Immigration

The Uluru Statement From the Heart is an Indigenous consensus position that resulted from an Aboriginal and Torres strait Islander Referendum Convention held in 2017. The Convention sought to come to an agreement about an approach to constitutional recognition and to arrive at a basis for dual and complementary sovereignty between Indigenous and settler people.…

In the last five years, around 1500 New Zealand citizens have been deported from Australia after committing criminal offences in Australia. The number of deportations of NZ citizens increased sharply after the Migration Act was amended in 2014, giving the minister broader powers to cancel visas and amending the character test.  Many of those deported…

On 3 December 2018 Dr Kerryn Phelps MP introduced the Migration Amendment ( Urgent Medical Treatment ) Bill to parliament. The legislation, if passed, will require the temporary transfer of asylum seekers on Manus Island and Nauru to Australia if they are assessed by two or more doctors as needing medical treatment. The legislation will…

On 26 January, Australia will celebrate Australia Day. The date on which Australia Day is celebrated has been the subject of increasing controversy, with many people feeling that the chosen date is offensive to Aboriginal people and divides, rather than unifies, the community. 26 January has been a national public holiday since 1994. What happened…

There are several offences under the Migration Act which relate to people smuggling. These offences consist of bringing people who are not Australian citizens and do not have visas to travel to Australia, into the country. People smuggling offences often involve dangerous sea journeys to Australia. The people smuggling offences under the Migration Act apply…

The Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton has come under fire after it has come to light that 27-year-old Neil Prakash, who was stripped of his Australian citizenship last month, does not, in fact, have Fijian citizenship. Contrary to the Minister’s assertion that Prakash is a dual national, the Fijian government has today denied that…

The Australian government has announced it will not be signing a United Nations migration pact, which was developed during 2018. The pact invites signatory states to work towards a more humane and cooperative approach to world migration and to adopt domestic practices that address migration issues in a safe, orderly and regular way through international…

The United Nations working group on arbitrary detention has condemned Australia’s detention of three asylum seekers. The group, which reports to the UN Human Rights Council, on which Australia has a seat, has expressed concern about asylum seekers and immigrants being detained around the world, and highlighted 94 cases of arbitrary detention around the world,…

If you are living in Australia as a non-citizen on a temporary or permanent visa and you are found guilty of a crime, this may affect your visa. Depending on the sentence you receive and how long you have been living in Australia, together with a range of other factors, your visa may be cancelled,…

To be eligible to become an Australian Citizen, a person must have lived legally in Australia for the past four years. A person must have had permanent residency status for the four years prior to applying and must have lived in Australia for at least nine months out of the twelve months before applying. A…

The Queensland Coroner on Monday handed down his findings in the inquest into the 2014 death of Iranian asylum seeker Hamid Khazaei. The coroner found  that the young man’s death was preventable and that he would have survived had he received adequate medical care.  The findings indicated that the death was the result of a…

In March 2018, the Skilled Migrant 457 Visa was abolished and replaced with the Temporary Skills Shortage 482 Visa. The 482 Visa is a short-term work visa that allows employers to nominate positions to be filled by overseas workers in areas of critical skills shortages. To be granted a 482 Visa, the overseas worker must…

Visa cancellations are governed by Section 116 of the Migration Act, which gives the Minister and his delegates the power to cancel a visa in the following circumstances: i. Breach of visa conditions; ii. Failure to comply to visa conditions; iii. Purposely providing incorrect or bogus information; or iv. For the health, safety and good…

In February 2018, the Home Affairs Department introduced the Identity Matching Services Bill into parliament. This bill, if passed, will allow the Department of Home Affairs to collect, use and disclose information relating to the identity of individuals through biometric facial recognition software. Government departments and some private entities will be allowed to access and…

Refugees are persons who are outside their country of origin and who are unable to return due to a well-founded fear of persecution on the basis of any of the following grounds: Religion; Race; Nationality; Political opinion; Membership of a particular social group; The definition of a refugee is contained in the Refugees Convention 1951,…

What is the Department of Home Affairs (DoHA)? On 20 December 2017, the Federal Government formally re-established the Department of Home Affairs to replace the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. The whole-of-government change was announced by the Prime Minister on 20 July 2017. A Ministry of Home Affairs was originally created at Federation (1901)…