Speaking from the National Open Mosque day event in Lakemba, Tony Burke encourages all eligible permanent residents to apply for Australian citizenship now


“Anyone who is eligible now should apply now,” Mr Burke tells SBS Arabic24.


“Right now we have got a reprieve, right now the government has given up and they are processing again. They will come back, but anyone who is eligible now should apply now."

Mr Burke says he believes the government will try and pass the legislation on tougher English tests again, saying that he can’t guarantee a win in the Senate every time, but is happy the proposed changes have been rejected.


"I am so happy that the bill failed in the Senate," he says.


The controversial citizenship changes proposed by the Turnbull government were rejected in the Senate recently - a decision that was celebrated by many permanent residents.

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The Department of Immigration has received a rush of applications for Australian citizenship this week, after the government failed to pass sweeping reforms that included a tougher English language test.


Department officials said citizenship applications had fallen to a low “plateau” since immigration minister Peter Dutton announced the crackdown in April.


But last week the government missed a deadline to pass the bill through the Senate, sparking a new rush on applications.


“Since the announcement last week there’s been another surge,” Immigration Department official Christine Dacey told Senate Estimates on Monday evening.


The bill would have increased waiting times for permanent residents from one to four years, as well as introducing a new English language exam and a test on “Australian values”.


Ms Dacey said there was another spike when the changes were first announced in April.
“There was a very large spike on or about the 20th of April, and then there was kind of a plateau, which was lower than compared to 12 months ago,” she said.

Last week, Mr Dutton confirmed the government would redraft its citizenship reforms and try again to pass them through the Senate.

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www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/10/24/government-hit-surge-citizenship-applications-after-duttons-bill-fails-senate

London: Peter Dutton's crackdown on temporary workers from overseas could prevent the "next Jamie Oliver or Heston Blumenthal" showcasing their talents from Australia, the world's largest job search company Indeed has warned.


The company says it recorded a 10 per cent drop on searches almost instantaneously after the government announced its crackdown on foreign workers. Indeed said of the 4 million job searches during 2017 the greatest interest in jobs in the Australian hospitality industry came from Britain, not from non-English speaking countries. Indeed said it detected a 78 per cent increase in searches for Australian hospitality roles but that was now being undermined by the abolition of the 457 scheme.


Indeed warned that the tough changes risked Australia's hospitality industry with local employers set to suffer shortages of up to 120,000 by the end of the decade, with a shortfall of experienced restaurant and cafe managers, licensed club managers, cooks, bakers and pastry cooks to hire. 
​

Indeed Australia-New Zealand managing director Chris McDonald said the government's abolition of the 457 scheme would make it harder for the hospitality industry to deliver high-quality services and grow Australia's reputation as a foodie destination.

"In some cases there were restrictions on chefs, cooks, bakers and managers and leading industry figures such as Neil Perry have raised concerns about barriers to hiring quality front-of-house staff that are critical to the success of quality restaurants," he said.


And he stressed that the greatest level of interest for hospitality jobs, comes from Britain. Indeed said interest from the UK had increased 45.65 per cent in the 6 months to May 2017 compared to the same time period the year before. Interest from India was up 87.8 per cent and the US was up 15.4 per cent.

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India has been revealed as the Australia's biggest source of skilled and family migrants, as new figures show the nation accepted fewer migrants this financial year.


Around 6,400 fewer permanent skilled and family visas were granted in 2016-17 compared to the previous year from a total of 183,600 visas.


Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the figures were in line with the government’s strategy of “ensuring that migration levels are consistent with Australia’s genuine labour market needs”.


Just over 20 per cent of migrants came from India, with about 38,854 visas granted - down from 40,145 in 2015–16.
Meanwhile, China accounted for 15.4 per cent of migrants, with 9.3 per cent coming from the United Kingdom.


Southern Asia: India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and others, now accounts for 30 per cent of the migrant program. This is slightly lower compared with the previous year.


The number of Chinese Asian migrants – from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau and Mongolia – rose from 16.9 per cent to 17.1 per cent.


Most of the visas were granted to skilled migrants, with a substantial number of those sponsored by employers. Employer-sponsored visas accounted for 39 per cent of the skilled migrants stream.


Families sponsoring loved ones accounted for 30 per cent of the total number of migrants, most being applications for partners.


Most migrants arrived in New South Wales (33.5 per cent), while Victoria accounted for 25.9 per cent of arrivals followed by Queensland (11.7 per cent) and Western Australia (10.3 per cent).

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By Mosiqi Acharya

The controversial citizenship bill was struck down on Wednesday.

The immigration minister Peter Dutton had until this evening to bring the bill for debate in the Senate. 
But that did not happen.  
​
Shadow Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Australia Tony Burke pre-empted the news with an announcement in the House of Representatives in the early afternoon, advising that “with the conclusion of government business in the Senate a few minutes ago, it means that the government’s citizenship bill will today be struck from the notice paper of the Senate and will no longer be before the parliament."

Shadow Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Australia Tony Burke said, “This is a great victory for every person who wants to pledge allegiance to this country and make a commitment to Australia."


“The delay where some people would wait more than a decade before they made a pledge to Australia, has been rejected. The demand for university-level English has been rejected.


“I would urge those, celebrating this moment, who were involved in the campaign all around Australia, this government will try again and if under current law, you are able to apply now, I would recommend you to do so.


“And I recommend to the Department of Immigration those applications which are waiting, should now be processed.”
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton confirmed to ABC News that applications received after April 20 would be processed under existing laws. 

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Under the current citizenship law, Shruti Vaidya would have become eligible to apply for her Australian citizenship in August, just over a hundred days after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced an overhaul of the citizenship law in April this year.

Currently working with a big bank in Sydney, Ms Vaidya moved to Australia four years ago as a student to study at the University of Technology Sydney and got her permanent residency last years.

She is among those who made a submission to the Senate committee looking into the government’s citizenship legislation that proposes to increase the waiting time for migrants, such as Ms Vaidya to four years from one year before they can apply for citizenship.

She and thousands of other migrants from across Australia have petitioned politicians to defeat the citizenship changes that besides making them wait longer for citizenship, seeks them to demonstrate higher English language proficiency and gives the immigration minister powers to rule the AAT in matters of citizenship.


“We pretty much knew that the bill will pass the lower house and it was more of a senate game. The biggest block of independent senators there is of the NXT, so our main focus was NXT to call for them to not vote for the bill,” Ms Vaidya says.  

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A Perth man who planned to spend the rest of his life in Australia with his wife, is facing deportation over a bureaucratic mix-up.


54-year-old Paul Henwood moved to Australia on a state-sponsored business owner visa and bought a café for $800,000 in 2015 which currently employs seven workers. He has now been told he would be deported after his application for permanent residency was declined.


Mr Henwood’s original state-sponsored visa was running out on 19th September. On 13thSeptember, he sent his paperwork to immigration’s Adelaide office for processing. But he did so by Express Post instead of using a courier.


“I went to a post office and asked my documents to be sent to Adelaide via courier so that they reach Adelaide the next day. I was directed to express post which is the next day service,” Mr Henwood told SBS Punjabi.
​

He said his application was declined as it wasn’t sent via courier.

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www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/punjabi/en/article/2017/10/05/perth-man-facing-deportation-over-postal-mix

PHOTO: Andy Veal cannot hire backpacker labour because of issues with the 4306 postcode. (ABC News: Lucy Barbour)

Who would have thought that a few digits could cause so much distress?
A postcode might seem like a little thing, but in some parts of southern Queensland it is driving people nuts.


"It's very, very frustrating. It's a local issue that's become a massive issue," said avocado grower Andy Veal, from Mount Binga.


He and his wife Judy are tired and stressed out after a busy harvest. The warm, dry winter has meant their trees needed plenty of extra care.


In a perfect world, backpackers would help pick the crop, but for more than a decade the Veals have been turning away working holiday makers.


The problem is their postcode — 4306.

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www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-14/postcode-4306-forcing-farmers-to-turn-backpackers-away/9039018

By: Mosiqi Acharya

The Australian Citizenship Legislation Amendment (Strengthening the Requirements for Australian Citizenship and Other Measures) Bill 2017 will come before Senate next week.


33-year-old Tushar Choudhary is eagerly waiting for the outcome of the citizenship bill, scheduled to come up before parliament which resumes on Monday.

​Choudhary, who became eligible for citizenship, under current legislation in June says the new changes to Australian citizenship which include tough English language test and the requirement where applicants have to spend four years as permanent residents before they can apply for citizenship, are unfair. 

“The changes are unfair. For those who come from US, Ireland and England, they aren’t required to sit for English test but the rest of us, have to,” he said.

Choudhary is not alone. Several members of the Indian community are waiting with bated breath to learn the outcome of the bill scheduled to come up on Tuesday next week.

“The bill is unfair to so many of us who have spent years in Australia as international students and on other temporary visas before becoming permanent residents. Now the requirement to live for four years as PR before applying citizenship is ridiculous,” says Choudhary, who arrived as an international student in 2006.

“We are stuck. I hope the bill is defeated,” Choudhary told SBS Hindi.

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 October 9 2017 - 12:00AM

• Michael Koziol

Labor has called for the Turnbull government to admit defeat on its controversial tightening of Australian citizenship laws, demanding the immigration department process applicants under the existing protocols.


Immigration Minister Peter Dutton in April announced an overhaul of the citizenship process, including a tough English language test and the requirement for applicants to spend four years as permanent residents.


But the bill is poised for defeat in the Senate, where it is staunchly opposed by Labor, the Greens and the Nick Xenophon Team, who together hold enough votes to block the legislation.


Despite the measures not yet being law, prospective Australian citizens are informed the changes will be backdated to April 20, when the policy was announced. All applications since April 20 are being processed under the new rules.

​Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull with Immigration Minister Peter Dutton. Photo: Andrew Meares

Labor citizenship spokesman Tony Burke will today use a speech to the Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia to demand the government abandon that position and "return to normal" if the bill is rejected by the Senate next week.


"At the moment the department has adopted administrative processes as though the legislation had already passed. If the bill is defeated in the Senate, this must stop immediately," Mr Burke will tell ethnic community leaders.


"We are not talking about tax laws. We are talking about the laws that define what it is to be Australian. Without the authority of the Parliament, the department must return to processing applications under current law. And it must do so immediately after the Senate votes."


Mr Dutton has said he is continuing to negotiate with crossbenchers, but NXT senator Stirling Griff told Fairfax Media on Sunday the NXT had had no further discussions about the bill and its opposition is unchanged.


The NXT also agreed to a motion giving the government just three more parliamentary sitting days to bring the bill to a vote – otherwise it will be struck off. That gives the government a deadline of October 18.


A spokesperson for the Department of Immigration and Border Protection would not speculate on the bill's fate, but said applicants would be kept informed of the implementation of the proposed measures and any additional information or documentation that may be required.


The citizenship issue is a vexed one for Labor, which is keen not to be seen as a soft touch on immigration. Bill Shorten initially said the measures proposed by Mr Dutton sounded "reasonable", but later changed tack to oppose them.


Mr Burke will on Monday describe the proposals as a "political strategy" by the government that is 40 years out of date.
"Multicultural Australia is no longer a subset of the nation," he will say. "In the past a toughening of citizenship or immigration laws allowed ministers to claim they were defending Australia. The Turnbull-Dutton proposals are a rejection of modern Australia."

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