According to Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Minister John Cobb, the government is planning to overhaul its multiculturalism program with a new focus on shared values and secularism. Cobb said that the government was considering various strategies, such as getting high-profile immigrants or multi-faith sports heroes to participate in the program and using a television ad campaign to encourage segregated communities to come out of isolation. Part of the government’s new approach is to improve communication with isolated communities through better English education programs for adult migrants and to encourage the integration of isolated youth to prevent a national security incident in Australia.
Data from the Department of Immigration and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) showed that IT workers from India accounted for 1,415 out of a total of 3,379 foreign workers granted temporary skilled migration visas (457 visa scheme). Second for the same category were Britons at 681, followed by the Irish at 190 and Americans at 176. The data indicate that, contrary to the claims by multinational software and IT service vendors in Australia, the 457 visa scheme was being exploited to import low-wage labor to increase the firms’ competitiveness in the local market. The 457 visa scheme was originally intended to allow companies investing in Australia to bring in skilled workers to help them establish their operations in the country.
Parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs Bruce Bilson said that studies are currently being made on the potential benefits of allowing South Pacific unskilled or semi-skilled laborers to work in Australia. Bilson said that both the Pacific Islands Forum and the World Bank are doing research on this matter.
Attorney General Philip Ruddock said that Australia would consider expanding existing immigration laws that allow the government to deny entry to people holding extremist views. The government now wants the law to cover also the deportation of permanent residents and naturalized citizens who promote views widely considered unacceptable to the Australian community. Ruddock made the statement following confirmation of intelligence information about the presence of some 60 Islamic extremists in Australia, including the Australian-Algerian cleric, Abu Bakr, who told Muslims that it was acceptable to wage a holy war against the coalition forces in Iraq.
Foreign students who are found to have breached their visa conditions risk visa cancellation, payment of a A$10,000-bond, and for some, even detention. The Federal court recently issued a warning to immigration authorities that the uncompromising enforcement of student visa conditions could undermine the country’s overseas student program. The court cited the case of a Bangladeshi student Mahatub Alam, who was detained at the Villawood detention center after immigration officers unfairly cancelled his visa. Alam had allegedly worked two-and-a-half hours more than the 20-hours allowed in his visa conditions and only after his employer asked him to work overtime.
Opposition leader Kim Beazley called for the creation of a central unit to link up with some 900,000 Australians working overseas on a permanent or long-term basis. The move is intended to capitalize on their connection to trade and investment opportunities overseas. Beazley said that Australians working overseas are an untapped resource that the government needs to explore.
The Australian Crime Commission (ACC) has reported to a parliamentary committee that it has summoned and interviewed some 107 people since 2003 over alleged sex slavery. About one-third of the interviews were conducted among sex workers, most of whom came from South Korea, Thailand and China, while the rest were done among owners of premises, associates, financiers and customers. According to the ACC report, the trafficking operations were organized mainly by South Korean, Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian or Chinese nationals mostly based in Australia and who use Sydney as the most common entry point for trafficked women. According to estimates, about 300 women are trafficked into Australia yearly and up to 1,000 are believed to be currently working as sex slaves.
Former federal policeman Chris Payne believes that the conduct of coordinated raids would enable authorities to rescue all trafficked foreign women from Australian brothels. Payne estimates that at any one time, there are about 1,000 trafficked women working in legal and illegal brothels in the country. According to Payne, if authorities mounted a rescue operation, women who agreed to testify against traffickers could be given protection and allowed to stay in Australia. He made the statement during the launch of a national network against trafficking in women in Melbourne on 12 August.
The Immigration Department has blamed detention center operator, Global Solutions Limited (GSL), for its inaccurate information regarding the group of detainees found to have been maltreated during their transfer to Baxter detention center. Five detainees moved from the Maribyrnong detention center on 17 September 2004 were allegedly put at the back of a van for a 10-hour trip to Baxter, with no toilet breaks and without being given food or water. The Immigration Department earlier denied the inhumane treatment based on information it reportedly received from GSL.
A group of seven Pakistani merchant seamen have allegedly deserted a Pakistan-registered ship that arrived recently in Freemantle. They were spotted by Eucla police who became suspicious of the group because they carried no baggage while traveling from Freemantle to Melbourne. The seven irregular migrants were arrested on 12 August and flown to Baxter detention center.
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone announced on 7 August the planned removal of the razor wire around the Villawood detention center and the landscaping of the fence surrounding the facility. The move is consistent with the apparent “softening" of the Howard government’s detention policies, which started with earlier decisions to remove children from detention centers.
The legal team working on the case of six-year old Janey Hwang, who was born in Australia to a Korean mother, is seeking to have Australian citizens recognized by birthright. Hwang’s lawyer is appealing against the 1986 amendment to the Australian Citizenship Act, which recognizes children as citizens only if one or both parents are Australian citizens or residents. If Hwang loses her case, she faces deportation to Korea, a country she has never known.
Former Chinese policeman, Hao Fengjun, 32, has been granted a protection visa in Australia. Hao had requested asylum upon his arrival in Australia in February, claiming to have brought with him several secret files which he allegedly downloaded from a police computer. According to Hao, he has evidence regarding the crackdown on pro-democracy activists and on members of the spiritual movement, Falun Gong. Hao’s claims supported the controversial claims of another Chinese defector, former diplomat Chen Yonglin.
George Newhouse, the lawyer for Vivian Alvarez, the Australian citizen wrongly deported to the Philippines in 2001, criticized the planned revamp at the Immigration Department as nothing more than media publicity. The department’s new secretary, Andrew Metcalfe, has indicated plans to look for a third deputy secretary and create new divisions at the department. Metcalfe has also warned staff that disciplinary action would be taken against anyone implicated in the Ombudsman’s investigation into Ms Alvarez’s wrongful deportation. Newhouse said that the department should first admit its liability in the Alvarez case by formalizing a suitable care arrangement for her.
Sources: “Australia visa for China defector," BBC News, 1 August 2005; Lee Glendinning, “Australian-born child still faces deportation," The Sydney Morning Herald, 2 August 2005; Andra Jackson, “Immigration blames detention center operator," The Age, 2 August 2005; AFP, “Another Chinese defector gains asylum in Australia," The China Post, 2 August 2005; Dorothy Illing, “Detention for visa offences," The Australian, 3 August 2005; Elizabeth Colman, “‘Shared values’ push for migrants," The Australian, 6 August 2005; AFP, “Australia says it can ban extremists but deporting them will be difficult," Daily Times, 7 August 2005; AP, “Australia to mull deporting immigrants with extremist views," The China Post, 7 August 2005; “Immigration softer stand," The Daily Telegraph, 8 August 2005; Julian Bajkowski, “India dominates IT visa numbers," Computerworld, 9 August 2005; AAP, “Immigration criticized over shake-up," The Sydney Morning Herald, 9 August 2005; “Govt considers admitting Pacific workers," ABC News Online, 10 August 2005; AAP, “Crime commission acts on sex slavery," The Sydney Morning Herald, 11 August 2005; “7 illegal Pakistani immigrants held in Australia," Daily Times, 14 August 2005; Andra Jackson, “Call for mass rescue of trafficked women," The Age, 15 August 2005; AAP, “Overseas Aussies ‘a neglected resource’," The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 August 2005