Put the national interest ahead of unions' jingoism

WE can hardly say we were not warned. Last month, the Prime Minister told a trade union conference that her party was neither moderate nor progressive: "I'm a leader of the party called the Labor Party deliberately because that is what we come from." The Labor Party was founded in the late 19th century on a platform of resisting an influx of foreign workers. Incredibly, in 2013, that is where it has returned.

For a party that only last week accused its opponents of dog whistling to xenophobic sentiments, the hypocrisy is breathtaking. Labor says its crackdown on 457 temporary visas is based on anecdotal "community feedback"; read self-serving trade union protectionists. If the performance by ACTU secretary Dave Oliver on ABC's Lateline on Tuesday is anything to go by, evidence is very anecdotal indeed. Yet Julia Gillard is now prepared to dance to Mr Oliver's tune, putting at risk Australia's broader economic interests to govern for a selfish few.

It sets her apart from her predecessors on both sides of politics who understood the link between skilled migration and building our economy. Is this the same Prime Minister who launched the Asian Century white paper, proclaiming it would make us "a more prosperous and resilient nation that is fully part of our region and open to the world"? Does she now refute the paper's call for "a flexible, responsive skilled migration services system . . . to meet Australia's changing labour force needs?" Were the paper's authors wrong to call on government "to reduce unnecessary impediments in Australia's domestic regulations to cross-border business activity"? The answer must be yes, judging by the unedifying debate whipped up by Ms Gillard and her Scottish communications director John McTernan who, to pile irony upon hypocrisy, is himself a 457 visa holder.

Far from displacing Australian workers, 457 visa overcome skills shortages and keep the economy flowing. Visa holders must be sponsored by an employer to fill a nominated position for which they cannot find an appropriately skilled Australian worker. The visa holder must have the relevant qualifications and experience, including English language ability, and hold health insurance. In a nation battling acute shortages of nurses, engineers, scientists, skilled construction workers and other professionals, immigration department records show that the 457 scheme is providing workers where they are needed most. In the six months to December 31 last year, most new 457 visas went to workers in the construction and healthcare industries. Significant numbers were also granted to miners, scientists and technicians.

Ms Gillard now says Labor inherited a foreign workers visa program that was "totally out of control" under John Howard, but she has presided over the biggest yearly increase in overseas workers. In the 2011-12 financial year, 125,070 were approved -- a 52.3 per cent increase on the previous year, underlining the demand for skilled labour. Ms Gillard and her union mates should broaden their vision. At any one time, about 1 million Australians are living and working overseas, enriching their skills and experience and contributing much to other nations. Temporary foreign workers do the same for Australia.

Source  http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/editorials/put-the-national-interest-ahead-of-unions-jingoism/story-e6frg71x-1226591926890

Foreigner 457 visa row boils over

THE Coalition has accused Julia Gillard of preferring migrants who arrive "illegally on boats and go on to welfare" to skilled workers who arrive the "right way", get jobs and pay taxes.

In the wake of the Prime Minister's announcement of a crackdown on 457 temporary working visas, opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the move showed Ms Gillard and Immigration Minister Brendan O'Connor didn't understand the importance of skilled migration.

Ms Gillard and government ministers fired back, accusing the opposition of creating fear and demonising asylum-seekers after Mr Morrison suggested boat arrivals who were released into the community should face new "behaviour protocols" and neighbours should be warned that they were living next door. He announced the proposed new protocols after the indecent assault of a student in her dormitory at Macquarie University in Sydney, allegedly by an asylum-seeker.

While the row over immigration, foreign workers and asylum-seekers became increasingly bitter and shrill yesterday, the chefs at Gogo's Madras Curry House in Perth, several of whom are on 457 visas, didn't have time to tune in to the political drama.

"I don't pay a lot of attention to the politicians on the news because I am, like everyone, busy working and looking after my kids," said Indian-born Bhoj Raj Khatri, now a permanent resident.

Gogo's owner Gogo Govardhan has employed seven chefs on 457 visas over the past 10 years or so because the mining boom reduced the pool of labour available for the hospitality industry, particularly in the West Australian capital.

"Nobody was here: people just graduated from school and they were earning $80,000 a year in mining so why would they want to work for $18 an hour in hospitality," Mr Govardhan said.

"This is still the reality. I challenge anyone to advertise for a chef or other hospitality and you will wait months for a response from someone qualified."

His India-trained chefs are often flown to Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide to cook for the Australian cricket team during home games against India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke is a fan of Gogo's chef Shekar Thangaraj's pepper chicken chetinaad.

"I do feel welcome in Australia," Mr Tangaraj said yesterday.

He is in Australia on a 457 visa but hopes to make a life here with his wife and two primary school-aged children. Mr Tangaraj said he never felt he was taking someone else's job. "My boss says he needs me," he said.

Mr Govardhan has 15 staff but needs more after losing two chefs to catering companies that service the resource sector.

He said the chefs he hired from India had a very good work ethic.

Mr Morrison yesterday continued to attack the government's crackdown on temporary work visas, which Ms Gillard described as putting "foreign workers last".

At a conference in Melbourne yesterday, he said: "The Prime Minister is saying, through her attacks on 457s, that skilled migrants who come the right way, who have something to bring to Australia, who get jobs and pay taxes are not the migrants she is looking for. Through her government's continued failures on our borders, she prefers those who arrive illegally on boats and go on to welfare. The budget blowout on Labor's border failures on immigration alone since the last election is more than $5 billion."

Mr Morrison's attack came as Coalition frontbenchers appeared to retreat from the immigration spokesman's earlier remarks about asylum-seekers and refused to endorse his idea of "protocols" to be implemented for those living in the community.

Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott also called on the government to produce evidence the 457 regime was not working properly, warning against hitting employers with further red tape.

Ms Gillard said there was "community concern" about the level of 457 visas and Mr O'Connor said there was evidence of rorting but his department could not act on it.

ACTU secretary Dave Oliver said last night the union movement was not opposed to skilled migration but "we prefer migration services to be done on a permanent basis". He told ABC's Lateline that, at the same time there had been a surge in 457 visas issued, 30,000 people had registered on the government's national jobs board, seeking to work in the resources sector.

The job of Ms Gillard's own Scottish communications director, John McTernan, who is on a 457 visa, even became an issue after opposition Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey queried whether there was an Australian who could do the job of adviser to the Australian prime minister. A spokesman for the Prime Minister said: "We do not comment on individual members of staff."

Source  http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/foreigner-457-visa-row-boils-over/story-fn9hm1gu-1226591131774

Relax 457 visa language clause, says business

BUSINESS is urging the Gillard government to use the May budget to ease English language requirements for foreign workers on 457 visas, declaring the program is a crucial economic "shock absorber".

In a submission to be released today, the Australian Industry Group also calls for measures to lift the capability of school teachers, including by broadening ways to enter the profession.

The submission, obtained by The Australian, is the first by a major business group for the 2013-14 budget and comes as the business community becomes disillusioned with populist government policy.

As business reels from last weekend's crackdown on 457 visas, the AI Group submission warns that it would be counterproductive to make changes that restrict the program even further.

The group wants the migration planning level for 2013-14 lifted from 190,000 to 200,000 and for it to have a sharper focus on lifting the proportion of the program earmarked for skilled migration.

"Growth in 457 numbers should not be assumed to be a problem but instead an indicator of success," the submission says.

"It is our view that too much tightening of the program carries economic risks."

The comments are a further attack on the government's rhetoric around the 457 crackdown. Immigration Minister Brendan O'Connor has pointed to soaring numbers of 457 workers as part of a hard sell on the latest changes.

Mr O'Connor's move has been criticised by business leaders including Nimrod Resources chairman Keith de Lacy, former Western Mining Corporation chief Hugh Morgan, United Group chairman Trevor Rowe and Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott.

However, Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union national secretary Dave Noonan said yesterday tightening the 457 scheme was a good first step.

He said there were many skilled local people being knocked back from jobs on resource projects.

"It is a giant con to say people won't fly in and fly out for these jobs or that the skills aren't there," Mr Noonan told the Maritime Union of Australia state conference in Perth yesterday.

"(There's) endemic unemployment in regional communities, including indigenous communities. Large redundancies happening in manufacturing, in towns such as Wollongong, Geelong, Newcastle and along the eastern seaboard and you tell me that we can't generate skilled labour for these projects."

Mr Noonan said the CFMEU would campaign this election year to make temporary labour, the impact of mining on communities and the manufacturing industry frontline issues.

He strongly denied his union's concerns about temporary foreign labour were racist.

AI Group fears the reforms could include a hike in fees for 457 applications but says these are already substantial and come on top of the average costs of $3000 to $6000 that companies face to recruit each 457 worker.

The group argues that the 457 visa program is an economic shock absorber because it has proved responsive to economic need, with numbers falling during the global financial crisis and growing again as the economy recovered.

On English language requirements, the group says the present level is too high for many applicants, especially those without university qualifications.

The government lifted the language requirements in 2009 after a review by industrial relations expert Barbara Deegan.

On schools, the group says employers are increasingly concerned about the literacy and numeracy levels of typical school leavers, as well as their skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

"These skills are essential in the modern economy and this need will be heightened as we increasingly engage with both the challenges and opportunities of the Asian century and new technology," the submission says.

The approach of a singular way into the teaching profession is "no longer sustainable" and AI Group says it is concerning that the average ATAR score for Victorian undergraduate teaching courses has fallen to 67.53 from a peak of 75.26 in the past decade.

Allowing multiple entry points for being accepted into teaching would reflect "the modern workforce and the increasingly mobile labour force", the submission argues.

The group also calls for the implementation of the Gonski review measures.

The submission comes as tensions between business and government mount.

Business is frustrated that while Julia Gillard promised when she announced the election date that the process of governing would continue, instead there has been campaigning on populist issues.

On the government's move this month to cut the R&D tax incentive for the biggest companies, the submission blasts this as "discriminatory" and calls for it to be abandoned.

Industry is demanding the move be reversed, saying otherwise business will withdraw R&D spending .

On the fiscal outlook, the AI Group says that as the economy softens over the next few months and the global economic outlook is uncertain, the budget should be used to provide surplus through extra public sector investment or spending, as well as tax cuts to encourage private-sector investment or spending.

"With the benefit of hindsight, it now appears very likely that the substantial fiscal consolidation project in the 2012-13 budget is contributing to the slower than anticipated growth of the domestic economy," the submission says.

"These considerations suggest that a larger deficit should be tolerated for the 2013-14 year."

The group also wants the budget used to encourage: the recruitment services of mature-age employees; an economy-wide Productivity Commission inquiry into regulations that hinder the use of digital technologies; cuts to the company tax rate to 25 per cent; and the retention of promised financial assistance for industries hit by the carbon tax despite the government's broader push for savings measures.

Source   http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/relax-457-visa-language-clause-says-business/story-fn9hm1gu-1226587260555

Business canes reworking of 457 visa system

The Northern Territory Chamber of Commerce and Industry says a Federal Government decision to make the 457 visa system more restrictive is bad news.

The Government says the system for importing workers was being rorted by some employers who weren't using available Australian workers.

NT Chamber manager Greg Bicknell has questioned what happened to what was supposed to be Australia's first regional migration agreement, which was to cover the Northern Territory.

The Federal Government announced a year ago it would negotiate the agreement so that Darwin businesses could hire overseas workers if there were no Australians to fill the jobs.

But there has been no agreement and the Government has now announced a raft of changes to the 457 visa system, making it more restrictive.

Mr Bicknell says Darwin's unemployment rate is less than 2 per cent, and businesses will find it even more difficult to get workers.

"The majority of employers in the Northern Territory are small to micro businesses," he said.

"Generally, skilled migration is a last option.

"They will have tried to recruit local people first and foremost because that's easiest.

"It is a costly process to bring someone in from overseas.

"It's not the preferred option, but often it's the only option."

Mr Bicknell says the changes will make the system more difficult and expensive.

"Anything that increases the complexity of this program is something business doesn't want to see," he said.

Skilled migrants a success story

SKILLED migrants and foreign workers have made an important contribution to Australia's economic success in recent decades. They were welcomed by both sides of politics for the boost to productivity they delivered. Such workers continue a strong tradition in a nation that was built by waves of hard-working and skilled newcomers from all corners of the world. Against that background, the Gillard government's crackdown on temporary 457 visas, under pressure from trade union leaders, exposes the union movement's narrow, backward outlook and its disproportionate power over federal Labor.

As Michael Easson, chairman of the Ministerial Council on Skilled Migration and a former ACTU deputy president, wrote a fortnight ago, the much-maligned 457 visa program responds to the economic cycle. Its flexibility is what makes it efficient, placing workers directly in jobs they need, where local staff are not available.

While union leaders complain that the temporary 457 visa scheme has been exploited as an easy route to permanent residency, the 83,000 workers in Australia under the scheme comprise just 0.7 per cent of the workforce. Their presence has been vital to fill skill shortages, especially in the mining sector. Applications for the visas fell by 4.8 per cent in the six months to December 31. At a time when miners are racing to capitalise on demand for resources, "expunging" the enterprise migration agreements that help major resource projects fill vacancies, as union leaders want, would handicap our most productive industry. It would damage confidence, investment, growth, job creation and incomes as Nimrod resources chairman and former Queensland Labor treasurer Keith De Lacy warned yesterday. Such economic sabotage would be intolerable, and if the Gillard government is to retain a shred of credibility with business it must put the unions in their place.

Despite the unedifying, populist race to the bottom over population during the 2010 election campaign, the reality facing Australians is that as baby-boomers retire, the nation will face lower living standards without a larger, more productive population. We must think long and hard before turning away skilled, net-contributors to the Australian project, whatever the protectionists might say.

Source  http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/editorials/skilled-migrants-a-success-story/story-e6frg71x-1226585419364

Australian government invests in game industry to halt job migration

Australia's government-funded Screen Australia program plans on investing $20 million into the local video game industry. Gamasutra reports the organization will spend $4-5 million on games production and $2-3 million on supporting business sustainability over the next year.

The organization cites the American-owned Firemonkeys, studio-killing LA Noire and Halfbrick (Fruit Ninja, Jetpack Joyride) as successful signs of Australian-developed games – hey, one legit shout-out to Halfbrick out of three ain't bad.

Australia has had to spend the past several years reinventing its place in the video game industry. Unfavorable exchange rates for foreign investors caused major publishers to pull console game development out of the country, causing severe job losses over a three-year period. The region has found success focusing on the mobile market. 

Source  http://www.joystiq.com/2013/02/18/australian-government-invests-in-game-industry-to-halt-job-migra/

Domestic violence victims seeking asylum in Washington

Clara Flores-Aguilar says the beatings began days after she gave birth to her first son.

The pain wouldn’t stop for more than two decades. Eyes swollen with tears, Flores-Aguilar said she endured death threats, injuries to her children, a hot oil scalding, a stab wound on her leg and continuous public humiliation at the hand of her alcoholic and drug-abusing husband.

She recites a litany of abuse that only stops when she flees from Honduras, first in the middle of the last decade and again two months ago. The 50-year-old is thousands of miles from Honduras, but whether she can start anew in the United States was not known on a recent January afternoon.

Flores-Aguilar was being held at the Tacoma Detention Center as she waited a decision by an immigration judge to allow her asylum case to proceed. For that to happen, the judge must believe her story of abuse.

“I just wanted to escape again,” Flores-Aguilar told The Associated Press in Spanish, adding that in August she left a successful small deli behind after her husband said he’d kill her and himself at the end of the year. “I trust in God that he takes all of this into consideration. I don’t want to go back.”

It’s an uphill legal battle. Seeking asylum because of past domestic violence abuse has not been a successful road to take as immigration judges have traditionally declined such requests, attorneys said. But recent court cases have given these women hope.

“We’ve been having a little more luck with these cases,” said Ashley Huebner, an attorney at the National Immigrant Justice Center. “Historically, there’s been significant fear and hesitation by a lot of adjudicators.”

Flores-Aguilar is not alone in Tacoma.

Around 100 women from Central America applying for asylum have been processed through the Tacoma Detention Center over the past two years, said Betsy Tao, an attorney for the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project who works at the detention center.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials couldn’t immediately say why there’s a small surge of these women in Tacoma, though it may have to do with the way the agency transfers immigrants in custody around the nation. Two years ago, after an influx of Somali asylum seekers came to the U.S. at different ports of entry, large groups of them were transferred to Tacoma.
Requests increase

Asylum requests from Central American women at the nation’s ports increased from 95 in fiscal year 2010 to nearly 200 this past year, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. U.S. Citizenship and Migration Services processes far more asylum requests, but their available data does not include requests from Central American women based on domestic violence.

Considering all the types of migration to the United States, these women represent a tiny blip and the numbers are too small to make broad conclusions. But in a place like the Tacoma Detention Center, the women stand out among the hundreds being detained.

Tao said it’s not her organization’s call to judge whether the stories the women tell are true.

Under law, filing a frivolous asylum claim can lead to a lifetime bar on entering the United States.
Recent key case

One of the last key court cases for domestic violence victims seeking asylum came from a Guatemalan woman named Lesly Yajayra Perdomo in 2010.

She argued in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that violence against women was so rampant in Guatemala she would face the risk of murder if she was sent back. At least 4,400 women were killed in Guatemala between 2000 and 2010 and fewer than 3 percent of the cases are solved, according to the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law.

At issue in the Perdomo case was defining a “particular social group” that is persecuted and qualifies for political asylum in the United States. Women who fear genital mutilation or victims of domestic abuse have been deemed “social groups” and granted asylum.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered immigration judges to seriously consider granting asylum to Guatemalan women who fear they will be killed.

Recently, advocates launched a campaign to include changes to asylum law in the immigration reform President Barack Obama and Congress are formulating. They want to ensure gender-based asylum claims constitute part of a “particular social group.”

That’s far away for Flores-Aguilar.

For her, life had one more tragic event. She says her father died of an infection after his small intestines were perforated during a routine hernia surgery. He had decided to undergo surgery because he had taken Flores-Aguilar’s oldest daughter into his house. She didn’t find out until she had been taken into custody.

“If I had never come here, he wouldn’t have gotten the surgery,” she said, crying. “He wouldn’t be dead. Why?”

On Feb. 1, an immigration judge deemed Flores-Aguilar’s story credible and she was released from the detention center.

She now awaits the final asylum decision.

Source  http://www.columbian.com/news/2013/feb/17/domestic-violence-victims-seeking-asylum-in-washin/