Reviews spark DIMA overhaul
Wed, 01 Mar 2006 03:29:43 GMT
IMMIGRATION has completed a review of its IT systems sparked by inquiries into the bungled cases of Cornelia Rau and Vivian Alvarez, recommending a radical overhaul worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Funding for the project is expected to be approved in the federal Budget in May. The department has completed a strategic blueprint for replacing aging systems and software, Immigration's deputy secretary and chief information officer Bob Correll told AustralianIT.
Poll supports PM on Australian Immigration
Tue, 21 Feb 2006 08:28:15 GMT
NEWS.com.au readers have strongly supported the Prime Minister on immigration and Australian values. Mr Howard said he believed Australians wanted immigrants to adopt Australian values when they arrive in the country. And NEWS.com.au readers have overwhelmingly backed this view in an online poll opened yesterday. More than 13,000 readers have now voted and over 80 per cent say immigrants should be forced to adopt Australian values.
Muslim culture a challenge for Australia's immigration program
Mon, 20 Feb 2006 04:42:36 GMT
Australian Prime Minister John Howard says conservative aspects of Muslim culture create a challenge for Australia's immigration program. "I do think there is this particular complication because there is a fragment which is utterly antagonistic to our kind of society, and that is a difficulty," Howard told The Australian. "You can't find any equivalent in Italian, or Greek, or Lebanese, or Chinese or Baltic immigration to Australia. There is no equivalent of raving on about jihad, but that is the major problem."
Australia mulls work visas to help unstable islands
Fri, 17 Feb 2006 21:59:42 GMT
A government advisory panel has recommended granting Australian work visas to tens of thousands of seasonal unskilled workers from neighboring Pacific islands in order to save the tiny countries from economic ruin. The recommendation by the Core Group, commissioned by the government to reexamine foreign aid, marks a significant shift in thought from Australia's tight restrictions on immigration.
Report into Australian Immigration visa cancellations
Mon, 13 Feb 2006 09:28:05 GMT
Commonwealth Ombudsman releases report into Immigration’s visa cancellation powers A report by Commonwealth and Immigration Ombudsman, Prof. John McMillan, released today highlights deficiencies in the Department of Immigration’s administration of visa cancellation powers under s 501 of the Migration Act 1958 as it applies to long-term residents of Australia.
Australia to cut back skilled immigration visas
Tue, 07 Feb 2006 10:42:55 GMT
IMMIGRATION Minister Amanda Vanstone is considering measures to cut the number of less-skilled technology workers entering Australia. Senator Vanstone is looking at ways to better define skills categories in the tech sector to improve targeting of migrants with skills in short supply in Australia. The measures being considered include a tightening of the points system used to grant visas to overseas students studying IT in Australia.
Higher immigration not an economic magic bullet
Sun, 05 Feb 2006 14:41:35 GMT
An abiding and unshakeable belief of Australian business is that immigration is good for the economy and we need a lot more of it than we're getting. But is the belief soundly based? According to a Productivity Commission paper on Economic Impacts of Migration and Population Growth, not really. The economic benefits are "very small". The first point to make is that, if you use immigration to add to our population, then obviously you make our economy bigger. After all, every extra person has to be fed, clothed and housed, and this adds to economic activity.
Children's surgeon finds Australia grows on him
Thu, 02 Feb 2006 18:12:22 GMT
ONE of Australia's top pediatric plastic surgeons, John Meara, says he never expected to stay in Australia after completing a fellowship at the Royal Children's Hospital in 1999. "If you had told me five years ago that I would be in Australia today I would have said 'you're out of your mind'," he says. Yesterday, Professor Meara, 41, his dermatologist wife Dr Ann Meara and their children Emily, 7, Elizabeth, 5, and Nicholas, 3, were granted Australian citizenship at a special function in the Immigration Department building in Lonsdale Street.