigration matters and establishing a Business Advisory Panel to advise the Minister how best to respond to business needs;
-
Creating opportunities for State/Territory Governments to attract the skilled migrants they need through new and expanded regional migration initiatives.
-
-
Shifting the emphasis of the Humanitarian Program to assisting those in greatest relative need - the number of places for refugees was increased from 3 334 in 1996-97 to 4 000 in 1997-98 and will be maintained in 1998-99. The Refugee and Special Humanitarian components now account for about 80 per cent of the overseas Humanitarian Program.
-
Limiting access to work rights for people making Protection Visa applications in a bid to deter people from lodging frivolous applications.
-
Steps have been taken to introduce a privative clause for many decisions under the Migration Act to limit the cost and volume of litigation challenging these decisions. In the four years since the Refugee Review Tribunal was established, appeals to the Federal Court have cost the Australian taxpayer about million.
-
Introducing a 00 Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) post-decision fee, payable only after an RRT decision is made and only when the application is rejected and the Department's decision is confirmed by the RRT, in a bid to deter frivolous applications.
-
Increased specialist assistance for refugee and humanitarian entrants with the allocation of an additional .8 million over four years towards a national service delivery framework.
-
Providing an additional .7 million over four years and introducing competitive tendering to improve flexibility and effectiveness of the Adult Migrant English Program.
-
Appointing the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) as the migration agents registration authority, responsible for regulating the migration advice industry.
-
Streamlining the operation of the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) from 1 July 1998, to take advantage of new technology, improve cost-efficiency and provide better access to the service nationally.
-
Introducing to Parliament legislation to enable the three portfolio review bodies to be merged into two review tribunals. The Migration Internal Review Office (MIRO) will merge with the independent Immigration Review Tribunal (IRT) to create a new one-tier Migration Review Tribunal (MRT), while the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) will remain a separate body dealing exclusively with review of Protection Visa decisions.
-
Disseminating an issues paper, Multicultural Australia: The Way Forward, produced by the National Multicultural Advisory Council, as a focus for discussion on Australia as a culturally diverse, tolerant and open society and for a final report by the Council on multicultural policies over the next decade.
-
The allocation of million for an anti-racism campaign to promote harmony.
-
Improving accountability in the community grants programs with the introduction of service agreements specifying more clearly the outcomes to be achieved from government funding.
-
Facilitating community input to policy and service development, particularly through the Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council.
1998-99 Budget
-
The 1998-99 Budget includes a number of measures aimed at better management of our borders including:
-
posting additional Australia-based staff to countries where there is a known high risk of abuse of Australia's entry and visa systems;
-
increasing staffing levels at airports to identify passengers of immigration concern;
-
a major overhaul of the Movement Alert List (MAL), aimed at ensuring people with serious criminal backgrounds or serious character concerns are brought to the Government's attention if they try to enter Australia.
-
-
The 1998-99 Budget also includes a major redevelopment in 1998-99 of the Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) at Villawood in Sydney in line with a long-standing commitment by the Commonwealth. A million redevelopment, due for completion in mid-1999, will be undertaken in conjunction with Australasian Correctional Services (ACS), the successful tenderer for the outsourcing of the Department's detention services and related infrastructure development.
-
Providing in the 1998-99 Budget
Portfolio Budget 1998-99 - Fact sheet 3
3: Achievements in the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Portfolio
A number of recent changes and developments have taken place in the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Portfolio aimed at ensuring the integrity of Australia's entry and border control policies and practices, reducing fraud in visa applications and reducing litigation over refugee and humanitarian decisions.
At the same time, there have been moves to streamline the Migration Program, simplify entry arrangements for tourists and business visitors, as well as additional funding for migrant settlement services, with increased emphasis on help for humanitarian entrants.
Recent achievements
Recent achievements include:
-
Increased emphasis on data matching and inter-agency cooperation between the Department of Social Security (Centrelink), the Australian Tax Office and DIMIA, making it easier to detect 'overstayers'. This led to savings of about .5 million in welfare payments last year alone.
-
A crackdown on overstayers and illegal workers which, in the first three months of this year, led to the detection of 2 700 people who had breached their visa conditions.
-
Increasing bona fides checks for certain visa applicants, such as prospective spouse/fiance migrants, resulting in a 45 per cent drop in applications from overseas. Other new measures relating to spouse/fiance applicants include:
-
a two-year temporary visa for some overseas applicants before permanent residence can be granted;
-
a one-year co-habitation requirement for de facto spouses;
-
limiting the number of spouse sponsorships to two, at least five years apart.
-
-
Introducing to Parliament legislation to strengthen measures to exclude criminals from Australia and to give the Government greater powers to cancel the visas of people who are of character concern.
-
Ensuring that the Migration Program contributes positively to Australia's economic development by:
-
Shifting the balance of the migration intake from the Family stream to the Skilled stream which has increased from 22 per cent of the intake in the first quarter of 1996-97, to more than 50 per cent in the first quarter of 1997-98;
-
Raising the standards in Skilled stream points-tested categories to help Australia attract migrants with skills or abilities which will ensure they are quickly employed;
-
Placing a stronger emphasis on migrants' skills, qualifications and English-language ability;
-
Ensuring that sponsors contribute a greater proportion of the economic costs associated with the entry of parents and other Family Category entrants;
-
Opening DIMIA Business Centres which advise the business community on immigration matters and establishing a Business Advisory Panel to advise the Minister how best to respond to business needs;
-
Creating opportunities for State/Territory Governments to attract the skilled migrants they need through new and expanded regional migration initiatives.
-
-
Shifting the emphasis of the Humanitarian Program to assisting those in greatest relative need - the number of places for refugees was increased from 3 334 in 1996-97 to 4 000 in 1997-98 and will be maintained in 1998-99. The Refugee and Special Humanitarian components now account for about 80 per cent of the overseas Humanitarian Program.
-
Limiting access to work rights for people making Protection Visa applications in a bid to deter people from lodging frivolous applications.
-
Steps have been taken to introduce a privative clause for many decisions under the Migration Act to limit the cost and volume of litigation challenging these decisions. In the four years since the Refugee Review Tribunal was established, appeals to the Federal Court have cost the Australian taxpayer about million.
-
Introducing a 00 Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) post-decision fee, payable only after an RRT decision is made and only when the application is rejected and the Department's decision is confirmed by the RRT, in a bid to deter frivolous applications.
-
Increased specialist assistance for refugee and humanitarian entrants with the allocation of an additional .8 million over four years towards a national service delivery framework.
-
Providing an additional .7 million over four years and introducing competitive tendering to improve flexibility and effectiveness of the Adult Migrant English Program.
-
Appointing the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) as the migration agents registration authority, responsible for regulating the migration advice industry.
-
Streamlining the operation of the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) from 1 July 1998, to take advantage of new technology, improve cost-efficiency and provide better access to the service nationally.
-
Introducing to Parliament legislation to enable the three portfolio review bodies to be merged into two review tribunals. The Migration Internal Review Office (MIRO) will merge with the independent Immigration Review Tribunal (IRT) to create a new one-tier Migration Review Tribunal (MRT), while the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) will remain a separate body dealing exclusively with review of Protection Visa decisions.
-
Disseminating an issues paper, Multicultural Australia: The Way Forward, produced by the National Multicultural Advisory Council, as a focus for discussion on Australia as a culturally diverse, tolerant and open society and for a final report by the Council on multicultural policies over the next decade.
-
The allocation of million for an anti-racism campaign to promote harmony.
-
Improving accountability in the community grants programs with the introduction of service agreements specifying more clearly the outcomes to be achieved from government funding.
-
Facilitating community input to policy and service development, particularly through the Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council.
1998-99 Budget
-
The 1998-99 Budget includes a number of measures aimed at better management of our borders including:
-
posting additional Australia-based staff to countries where there is a known high risk of abuse of Australia's entry and visa systems;
-
increasing staffing levels at airports to identify passengers of immigration concern;
-
a major overhaul of the Movement Alert List (MAL), aimed at ensuring people with serious criminal backgrounds or serious character concerns are brought to the Government's attention if they try to enter Australia.
-
-
The 1998-99 Budget also includes a major redevelopment in 1998-99 of the Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) at Villawood in Sydney in line with a long-standing commitment by the Commonwealth. A million redevelopment, due for completion in mid-1999, will be undertaken in conjunction with Australasian Correctional Services (ACS), the successful tenderer for the outsourcing of the Department's detention services and related infrastructure development.
-
Providing in the 1998-99 Budget
Portfolio Budget 1998-99 - Fact sheet 3
3: Achievements in the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Portfolio
A number of recent changes and developments have taken place in the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Portfolio aimed at ensuring the integrity of Australia's entry and border control policies and practices, reducing fraud in visa applications and reducing litigation over refugee and humanitarian decisions.
At the same time, there have been moves to streamline the Migration Program, simplify entry arrangements for tourists and business visitors, as well as additional funding for migrant settlement services, with increased emphasis on help for humanitarian entrants.
Recent achievements
Recent achievements include:
-
Increased emphasis on data matching and inter-agency cooperation between the Department of Social Security (Centrelink), the Australian Tax Office and DIMIA, making it easier to detect 'overstayers'. This led to savings of about .5 million in welfare payments last year alone.
-
A crackdown on overstayers and illegal workers which, in the first three months of this year, led to the detection of 2 700 people who had breached their visa conditions.
-
Increasing bona fides checks for certain visa applicants, such as prospective spouse/fiance migrants, resulting in a 45 per cent drop in applications from overseas. Other new measures relating to spouse/fiance applicants include:
-
a two-year temporary visa for some overseas applicants before permanent residence can be granted;
-
a one-year co-habitation requirement for de facto spouses;
-
limiting the number of spouse sponsorships to two, at least five years apart.
-
-
Introducing to Parliament legislation to strengthen measures to exclude criminals from Australia and to give the Government greater powers to cancel the visas of people who are of character concern.
-
Ensuring that the Migration Program contributes positively to Australia's economic development by:
-
Shifting the balance of the migration intake from the Family stream to the Skilled stream which has increased from 22 per cent of the intake in the first quarter of 1996-97, to more than 50 per cent in the first quarter of 1997-98;
-
Raising the standards in Skilled stream points-tested categories to help Australia attract migrants with skills or abilities which will ensure they are quickly employed;
-
Placing a stronger emphasis on migrants' skills, qualifications and English-language ability;
-
Ensuring that sponsors contribute a greater proportion of the economic costs associated with the entry of parents and other Family Category entrants;
-
Opening DIMIA Business Centres which advise the business community on immigration matters and establishing a Business Advisory Panel to advise the Minister how best to respond to business needs;
-
Creating opportunities for State/Territory Governments to attract the skilled migrants they need through new and expanded regional migration initiatives.
-
-
Shifting the emphasis of the Humanitarian Program to assisting those in greatest relative need - the number of places for refugees was increased from 3 334 in 1996-97 to 4 000 in 1997-98 and will be maintained in 1998-99. The Refugee and Special Humanitarian components now account for about 80 per cent of the overseas Humanitarian Program.
-
Limiting access to work rights for people making Protection Visa applications in a bid to deter people from lodging frivolous applications.
-
Steps have been taken to introduce a privative clause for many decisions under the Migration Act to limit the cost and volume of litigation challenging these decisions. In the four years since the Refugee Review Tribunal was established, appeals to the Federal Court have cost the Australian taxpayer about million.
-
Introducing a 00 Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) post-decision fee, payable only after an RRT decision is made and only when the application is rejected and the Department's decision is confirmed by the RRT, in a bid to deter frivolous applications.
-
Increased specialist assistance for refugee and humanitarian entrants with the allocation of an additional .8 million over four years towards a national service delivery framework.
-
Providing an additional .7 million over four years and introducing competitive tendering to improve flexibility and effectiveness of the Adult Migrant English Program.
-
Appointing the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) as the migration agents registration authority, responsible for regulating the migration advice industry.
-
Streamlining the operation of the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) from 1 July 1998, to take advantage of new technology, improve cost-efficiency and provide better access to the service nationally.
-
Introducing to Parliament legislation to enable the three portfolio review bodies to be merged into two review tribunals. The Migration Internal Review Office (MIRO) will merge with the independent Immigration Review Tribunal (IRT) to create a new one-tier Migration Review Tribunal (MRT), while the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) will remain a separate body dealing exclusively with review of Protection Visa decisions.
-
Disseminating an issues paper, Multicultural Australia: The Way Forward, produced by the National Multicultural Advisory Council, as a focus for discussion on Australia as a culturally diverse, tolerant and open society and for a final report by the Council on multicultural policies over the next decade.
-
The allocation of million for an anti-racism campaign to promote harmony.
-
Improving accountability in the community grants programs with the introduction of service agreements specifying more clearly the outcomes to be achieved from government funding.
-
Facilitating community input to policy and service development, particularly through the Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council.
1998-99 Budget
-
The 1998-99 Budget includes a number of measures aimed at better management of our borders including:
-
posting additional Australia-based staff to countries where there is a known high risk of abuse of Australia's entry and visa systems;
-
increasing staffing levels at airports to identify passengers of immigration concern;
-
a major overhaul of the Movement Alert List (MAL), aimed at ensuring people with serious criminal backgrounds or serious character concerns are brought to the Government's attention if they try to enter Australia.
-
-
The 1998-99 Budget also includes a major redevelopment in 1998-99 of the Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) at Villawood in Sydney in line with a long-standing commitment by the Commonwealth. A million redevelopment, due for completion in mid-1999, will be undertaken in conjunction with Australasian Correctional Services (ACS), the successful tenderer for the outsourcing of the Department's detention services and related infrastructure development.
-
Providing in the 1998-99 Budget
Portfolio Budget 1998-99 - Fact sheet 3
3: Achievements in the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Portfolio
A number of recent changes and developments have taken place in the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Portfolio aimed at ensuring the integrity of Australia's entry and border control policies and practices, reducing fraud in visa applications and reducing litigation over refugee and humanitarian decisions.
At the same time, there have been moves to streamline the Migration Program, simplify entry arrangements for tourists and business visitors, as well as additional funding for migrant settlement services, with increased emphasis on help for humanitarian entrants.
Recent achievements
Recent achievements include:
-
Increased emphasis on data matching and inter-agency cooperation between the Department of Social Security (Centrelink), the Australian Tax Office and DIMIA, making it easier to detect 'overstayers'. This led to savings of about .5 million in welfare payments last year alone.
-
A crackdown on overstayers and illegal workers which, in the first three months of this year, led to the detection of 2 700 people who had breached their visa conditions.
-
Increasing bona fides checks for certain visa applicants, such as prospective spouse/fiance migrants, resulting in a 45 per cent drop in applications from overseas. Other new measures relating to spouse/fiance applicants include:
-
a two-year temporary visa for some overseas applicants before permanent residence can be granted;
-
a one-year co-habitation requirement for de facto spouses;
-
limiting the number of spouse sponsorships to two, at least five years apart.
-
-
Introducing to Parliament legislation to strengthen measures to exclude criminals from Australia and to give the Government greater powers to cancel the visas of people who are of character concern.
-
Ensuring that the Migration Program contributes positively to Australia's economic development by:
-
Shifting the balance of the migration intake from the Family stream to the Skilled stream which has increased from 22 per cent of the intake in the first quarter of 1996-97, to more than 50 per cent in the first quarter of 1997-98;
-
Raising the standards in Skilled stream points-tested categories to help Australia attract migrants with skills or abilities which will ensure they are quickly employed;
-
Placing a stronger emphasis on migrants' skills, qualifications and English-language ability;
-
Ensuring that sponsors contribute a greater proportion of the economic costs associated with the entry of parents and other Family Category entrants;
-
Opening DIMIA Business Centres which advise the business community on immigration matters and establishing a Business Advisory Panel to advise the Minister how best to respond to business needs;
-
Creating opportunities for State/Territory Governments to attract the skilled migrants they need through new and expanded regional migration initiatives.
-
-
Shifting the emphasis of the Humanitarian Program to assisting those in greatest relative need - the number of places for refugees was increased from 3 334 in 1996-97 to 4 000 in 1997-98 and will be maintained in 1998-99. The Refugee and Special Humanitarian components now account for about 80 per cent of the overseas Humanitarian Program.
-
Limiting access to work rights for people making Protection Visa applications in a bid to deter people from lodging frivolous applications.
-
Steps have been taken to introduce a privative clause for many decisions under the Migration Act to limit the cost and volume of litigation challenging these decisions. In the four years since the Refugee Review Tribunal was established, appeals to the Federal Court have cost the Australian taxpayer about million.
-
Introducing a 00 Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) post-decision fee, payable only after an RRT decision is made and only when the application is rejected and the Department's decision is confirmed by the RRT, in a bid to deter frivolous applications.
-
Increased specialist assistance for refugee and humanitarian entrants with the allocation of an additional .8 million over four years towards a national service delivery framework.
-
Providing an additional .7 million over four years and introducing competitive tendering to improve flexibility and effectiveness of the Adult Migrant English Program.
-
Appointing the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) as the migration agents registration authority, responsible for regulating the migration advice industry.
-
Streamlining the operation of the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) from 1 July 1998, to take advantage of new technology, improve cost-efficiency and provide better access to the service nationally.
-
Introducing to Parliament legislation to enable the three portfolio review bodies to be merged into two review tribunals. The Migration Internal Review Office (MIRO) will merge with the independent Immigration Review Tribunal (IRT) to create a new one-tier Migration Review Tribunal (MRT), while the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) will remain a separate body dealing exclusively with review of Protection Visa decisions.
-
Disseminating an issues paper, Multicultural Australia: The Way Forward, produced by the National Multicultural Advisory Council, as a focus for discussion on Australia as a culturally diverse, tolerant and open society and for a final report by the Council on multicultural policies over the next decade.
-
The allocation of million for an anti-racism campaign to promote harmony.
-
Improving accountability in the community grants programs with the introduction of service agreements specifying more clearly the outcomes to be achieved from government funding.
-
Facilitating community input to policy and service development, particularly through the Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council.
1998-99 Budget
-
The 1998-99 Budget includes a number of measures aimed at better management of our borders including:
-
posting additional Australia-based staff to countries where there is a known high risk of abuse of Australia's entry and visa systems;
-
increasing staffing levels at airports to identify passengers of immigration concern;
-
a major overhaul of the Movement Alert List (MAL), aimed at ensuring people with serious criminal backgrounds or serious character concerns are brought to the Government's attention if they try to enter Australia.
-
-
The 1998-99 Budget also includes a major redevelopment in 1998-99 of the Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) at Villawood in Sydney in line with a long-standing commitment by the Commonwealth. A million redevelopment, due for completion in mid-1999, will be undertaken in conjunction with Australasian Correctional Services (ACS), the successful tenderer for the outsourcing of the Department's detention services and related infrastructure development.
-
Providing in the 1998-99 Budget
Portfolio Budget 1998-99 - Fact sheet 3
3: Achievements in the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Portfolio
A number of recent changes and developments have taken place in the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Portfolio aimed at ensuring the integrity of Australia's entry and border control policies and practices, reducing fraud in visa applications and reducing litigation over refugee and humanitarian decisions.
At the same time, there have been moves to streamline the Migration Program, simplify entry arrangements for tourists and business visitors, as well as additional funding for migrant settlement services, with increased emphasis on help for humanitarian entrants.
Recent achievements
Recent achievements include:
-
Increased emphasis on data matching and inter-agency cooperation between the Department of Social Security (Centrelink), the Australian Tax Office and DIMIA, making it easier to detect 'overstayers'. This led to savings of about .5 million in welfare payments last year alone.
-
A crackdown on overstayers and illegal workers which, in the first three months of this year, led to the detection of 2 700 people who had breached their visa conditions.
-
Increasing bona fides checks for certain visa applicants, such as prospective spouse/fiance migrants, resulting in a 45 per cent drop in applications from overseas. Other new measures relating to spouse/fiance applicants include:
-
a two-year temporary visa for some overseas applicants before permanent residence can be granted;
-
a one-year co-habitation requirement for de facto spouses;
-
limiting the number of spouse sponsorships to two, at least five years apart.
-
-
Introducing to Parliament legislation to strengthen measures to exclude criminals from Australia and to give the Government greater powers to cancel the visas of people who are of character concern.
-
Ensuring that the Migration Program contributes positively to Australia's economic development by:
-
Shifting the balance of the migration intake from the Family stream to the Skilled stream which has increased from 22 per cent of the intake in the first quarter of 1996-97, to more than 50 per cent in the first quarter of 1997-98;
-
Raising the standards in Skilled stream points-tested categories to help Australia attract migrants with skills or abilities which will ensure they are quickly employed;
-
Placing a stronger emphasis on migrants' skills, qualifications and English-language ability;
-
Ensuring that sponsors contribute a greater proportion of the economic costs associated with the entry of parents and other Family Category entrants;
-
Opening DIMIA Business Centres which advise the business community on immigration matters and establishing a Business Advisory Panel to advise the Minister how best to respond to business needs;
-
Creating opportunities for State/Territory Governments to attract the skilled migrants they need through new and expanded regional migration initiatives.
-
-
Shifting the emphasis of the Humanitarian Program to assisting those in greatest relative need - the number of places for refugees was increased from 3 334 in 1996-97 to 4 000 in 1997-98 and will be maintained in 1998-99. The Refugee and Special Humanitarian components now account for about 80 per cent of the overseas Humanitarian Program.
-
Limiting access to work rights for people making Protection Visa applications in a bid to deter people from lodging frivolous applications.
-
Steps have been taken to introduce a privative clause for many decisions under the Migration Act to limit the cost and volume of litigation challenging these decisions. In the four years since the Refugee Review Tribunal was established, appeals to the Federal Court have cost the Australian taxpayer about million.
-
Introducing a 00 Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) post-decision fee, payable only after an RRT decision is made and only when the application is rejected and the Department's decision is confirmed by the RRT, in a bid to deter frivolous applications.
-
Increased specialist assistance for refugee and humanitarian entrants with the allocation of an additional .8 million over four years towards a national service delivery framework.
-
Providing an additional .7 million over four years and introducing competitive tendering to improve flexibility and effectiveness of the Adult Migrant English Program.
-
Appointing the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) as the migration agents registration authority, responsible for regulating the migration advice industry.
-
Streamlining the operation of the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) from 1 July 1998, to take advantage of new technology, improve cost-efficiency and provide better access to the service nationally.
-
Introducing to Parliament legislation to enable the three portfolio review bodies to be merged into two review tribunals. The Migration Internal Review Office (MIRO) will merge with the independent Immigration Review Tribunal (IRT) to create a new one-tier Migration Review Tribunal (MRT), while the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) will remain a separate body dealing exclusively with review of Protection Visa decisions.
-
Disseminating an issues paper, Multicultural Australia: The Way Forward, produced by the National Multicultural Advisory Council, as a focus for discussion on Australia as a culturally diverse, tolerant and open society and for a final report by the Council on multicultural policies over the next decade.
-
The allocation of million for an anti-racism campaign to promote harmony.
-
Improving accountability in the community grants programs with the introduction of service agreements specifying more clearly the outcomes to be achieved from government funding.
-
Facilitating community input to policy and service development, particularly through the Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council.
1998-99 Budget
-
The 1998-99 Budget includes a number of measures aimed at better management of our borders including:
-
posting additional Australia-based staff to countries where there is a known high risk of abuse of Australia's entry and visa systems;
-
increasing staffing levels at airports to identify passengers of immigration concern;
-
a major overhaul of the Movement Alert List (MAL), aimed at ensuring people with serious criminal backgrounds or serious character concerns are brought to the Government's attention if they try to enter Australia.
-
-
The 1998-99 Budget also includes a major redevelopment in 1998-99 of the Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) at Villawood in Sydney in line with a long-standing commitment by the Commonwealth. A million redevelopment, due for completion in mid-1999, will be undertaken in conjunction with Australasian Correctional Services (ACS), the successful tenderer for the outsourcing of the Department's detention services and related infrastructure development.
-
Providing in the 1998-99 Budget
Portfolio Budget 1998-99 - Fact sheet 3
3: Achievements in the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Portfolio
A number of recent changes and developments have taken place in the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Portfolio aimed at ensuring the integrity of Australia's entry and border control policies and practices, reducing fraud in visa applications and reducing litigation over refugee and humanitarian decisions.
At the same time, there have been moves to streamline the Migration Program, simplify entry arrangements for tourists and business visitors, as well as additional funding for migrant settlement services, with increased emphasis on help for humanitarian entrants.
Recent achievements
Recent achievements include:
-
Increased emphasis on data matching and inter-agency cooperation between the Department of Social Security (Centrelink), the Australian Tax Office and DIMIA, making it easier to detect 'overstayers'. This led to savings of about .5 million in welfare payments last year alone.
-
A crackdown on overstayers and illegal workers which, in the first three months of this year, led to the detection of 2 700 people who had breached their visa conditions.
-
Increasing bona fides checks for certain visa applicants, such as prospective spouse/fiance migrants, resulting in a 45 per cent drop in applications from overseas. Other new measures relating to spouse/fiance applicants include:
-
a two-year temporary visa for some overseas applicants before permanent residence can be granted;
-
a one-year co-habitation requirement for de facto spouses;
-
limiting the number of spouse sponsorships to two, at least five years apart.
-
-
Introducing to Parliament legislation to strengthen measures to exclude criminals from Australia and to give the Government greater powers to cancel the visas of people who are of character concern.
-
Ensuring that the Migration Program contributes positively to Australia's economic development by:
-
Shifting the balance of the migration intake from the Family stream to the Skilled stream which has increased from 22 per cent of the intake in the first quarter of 1996-97, to more than 50 per cent in the first quarter of 1997-98;
-
Raising the standards in Skilled stream points-tested categories to help Australia attract migrants with skills or abilities which will ensure they are quickly employed;
-
Placing a stronger emphasis on migrants' skills, qualifications and English-language ability;
-
Ensuring that sponsors contribute a greater proportion of the economic costs associated with the entry of parents and other Family Category entrants;
-
Opening DIMIA Business Centres which advise the business community on immigration matters and establishing a Business Advisory Panel to advise the Minister how best to respond to business needs;
-
Creating opportunities for State/Territory Governments to attract the skilled migrants they need through new and expanded regional migration initiatives.
-
-
Shifting the emphasis of the Humanitarian Program to assisting those in greatest relative need - the number of places for refugees was increased from 3 334 in 1996-97 to 4 000 in 1997-98 and will be maintained in 1998-99. The Refugee and Special Humanitarian components now account for about 80 per cent of the overseas Humanitarian Program.
-
Limiting access to work rights for people making Protection Visa applications in a bid to deter people from lodging frivolous applications.
-
Steps have been taken to introduce a privative clause for many decisions under the Migration Act to limit the cost and volume of litigation challenging these decisions. In the four years since the Refugee Review Tribunal was established, appeals to the Federal Court have cost the Australian taxpayer about million.
-
Introducing a 00 Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) post-decision fee, payable only after an RRT decision is made and only when the application is rejected and the Department's decision is confirmed by the RRT, in a bid to deter frivolous applications.
-
Increased specialist assistance for refugee and humanitarian entrants with the allocation of an additional .8 million over four years towards a national service delivery framework.
-
Providing an additional .7 million over four years and introducing competitive tendering to improve flexibility and effectiveness of the Adult Migrant English Program.
-
Appointing the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) as the migration agents registration authority, responsible for regulating the migration advice industry.
-
Streamlining the operation of the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) from 1 July 1998, to take advantage of new technology, improve cost-efficiency and provide better access to the service nationally.
-
Introducing to Parliament legislation to enable the three portfolio review bodies to be merged into two review tribunals. The Migration Internal Review Office (MIRO) will merge with the independent Immigration Review Tribunal (IRT) to create a new one-tier Migration Review Tribunal (MRT), while the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) will remain a separate body dealing exclusively with review of Protection Visa decisions.
-
Disseminating an issues paper, Multicultural Australia: The Way Forward, produced by the National Multicultural Advisory Council, as a focus for discussion on Australia as a culturally diverse, tolerant and open society and for a final report by the Council on multicultural policies over the next decade.
-
The allocation of million for an anti-racism campaign to promote harmony.
-
Improving accountability in the community grants programs with the introduction of service agreements specifying more clearly the outcomes to be achieved from government funding.
-
Facilitating community input to policy and service development, particularly through the Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council.
1998-99 Budget
-
The 1998-99 Budget includes a number of measures aimed at better management of our borders including:
-
posting additional Australia-based staff to countries where there is a known high risk of abuse of Australia's entry and visa systems;
-
increasing staffing levels at airports to identify passengers of immigration concern;
-
a major overhaul of the Movement Alert List (MAL), aimed at ensuring people with serious criminal backgrounds or serious character concerns are brought to the Government's attention if they try to enter Australia.
-
-
The 1998-99 Budget also includes a major redevelopment in 1998-99 of the Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) at Villawood in Sydney in line with a long-standing commitment by the Commonwealth. A million redevelopment, due for completion in mid-1999, will be undertaken in conjunction with Australasian Correctional Services (ACS), the successful tenderer for the outsourcing of the Department's detention services and related infrastructure development.
-
Providing in the 1998-99 Budget
Portfolio Budget 1998-99 - Fact sheet 3
3: Achievements in the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Portfolio
A number of recent changes and developments have taken place in the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Portfolio aimed at ensuring the integrity of Australia's entry and border control policies and practices, reducing fraud in visa applications and reducing litigation over refugee and humanitarian decisions.
At the same time, there have been moves to streamline the Migration Program, simplify entry arrangements for tourists and business visitors, as well as additional funding for migrant settlement services, with increased emphasis on help for humanitarian entrants.
Recent achievements
Recent achievements include:
-
Increased emphasis on data matching and inter-agency cooperation between the Department of Social Security (Centrelink), the Australian Tax Office and DIMIA, making it easier to detect 'overstayers'. This led to savings of about .5 million in welfare payments last year alone.
-
A crackdown on overstayers and illegal workers which, in the first three months of this year, led to the detection of 2 700 people who had breached their visa conditions.
-
Increasing bona fides checks for certain visa applicants, such as prospective spouse/fiance migrants, resulting in a 45 per cent drop in applications from overseas. Other new measures relating to spouse/fiance applicants include:
-
a two-year temporary visa for some overseas applicants before permanent residence can be granted;
-
a one-year co-habitation requirement for de facto spouses;
-
limiting the number of spouse sponsorships to two, at least five years apart.
-
-
Introducing to Parliament legislation to strengthen measures to exclude criminals from Australia and to give the Government greater powers to cancel the visas of people who are of character concern.
-
Ensuring that the Migration Program contributes positively to Australia's economic development by:
-
Shifting the balance of the migration intake from the Family stream to the Skilled stream which has increased from 22 per cent of the intake in the first quarter of 1996-97, to more than 50 per cent in the first quarter of 1997-98;
-
Raising the standards in Skilled stream points-tested categories to help Australia attract migrants with skills or abilities which will ensure they are quickly employed;
-
Placing a stronger emphasis on migrants' skills, qualifications and English-language ability;
-
Ensuring that sponsors contribute a greater proportion of the economic costs associated with the entry of parents and other Family Category entrants;
-
Opening DIMIA Business Centres which advise the business community on immigration matters and establishing a Business Advisory Panel to advise the Minister how best to respond to business needs;
-
Creating opportunities for State/Territory Governments to attract the skilled migrants they need through new and expanded regional migration initiatives.
-
-
Shifting the emphasis of the Humanitarian Program to assisting those in greatest relative need - the number of places for refugees was increased from 3 334 in 1996-97 to 4 000 in 1997-98 and will be maintained in 1998-99. The Refugee and Special Humanitarian components now account for about 80 per cent of the overseas Humanitarian Program.
-
Limiting access to work rights for people making Protection Visa applications in a bid to deter people from lodging frivolous applications.
-
Steps have been taken to introduce a privative clause for many decisions under the Migration Act to limit the cost and volume of litigation challenging these decisions. In the four years since the Refugee Review Tribunal was established, appeals to the Federal Court have cost the Australian taxpayer about million.
-
Introducing a 00 Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) post-decision fee, payable only after an RRT decision is made and only when the application is rejected and the Department's decision is confirmed by the RRT, in a bid to deter frivolous applications.
-
Increased specialist assistance for refugee and humanitarian entrants with the allocation of an additional .8 million over four years towards a national service delivery framework.
-
Providing an additional .7 million over four years and introducing competitive tendering to improve flexibility and effectiveness of the Adult Migrant English Program.
-
Appointing the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) as the migration agents registration authority, responsible for regulating the migration advice industry.
-
Streamlining the operation of the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) from 1 July 1998, to take advantage of new technology, improve cost-efficiency and provide better access to the service nationally.
-
Introducing to Parliament legislation to enable the three portfolio review bodies to be merged into two review tribunals. The Migration Internal Review Office (MIRO) will merge with the independent Immigration Review Tribunal (IRT) to create a new one-tier Migration Review Tribunal (MRT), while the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) will remain a separate body dealing exclusively with review of Protection Visa decisions.
-
Disseminating an issues paper, Multicultural Australia: The Way Forward, produced by the National Multicultural Advisory Council, as a focus for discussion on Australia as a culturally diverse, tolerant and open society and for a final report by the Council on multicultural policies over the next decade.
-
The allocation of million for an anti-racism campaign to promote harmony.
-
Improving accountability in the community grants programs with the introduction of service agreements specifying more clearly the outcomes to be achieved from government funding.
-
Facilitating community input to policy and service development, particularly through the Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council.
1998-99 Budget
-
The 1998-99 Budget includes a number of measures aimed at better management of our borders including:
-
posting additional Australia-based staff to countries where there is a known high risk of abuse of Australia's entry and visa systems;
-
increasing staffing levels at airports to identify passengers of immigration concern;
-
a major overhaul of the Movement Alert List (MAL), aimed at ensuring people with serious criminal backgrounds or serious character concerns are brought to the Government's attention if they try to enter Australia.
-
-
The 1998-99 Budget also includes a major redevelopment in 1998-99 of the Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) at Villawood in Sydney in line with a long-standing commitment by the Commonwealth. A million redevelopment, due for completion in mid-1999, will be undertaken in conjunction with Australasian Correctional Services (ACS), the successful tenderer for the outsourcing of the Department's detention services and related infrastructure development.
-
Providing in the 1998-99 Budget
Portfolio Budget 1998-99 - Fact sheet 3
3: Achievements in the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Portfolio
A number of recent changes and developments have taken place in the Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Portfolio aimed at ensuring the integrity of Australia's entry and border control policies and practices, reducing fraud in visa applications and reducing litigation over refugee and humanitarian decisions.
At the same time, there have been moves to streamline the Migration Program, simplify entry arrangements for tourists and business visitors, as well as additional funding for migrant settlement services, with increased emphasis on help for humanitarian entrants.
Recent achievements
Recent achievements include:
-
Increased emphasis on data matching and inter-agency cooperation between the Department of Social Security (Centrelink), the Australian Tax Office and DIMIA, making it easier to detect 'overstayers'. This led to savings of about $11.5 million in welfare payments last year alone.
-
A crackdown on overstayers and illegal workers which, in the first three months of this year, led to the detection of 2 700 people who had breached their visa conditions.
-
Increasing bona fides checks for certain visa applicants, such as prospective spouse/fiance migrants, resulting in a 45 per cent drop in applications from overseas. Other new measures relating to spouse/fiance applicants include:
-
a two-year temporary visa for some overseas applicants before permanent residence can be granted;
-
a one-year co-habitation requirement for de facto spouses;
-
limiting the number of spouse sponsorships to two, at least five years apart.
-
-
Introducing to Parliament legislation to strengthen measures to exclude criminals from Australia and to give the Government greater powers to cancel the visas of people who are of character concern.
-
Ensuring that the Migration Program contributes positively to Australia's economic development by:
-
Shifting the balance of the migration intake from the Family stream to the Skilled stream which has increased from 22 per cent of the intake in the first quarter of 1996-97, to more than 50 per cent in the first quarter of 1997-98;
-
Raising the standards in Skilled stream points-tested categories to help Australia attract migrants with skills or abilities which will ensure they are quickly employed;
-
Placing a stronger emphasis on migrants' skills, qualifications and English-language ability;
-
Ensuring that sponsors contribute a greater proportion of the economic costs associated with the entry of parents and other Family Category entrants;
-
Opening DIMIA Business Centres which advise the business community on immigration matters and establishing a Business Advisory Panel to advise the Minister how best to respond to business needs;
-
Creating opportunities for State/Territory Governments to attract the skilled migrants they need through new and expanded regional migration initiatives.
-
-
Shifting the emphasis of the Humanitarian Program to assisting those in greatest relative need - the number of places for refugees was increased from 3 334 in 1996-97 to 4 000 in 1997-98 and will be maintained in 1998-99. The Refugee and Special Humanitarian components now account for about 80 per cent of the overseas Humanitarian Program.
-
Limiting access to work rights for people making Protection Visa applications in a bid to deter people from lodging frivolous applications.
-
Steps have been taken to introduce a privative clause for many decisions under the Migration Act to limit the cost and volume of litigation challenging these decisions. In the four years since the Refugee Review Tribunal was established, appeals to the Federal Court have cost the Australian taxpayer about $20 million.
-
Introducing a $1000 Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) post-decision fee, payable only after an RRT decision is made and only when the application is rejected and the Department's decision is confirmed by the RRT, in a bid to deter frivolous applications.
-
Increased specialist assistance for refugee and humanitarian entrants with the allocation of an additional $20.8 million over four years towards a national service delivery framework.
-
Providing an additional $17.7 million over four years and introducing competitive tendering to improve flexibility and effectiveness of the Adult Migrant English Program.
-
Appointing the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) as the migration agents registration authority, responsible for regulating the migration advice industry.
-
Streamlining the operation of the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) from 1 July 1998, to take advantage of new technology, improve cost-efficiency and provide better access to the service nationally.
-
Introducing to Parliament legislation to enable the three portfolio review bodies to be merged into two review tribunals. The Migration Internal Review Office (MIRO) will merge with the independent Immigration Review Tribunal (IRT) to create a new one-tier Migration Review Tribunal (MRT), while the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) will remain a separate body dealing exclusively with review of Protection Visa decisions.
-
Disseminating an issues paper, Multicultural Australia: The Way Forward, produced by the National Multicultural Advisory Council, as a focus for discussion on Australia as a culturally diverse, tolerant and open society and for a final report by the Council on multicultural policies over the next decade.
-
The allocation of $5 million for an anti-racism campaign to promote harmony.
-
Improving accountability in the community grants programs with the introduction of service agreements specifying more clearly the outcomes to be achieved from government funding.
-
Facilitating community input to policy and service development, particularly through the Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council.
1998-99 Budget
-
The 1998-99 Budget includes a number of measures aimed at better management of our borders including:
-
posting additional Australia-based staff to countries where there is a known high risk of abuse of Australia's entry and visa systems;
-
increasing staffing levels at airports to identify passengers of immigration concern;
-
a major overhaul of the Movement Alert List (MAL), aimed at ensuring people with serious criminal backgrounds or serious character concerns are brought to the Government's attention if they try to enter Australia.
-
-
The 1998-99 Budget also includes a major redevelopment in 1998-99 of the Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) at Villawood in Sydney in line with a long-standing commitment by the Commonwealth. A $35 million redevelopment, due for completion in mid-1999, will be undertaken in conjunction with Australasian Correctional Services (ACS), the successful tenderer for the outsourcing of the Department's detention services and related infrastructure development.
-
Providing in the 1998-99 Budget $1.5 million for activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Australian Citizenship on 26 January 1999.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-