Legislation Updates
Migration Legislation Tracker
A single source about the status of pieces of legislation, Bills, commencement dates, disallowances, etc
LIN 19/048: amending a drafting error
'The purpose of this amendment is to rectify a drafting error by substituting the correct ABN for the NSW Rural Doctors Network Ltd'
New occupations for visa subclass 407
6 occupations moved from STSOL to MLTSSL; 16 moved from STSOL to ROL; 5 removed from STSOL; 2 occupations added to ROL
Case Law Updates
‘Tribunal’s silence was misleading’
'There is no freestanding obligation upon the Tribunal to answer a question from an applicant as to whether the Tribunal wishes the applicant to provide further information. However, there is an obligation on the Tribunal not to mislead an applicant in a way that deprives the applicant of the opportunity of a real hearing'
Materiality: does Hossain always apply?
Federal Court (Full Court): in a separate (but not in dissent) judgement, Mortimer J held that the High Court's materiality test in Hossain did not apply to procedural fairness and legal reasonableness
AAT: the dangers of statistical analyses
Federal Court (Full Court): 'While it may be open to the Tribunal to rely on the sort of statistical analysis that it did, there are dangers in relying on such an approach when its fundamental task is to consider the risk that this visa applicant would face if returned'
Industry Updates
SkillSelect: 11 March 2019 invitation round
Number of invitations remained the same at 1,500; invitation thresholds raised to 75 points for visa subclass 189 and 85 points for visa subclass 489
Australia-Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement
Australia and Hong Kong signed the Australia-Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement on 26 March 2019, with implications for Labour Market Testing once the agreement is translated into domestic law
AAT Bulletin Issue # 12 – 25 Mar 2019
The latest AAT Bulletin contains references to several citizenship & migration review decisions
Media Updates
Greece: work & holiday arrangements to commence
From 1 July 2019, 500 places will be available annually for young Greeks to visit Australia on work & holiday visas
Western Australia: new DAMA
'Western Australia’s Goldfields region is set to receive an economic boost with the Morrison Government signing a Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA) with the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder'
South Australia: 2 new DAMAs
The South Australia’s Designated Area Migration Agreements are the the Adelaide Technology and Innovation Advancement Agreement and the South Australian Regional Workforce Agreement