Govt moves to strip rights of boat people

The federal government is to excise the entire continent of Australia from the migration zone, stripping rights from asylum seekers who arrive by boat.

The Labor caucus on Tuesday approved laws to introduce the change, aborted six years ago by the Howard government.

It was a recommendation of an expert panel headed by former defence force chief Angus Houston to which the Labor caucus has given in-principle support.

During the caucus meeting in Canberra, two Labor MPs sought assurances from Immigration Minister Chris Bowen about protecting human rights.

Mr Bowen told the meeting the laws would follow international guidelines for migration and were in line with the Houston report's recommendations.

Earlier cabinet secretary Mark Dreyfus said the government was determined to discourage people from getting on boats and undertaking the dangerous journey to Australia.

"Our policy is to do whatever we need to do to stop the dreadful drowning of people trying to reach Australia," Mr Dreyfus told reporters.

Under existing migration services laws, only asylum seekers intercepted at sea or at Christmas Island, the Cocos Islands or Ashmore Reef can be sent for processing at Nauru or Papua New Guinea's Manus Island.

By expanding the migration excise zone to the mainland, the government will be reviving a plan dumped by the Howard government following a backbench revolt led by Liberal moderates.

The opposition says it will consider any changes to the legislation.

"We'll take it through our processes," immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said.

Australian Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young described the plan as a shameful piece of legislation that discriminated against some of the most vulnerable people in the region.

"This Labor government is now going to try to enact legislation that is so discriminatory and un-Australian that John Howard faced an internal revolt when he tried it in 2006," the senator said.

Cabinet minister Craig Emerson, when asked if he thought the plan would receive the backing of the caucus, told Sky News: "I'm not one who anticipates these things.

"What I am is one who joined with others in accepting in-principle the recommendations of the Houston panel as a cohesive whole."

The bill is expected to go to parliament this week.

Source  http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-national/govt-moves-to-strip-rights-of-boat-people-20121030-28g9q.html

Australia census statistics show rise in Asian immigration

Census figures recently released by the Australian government show that over a quarter of Australians were born outside Australia.

The Australian government has carried out a census every 10 years since 1911. The most recent was conducted in 2011. Analysis shows that 26%, or 5.3m Australians, are immigrants and a further 20% have at least one parent who was born overseas.

The analysis also shows that an increasing number of new Australians come not from Europe, the traditional origin of most Australian immigrants, but from Asia, in particular from China and India.

The census found that there are 5.3m first generation Australians living in Australia. 82% of these live in state capital cities. The populations of Perth (Western Australia), Sydney (New South Wales) and Melbourne (Victoria) had the highest proportion of immigrants whereas Hobart, the capital of Tasmania had the lowest with only 14% of the population made up of people born outside Australia.

The survey finds that most first generation Australians come from the UK. 1.1m people who were born in the UK now live as Australians in Australia. They comprise 20.8% of new Australians. New Zealand provides the second most new Australians. There are 483,400 New Zealanders who have emigrated to Australia. However, the survey shows that there is a trend towards greater immigration from Asia.

295,400 people born in India have immigrated to Australia. There are also 319,000 Chinese born new Australians. There are also many immigrants from Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia. India is the most common birthplace of migrants who have arrived in Australia since 2007.

The census also asked respondents to state their ancestry. Many regard themselves as having ancestry in the UK. 36.1% of the Australian population identify themselves as English by ancestry which is greater than the 35.4% who regard themselves as 'Australian'. 10.4% think of themselves as Irish and 8.9% as Scottish.

There are also 4.3% who identify themselves as Chinese and 2% who said they are of Indian descent.

The survey also showed other trends. 7.2% of the Australian population are now of non-Christian cultures. 2.2% of the general population are Muslims and 1.3% are Hindus. Hinduism is the fastest growing religion in the country.

Mandarin, Cantonese, Hindi, Punjabi and Korean are now amongst the languages most spoken at home by new immigrants in Australia.

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Source  http://www.workpermit.com/news/2012-10-23/australia-census-statistics-show-rise-in-asian-migration

Migrant children need more support

According to the International Organisation of Migration, these migrants include an estimated 300,000 children. Most migrants in Thailand are undocumented, and this applies to the children, as well as their parents.

These children lack opportunities to access social services, and most of them are vulnerable to child labour, trafficking, abuse and exploitation. In such conditions, education is seen as the most effective mechanism to help decrease their vulnerability.

According to Premjai Vungsiriphisal, who runs an education service for migrant children, this situation is not new but has always been a challenge for Thai society.

In 1992, the Royal Thai Government introduced its first policy allowing migrant children to study in public schools. Later on, the policy was integrated as part of the National Education Act BE 2542 (1999).

In the aforementioned period, however, the beneficiaries were mostly documented migrant children. The situation came to an end in 2005 when the government implemented a Cabinet resolution, the so-called "education for all" resolution.

Under the provisions of the resolution, undocumented migrant children are allowed to receive any education services available to Thai children and documented children. The implementation not only broadens the education opportunities for the undocumented children, it also brings about many education schemes for migrant children in Thailand. Many schemes including formal and informal education have been developed and provided for migrant children, to improve their quality of life.

However, the major constraint was found to be accessibility. Academics say that despite many types of education services being developed both formally and informally, only a |small number of migrant children can access them.

Many studies point out that the reason for this inaccessibility is poverty. Poverty in the |origin country is a "push factor" forcing these migrants to enter Thailand because many of them expect to find better opportunities here. In reality, however, things sometimes end up worse for migrants than when they started out, with migrants remaining in poverty even after entering Thailand. This is due to the fact that many migrants are paid less than the minimum wage income earned by Thai workers. As a result, some migrant parents cannot send their children to school or learning centres because they cannot afford the education fees.

In the worst cases, some migrant children need to drop out from the schools/learning centres and enter into the labour market, to increase the income of their family. Additionally, the accessibility of education services sometimes involved location.

Unlike migrant families working in the manufacturing sector, those working in the agricultural sector normally live in remote areas that lack opportunities to access social services.

In the short term, the challenge facing the government is to increase the number of migrant children receiving both formal and informal education. The easiest way to increase the number of migrant children receiving and attending education services is to increase the number of local schools and learning centres, especially in the remote areas. This may help increase the number of migrant children attending local schools and learning, but it is not sustainable.

As previously mentioned, poverty is the major constraint - one the government cannot ignore. The government may consider supporting the expenses incurred by educating children - including tuition fees, transportation fees, textbooks, uniforms, food and others - in order to relieve the expenses of the migrant households. Besides this, the government needs to raise awareness among migrant parents regarding the education of their children. It is necessary to point out the positive impact of education on children.

The government needs to show parents that education is important for their children not only because it improves their well-being, but also to secure better opportunities for their future. Thailand cannot close its eyes to education services for these migrant children, not only because it is a service that Thailand should provide to migrant children as a host country, but because it is a basic right of all children, regardless of nationality or legal status. 

Source  http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Migrant-children-need-more-support-30192775.html

Officials offering visa help and advice to rural areas of Australia

Immigration officials are visiting rural parts of Australia to provide information to people who have overstayed their visas.

A Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) spokesman said that its Community Status Resolution Service outreach programme allows those living outside capital cities who do not have a valid visa or are on a bridging visa to meet officials to sort out their specific issues.

‘Where appropriate, officers also will be able to grant short term bridging visas to people while they settle their immigration matters,’ the spokesman explained. They will also be offering information to local community leaders and service providers.

They will be joined by staff from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), an independent organisation which provides assistance for eligible people to return home. IOM staff will be available to discuss the services they provide and who is eligible.

‘The department is committed to ensuring the integrity of Australia’s migration and visa programs. People must have a valid visa to remain in the country,’ the DIAC spokesman added.

Meanwhile, the Australian government is continuing to crack down on employers who hire illegal workers.

‘We need to strike a balance between targeting those employers who flout the rules, while taking care not to overstretch the resources of the vast majority of employers who seek to do the right thing,’ said Chris Bowen, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship.

As part of its strategy to encourage compliance, the government will also ramp up its awareness campaign and help employers to gain access to information about prospective employees’ visa work status.

‘There will be no excuse for errant employers who repeatedly test the system, claiming that they were unaware of the need to check a person’s work entitlements or they did not have the means to do so,’ explained Bowen.

‘Abusing employment practices affects everyone by limiting work opportunities, restricting the migration programme and allowing for exploitation of vulnerable people. Abiding by the rules ensures a fair go for employers and workers alike,’ he added.

New rules have tightened the criminal offences and created new non-fault civil penalty provisions and an infringement notice scheme for people who allow or refer an unlawful non-citizen to work, or allow or refer a lawful non-citizen to work in breach of a work related visa condition.

They have also created statutory defences where reasonable steps are taken at reasonable times to verify a foreign national worker’s entitlement to work and broadened the application of criminal offences and civil penalty provisions to hold a person liable for participating in an arrangement, or series of arrangements, that results in a foreign national working without lawful entitlement.

Also they have extended both criminal and civil liability, in certain circumstances, to executive officers of bodies corporate, partners in a partnership and members of an unincorporated association’s committee of management.

Source http://www.australiaforum.com/information/immigration/officials-offering-visa-help-and-advice-to-rural-areas-of-australia.html

Automotive Customer Service Jobs

You see a brand new shiny car on display, it lures you into the store, you go inside and you are greeted with a smile by a person who is clean, neat and well dressed. Just by looking at that person you know that he is going to help you. More often than not that person is the store manager. This can also be the after-sales customer service manager.

Becoming a manager of an automobile store involves a lot of experience and expertise in the field of Automobiles. She/he is knowledgeable not only about their products but also what their competitors have to offer. They know every single minute detail of their product. They will also be able to answer all your questions whether you are a pro or a layman.

A store manager is not easy in the making. That is what sets them apart from the rest of the employees. To start with they are required to have leadership qualities. These include being a good team player, a team builder and need to encourage their team mates. A motivator, as sales could go down sometimes. Basically a favourite among the staff they work with after all it’s their work that make a store manager successful. For a vehicle repair/maintenance store, ideally this person is a qualified mechanic / vehicle technician.

Read more and apply online here: http://www.konnecting.com/news/293/146/Automotive-Customer-Service-Jobs

arborist jobs in australia

Arborist as a Career in Australia

Being an Arborist is a special job and hence it needs certain qualifications. Only a well-trained arborist knows about each species of trees, plants or shrubs and how to maintain them. There are many schools and institutions that provide such training. To be an arborist is a good career choice especially if you are a nature buff. Have you ever imagined what the view would be like from the tallest tree in the neighborhood? Or wondered what the surroundings look like. I’m sure you’re thinking about it now, an Ariel view from the tree top.

Job Description and Responsibilities

Arborists are often referred to as tree doctors, tree surgeon and Climbers. They tend to trees, plant and shrubs and examine them for any issues related to structure, nutrition and disease. They evaluate damage or decay just by looking at the color and texture of the tree. If any infection, damage or decay is found, samples will be sent to the lab for complete examination.

Arborists prune and trim trees and shrubs, including removing dead branches. Sometimes living branches that are obstructions will be removed. These activities involve climbing tress. Special gear is worn while climbing trees. Mechanical lifts are also being employed for this purpose. As a safety precaution, it is important that Arborists wear safety gear which includes a helmet and gloves, and show extreme care when working with saws, clippers, shears and any other such tools. Generally, there are two kinds of arborist. The purist, involved more in gardens and tree pruning for aesthetic purposes, or practical arborists who work on power lines (often called ‘linies’), infrastructure etc.

Read more here: http://www.konnecting.com/news/287/146/Arborist-as-a-Career-in-Australia

Ancoris buys e-learning firm Cloud Skills

Cloud provider snaps up Google Apps training company.

UK-based cloud service provider Ancoris has acquired e-learning and Google Apps for business training firm Cloud Skills for an undisclosed sum.

According to Ancoris, the tie up will provide customers a single point of contact to move from legacy platforms such as Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Domino, Novell Groupwise and most other mail-servers to Google Apps and Gmail. Cloud Skills was nominated as Google's first Referred Training Partner for the UK and Europe in 2009 and provides a full range of training courses, e-Learning tools and migration aids to help organisations transition their users to Google Apps.

Ancoris will now offer a comprehensive range of services including Google Apps licensing, deployment and migration services, infrastructure and administrator support and the Cloud Skills end-user training.

Combining the businesses will also enable further investment in the development of the Cloud Skills Academy, an e-learning and e-support platform for Google Apps, available through the Google Apps Marketplace. The Cloud Skills Academy helps end-users to become productive quickly with Google Apps and to stay up to date with the latest features.

“Our Google Apps Transition Training programme fills a gap in the market by helping their employees transfer their skills to adopt a new way of working,” said Cloud Skills Director of e-learning development, Sue Fabre.

“We have worked closely with Ancoris to transition customers from traditional desktop applications to Google Apps for over three years. As a single business we accelerate our development of new innovative tools.”

Ancoris Managing Director, David McLeman said that combingin Cloud Skill’s change management and training with his firm’s deployment and migration expertise was “a key contributor to the success of our largest deployments”.

“Our customers were able to speed up the adoption of Google Apps by their end users and minimise disruption to their business,” he said.

Source  http://www.cloudpro.co.uk/saas/e-learning/4789/ancoris-buys-e-learning-firm-cloud-skills

Social recruitment agency jobs.co.nz launches jobGraphic

jobs.co.nz are excited to announce the launch of both a new product and a new strategic direction.

The Wellington based company, which recently re-branded from a job board to a social recruitment agency, has just launched an innovative new option for employers and recruiters to advertise their job listings. The jobGraphic is a visually engaging alternative to a standard text job advertisement and is individually tailored to meet the needs of each advertiser and job.

jobGraphics will also give the advertiser the ability to generate higher volumes of preferred candidate applications through distribution on their various social channels. By showcasing their company culture and attitude through the visualisation of their job ad, the right person for the job is more specifically targeted.

jobs.co.nz CEO Ben Irving says that the jobGraphic offering illustrates the company’s commitment to both evolving and improving the concept of a traditional job board as well as offering clients a new way to attract premium candidates.

"At jobs.co.nz we believe people should love their jobs and be driven to finding new ways to improve how they connect to these jobs."

"The future of job advertisements go beyond being a simple text advertisement within a traditional job board format. We’re can provide a creative alternative which is visually engaging, attractive and innovative for both advertisers and job hunters."

The growing portfolio of jobGraphics can be viewed on jobgraphic.co.nz and interested advertisers are invited to email socialrecruitment@jobs.co.nz for further information.

Source  http://www.voxy.co.nz/business/social-recruitment-agency-jobsconz-launches-jobgraphic/5/136876

India provides next wave of foreign investment

India's wealthy, from old money to nouveaux riches IT entrepreneurs, are quietly snapping up hotels and mines Down Under just as Australia embarks on an immigration campaign to attract long-term investment.

The Jindal family, ranked among the world's top 80 richest by Forbes, in May bought two minor stakes, worth a total of $26 million, in Australian iron ore and coal mines through Jindal Steel & Power.

That followed a US$2 billion purchase by Indian self-made billionaire and college-dropout Gautam Adani of a coal mine in the state of Queensland last year.

Silverneedle Hospitality, a company backed by Nadathur S. Raghavan, an Indian philanthropist and co-founder of software company Infosys Technologies, just bought a hotel in Brisbane for $57 million. Last year, it bought a chain of about 60 hotels in Australia and New Zealand for an undisclosed sum.

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"In the last six to nine months, there has been a lot of private investment into Australia because it is seen as a safe-haven," said Paul Dowling, principal analyst at banking research firm East & Partners.

While Indian nationals have traditionally favoured Britain and North America as offshore investment destinations, private wealth bankers have noticed a growing demand for Australian real estate, particularly hotels and serviced apartments.

This comes as no surprise to Singapore-based Paul Guest, head of research and strategy at LaSalle Investment Management, as commercial property prices in Australia are very attractive.

With a forecast of about 10 per cent per year, he said total returns in Australia are the highest in Asia, topping Japan's 9 percent and South Korea.

Also underpinning demand is Australia's relatively strong economic performance compared with Western peers.

Indeed, Australia is one among a select club of only eight nations that can still boast a pristine triple A rating with a stable outlook.

Dubbed the lucky country for its abundance of natural resources, white sand beaches and kind climate, it is now entering its 21st year of uninterrupted annual growth, having dodged a recession after the 2008 global financial crisis.

Attracting rich

This year, Australia will overtake Spain as the world's 12th largest economy, despite being 52nd in terms of population.

This explains the massive increase in Australia's foreign direct investment which leapt to $67 billion in 2012, nearly double the previous year, according to government statistics.

Still, private investment from India, a country that produces millionaires every day, would appear to lag that from others such as China.

Analysts reckon China is leading the pack though the Australian government does not keep statistics on direct investment by nationality.

For Arjuna Mahendran, head of Asian investment strategy at HSBC's private bank in Singapore, the lag is due to a general perception in India that Australian incentives are not as generous as those of other countries.

That is one reason the Australian government will next month launch a "significant investor" visa programme, with the aim of competing with New Zealand, Canada and Singapore in attracting a growing number of Asia's rich.

India is home to more than 7,000 millionaires whose fortunes amount to nearly $US1 trillion, data from global wealth intelligence firm Wealth X shows.

Combined with $US465 billion held by Indian nationals living outside their home country, the total is roughly equivalent to the size of Australia's entire economy.

Analysts speculate that within five years, India could have pumped as much as $US30 billion into Australia.

The new Australian visas will target individuals who invest at least $5 million in certain assets, such as infrastructure government bonds, in return for concessions on the usual migration requirements including qualifications and English skills.

Such immigration schemes tend not only to bring much-coveted long-term investment, but also contribute to economic growth and job creation.

Indian nationals seem well-placed to benefit from the programme. India has become Australia's biggest source of migrants, including a large number of IT entrepreneurs.

"Many of them are very interested in exploring the path to permanent residency," said Mark Wright, immigration leader partner at Deloitte Australia. 

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/mining-and-resources/india-provides-next-wave-of-foreign-investment-20121003-26yat.html#ixzz28CiILaug