232 Universities implicated in Migration fraud. No more cookery & hairdressing courses

Universities implicated in Migration fraud. No more cookery & hairdressing courses

(1) Australian Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson tells Aborigines to follow Jewish lead
(2) Surrogacy Bill 'could lead to same-sex parenting'
(3) Greens try to stop monsoon Northern Australia from becoming a Food Bowl to replace drought-stricken south
(4) North is ripe for agriculture: farmers
(5) Asylum-seekers managed by advocates in Australia - minister
(6) No more Overseas Students for cookery & hairdressing courses (backdoor to Residency)
(7) Britain halts student visa applications from India
(8) Sham marriage adverts behind surge in visa applications from India
(9) Universities implicated in Migration fraud
(10) Britain tightens up on bogus students coming for short courses - and bringing dependents too

(1) Australian Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson tells Aborigines to follow Jewish lead

Pearson tells Aborigines to follow Jewish lead

By Emily Bourke for AM

February 9, 2010

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/09/2814036.htm

Prominent Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson has called on Aborigines to draw on the experience of Jewish people in never forgetting their history, while striving to overcome injustice and racism.

Speaking to members of the American Bar Association in Sydney, Mr Pearson also gave a damning assessment of Native Title, labelling the laws a travesty and a quagmire.

And he accused the judicial system of failing to serve Indigenous Australians.

Mr Pearson told his audience that the Aboriginal community could learn from the experience of the Jewish people, who he said "fight staunchly in defence of the truth."

"They are a community who have never forgotten history and they never allow anybody else to forget history," he said.

"They fight staunchly in defence of the truth. They fight relentlessly against discrimination. But what they have worked out as a people is that they never make their history a burden for the future.

"It is also an example about how we might maintain a community and a sense of peoplehood, religion, tradition, culture, history over millennia and yet at the same time engage at the cutting edge of whatever the world has to offer." ...

(2) Surrogacy Bill 'could lead to same-sex parenting'

Rosemary Odgers and Margaret Wenham

February 09, 2010 11:00pm

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,,26701495-3102,00.html

CONTROVERSIAL laws giving same-sex couples and sole parents the right to have a child through surrogacy are set to divide State Parliament in a landmark debate today.

Queensland's 89 MPs will get a rare conscience vote on whether to legalise altruistic surrogacy in Queensland and allow the legal parentage of a child to be transferred from the birth mother to its intending parents. But church and family groups were last night urging the State's 89 MPs to scuttle the Bill, angry it will allow gay couples and single parents to access surrogacy.

Family Council of Queensland president Alan Baker called the Bill "a trojan horse for the normalisation of same-sex parenting", saying it established in law "the absurd proposition that two men or two women are the same as a mother and father."

He accused the Government of "trampling on the rights of children".

The Opposition is also angry the Government has tied the issue of surrogacy to gay parenting and has introduced its own Bill that, if passed, would restrict altruistic surrogacy to heterosexual married and de facto couples.

"The Government banned same-sex and singles from adopting ... why is it different for surrogacy?" Liberal National Party deputy leader Lawrence Springborg said.

But gay and lesbian rights organisations have waged their own campaign, urging Parliament to pass the laws.

Queensland Association for Healthy Communities general manager Paul Martin said: "Lesbian and gay people are already having children ... what this legislation brings is certainty and clarity for same-sex parents and their children."

The LNP's 34 MPs are expected to toe the party line and vote against the Government while getting a conscience vote on their own Bill.

Only two Labor MPs – Margaret Keech and Michael Choi – have expressed concerns about the Government's position, making it unlikely the laws will be blocked.

(3) Greens try to stop monsoon Northern Australia from becoming a Food Bowl to replace drought-stricken south

Food bowl taskforce attacked by former chief

Nicolas Perpitch and Dennis Shanahan    The Australian    February 10, 2010 12:00AM  

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/industry-sectors/food-bowl-taskforce-attacked-by-former-chief/story-e6frg95o-1225828490048

THE original chairman of the Northern Australia Land and Water Taskforce has called for a Senate inquiry into the processes and outcome of its final report, which found the Top End couldn't become the nation's next food bowl because of water shortages.

The taskforce came under more fire over the contentious findings, with its members accused by current and past Coalition MPs of having one goal: to lock up vast tracts of land forever.

Former taskforce chairman and Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan told a Senate estimates hearing yesterday there should be an inquiry into how the taskforce arrived at its findings and the findings themselves.

Earlier, Nationals Senator Ron Boswell, Liberal MP Barry Haase and Warren Entsch, the former MP for the north Queensland seat of Leichhardt, said the taskforce had failed to address the north's development potential.

The findings, released on Monday, are that the north of Australia received about a million billion litres of rain a year, but there was not enough water available to create a big new food bowl that could replace the drought-crippled Murray-Darling. The report only considered the north's agricultural potential in terms of available groundwater supplies and not surface water and dams.

Senator Boswell criticised the inclusion on the taskforce of Northern Territory environmentalist Stuart Blanch, who played a role in preventing the territory government from clearing 110,000ha near the Daly River for agriculture.

"The last person you'd put on is a green environmentalist," Senator Boswell said. "You know what they think before they even go on there ... they don't want dams, they just want things left as is and turned into a big national park."

Mr Haase -- the MP for Kalgoorlie, which covers most of Western Australia, including the northern regions -- agreed, saying the taskforce failed to provide a blueprint for development.

"If you look at the make-up of the taskforce, you see the primary make-up is by those who are concerned about locking up great tracts of Australia," Mr Haase said.

Senator Heffernan, who was praised for his work on the original taskforce by the Rudd government's parliamentary secretary responsible for the taskforce, Gary Gray, said the findings challenged "any sensible assessment" because they had not looked properly at water storage.

Those claims were rejected by taskforce members, including Queensland Resource Council chief executive Michael Roche and Ord Irrigation Co-operative chair Elaine Gardiner.

They said the 12-member taskforce had been well balanced, with two conservationists, two representatives of the farming sector, CSIRO scientists, academics, indigenous leaders and themselves.

Dr Blanch said the former members should realise northern Australia's future included tourism and conservation as well as agricultural development.

(4) North is ripe for agriculture: farmers

EVAN SCHWARTEN February 8, 2010

AAP

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/north-is-ripe-for-agriculture-farmers-20100208-nlzf.html

Farmers insist Australia's north is ripe for agricultural development and dams despite a new report rejecting any hope it might be the nation's new food bowl.

A federal government commissioned report, by the Northern Australia Land and Water Taskforce, has found little potential for expanded farming in northern parts of Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

It says that while rainfall is high across northern Australia, it's generally limited to three months of the year and would be difficult to capture.

It also points to the damage that high rainfall can do, stripping away top soil, leaving the ground infertile.

The report has been welcomed by environmental and indigenous groups but farmers and the federal opposition maintain there's room for growth in these often remote parts of the country.

Independent MP Bob Katter, whose electorate of Kennedy covers much of the area investigated by the task force, said the report meant Australia would become a net importer of food within 15 years.

"It has driven a stake through the heart of Australia," he said.

He said the task force was made up primarily of "ivory tower academics" and environmentalists rather than anyone with on-the-ground experience with northern farming communities or rivers.

"Here is a committee comprised of not a single person who knows anything about dams, not a single person who knows about delivering water onto the ground and irrigating and not a single person who knew anything about farming."

The National Farmers Federation said there was never any prospect of the north becoming "a food bowl for Asia" but the organisation still believes the area could be put to better use.

"There are opportunities for greater intensification of agriculture, there's opportunities for more integrated development in the livestock sector, there are opportunities for pastoralists and lease holders, and there are opportunities for indigenous communities," president David Crombie said.

Opposition spokesman for remote Australia Senator Ian Macdonald said there was potential for new water storage facilities and increased capacity at existing dams across the north, which receives about eight times the annual run-off of the Murray-Darling Basin.

"With the wealth (of) minerals, beef, other agricultural pursuits and new service industries to service the tropical world, Australia's future lies in the north," he said.

But Wilderness Society campaigner Glenn Walker said the report showed the future vision for the top end should be focused on sustainable development such as tourism rather than agriculture.

"There are not many places left like this on the planet so the science is strongly suggesting the natural competitive advantage in northern Australia protecting and promoting the river systems," he said.

He said Mr Katter's claims Australia would need to import more than half its food in the future were exaggerated but in any case farming in the north wasn't the answer.

"What this report is telling us is that if you try it in northern Australia it will be a complete disaster."

The document details 15 recommendations to develop northern Australia, ranging from increasing investment in climate, water, land and environment research to the harmonisation of pastoral lease conditions to allow for greater flexibility.

It also recommended the establishment of a Council of Northern Australia, chaired by the prime minister, to plan for the region's sustainable development and lead the way to achieving it.

(5) Asylum-seekers managed by advocates in Australia - minister

Australian minister 'concerned' about refugee advocates

Last Updated: Mon, 8 Feb 2010 03:16:00 +1100

http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/201002/2812644.htm?desktop

Australia's Immigration Minister, Chris Evans, says he's concerned about the links between people on the Australian mainland and groups of asylum seekers arriving by boat.

The navy rescued 45 asylum seekers near Christmas Island on Saturday.

They had been alerted by refugee advocates.

Senator Evans says he doesn't have the full details but he is looking into how much people in Australia know about asylum seeker boats.

"Clearly there was some involvement of, if you like, civilians inside Australia," he said.

"I do have some concerns about the engagement of people on the mainland seemingly being in close contact with some of these ventures, but until we get the full details I don't want to say any more."

(6) No more Overseas Students for cookery & hairdressing courses (backdoor to Residency)

Migration revamp leaves students in limbo

February 8, 2010

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/08/2812638.htm?section=justin

The Federal Government has acknowledged some overseas students will be angry as it revamps Australia's skilled migration rules.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans is immediately scrapping the list of jobs used to pick migrants, replacing it with one more focused on highly-skilled work, meaning some overseas students will lose the chance to apply for permanent residency.

If the job they are studying for is not on the new list, foreign students will not be able to apply for a permanent residency visa unless an employer will sponsor them.

Senator Evans says in recognition of the problems the changes could cause for colleges and existing overseas students, he is temporarily allowing them to spend 18 months in Australia after graduation to work and seek sponsorship from employers.

He has also announced that around 20,000 people who applied for skilled migrant visas before September 2007 will have their applications cancelled and their fees refunded.

Senator Evans says the current list of jobs is distorting the economy.

"We had tens of thousands of students studying cookery and accounting and hairdressing because that was on the list and that got them through to permanent residency," he said.

"We've found that a lot of highly-skilled people with higher education degrees or a lot of overseas experience aren't passing the points test where people with a lower-level qualification and some education in Australia were.

"So we want to make sure we're getting the high-end applicants."

Senator Evans says the Government will announce the size of the migration intake for the year in the May budget, but Opposition Immigration spokesman Scott Morrison says the Government should not cut the proportion of skilled migrants.

"What I wouldn't want to see is a retreating on skilled migration - a lowering in the number of people proportionally that are coming under the skills program versus the family program," he said.

"Because the greater percentage come on the family program - that's higher levels of benefits that have to be paid out, higher levels of strain on the health system, higher levels of strain on other forms of assistance that is provided."

Mr Morrison says he will be watching how the Government handles the backlash from colleges and students.

"It's quite clear that there will be many colleges I suspect that will go out of business," he said.

"There'll be people who are currently studying courses who'll find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place, and we'll find out just how well the Government's thought through these changes when they impact on the ground and we see the details of them."

(7) Britain halts student visa applications from India

Posted January 31, 2010 11:45:00

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/31/2805894.htm?section=world

Britain has temporarily suspended student visa applications from northern India, Nepal and Bangladesh because of concerns over a possible abuse of the system.

In the last three months of 2009, there were 13,500 applications from northern India alone - seven times as many as a year earlier.

British officials say the system has been overwhelmed and there is concern about how many of the applications are genuine.

Unscrupulous agents offering student visas as a way of settling in the United Kingdom are not uncommon.

The British High Commissioner in Delhi, Sir Richard Stag, said abuse of the system would not be allowed to happen.

While extra checks take place, visa applications have been temporarily suspended.

The decision will be reviewed at the end of February.

-BBC

(8) Sham marriage adverts behind surge in visa applications from India

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/7129053/Sham-marriage-adverts-behind-surge-in-visa-applications-from-India.html

A surge in advertisements for sham marriages is behind the huge increase in Indian student visa applications to the United Kingdom, officials and immigration experts said on Monday.

By Dean Nelson in New Delhi

Published: 3:32PM GMT 01 Feb 2010

They were speaking after Britain was forced temporarily to suspend applications from India, Bangladesh and Nepal following a huge increase from 1,800 to 13,500 applications from the same period last year. The suspension is an embarrassment since it comes just a year after the introduction of a new points-based system for assessing applicants.

The numbers soared in spite of growing concern over lax scrutiny on overseas students following the arrest last April of several Pakistanis studying at British universities on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks.

Shortly before the arrests, Phil Woolas, the immigration minister, described the abuse of the student visa system as one of the biggest loopholes in Britain's immigration system.

According to immigration consultants in India, unscrupulous immigration agents in India had exploited weaknesses in the new system dramatically to increase the number of unqualified candidates applying for student visas. The agents then try to double the number of immigrants by arranging fake "court marriages" for successful applicants.

Indian newspapers have reported a surge in matrimonial advertisements in local newspapers in Ludhiana and Jalandhar, two major cities in Punjab which have traditionally been major emigration centres to Britain, Australia, the United States and Canada.

One advertisement in the Punjabi Daily Ajeet on January 22 highlighted the fraud: "Only court marriage. Seeking alliance for a 24- year-old boy. The girl must have cleared IELTS [International English Language Testing System]. All expenses will be borne by the boy's family." Agents yesterday told The Daily Telegraph some families were paying fees of up to £10,000 for their sons and daughters to "marry" those with British student visas. As the marriage is a civil contract it is regarded as a paper arrangement rather than a solemn religious commitment.

The students' spouses then enter Britain where they work full-time in the hope of eventually extending their visa.

According to immigration officials and local consultants, part of the sharp increase in applications to the UK may also have been caused by a slump in the numbers applying to Australia. Student applicants have been subjected to tougher scrutiny in Australia and there has been a wave of unrest directed at immigrants.

Under the points-based system introduced in March last year, colleges were forced to register with the Border Agency and 140 were shut down for failing to meet standards criteria. Fifteen had their licences to recruit foreign students withdrawn.

But according to Suresh Sundaram, India director of the U. K-based Infozee immigration consultants, the changes have made it easier for unqualified students to acquire the required points by winning places at private colleges with lower entrance standards.

"The points system was a step forward in promoting education in the UK, but it has opened too many loopholes ... Before it was completely in the hands of visa officers, they could reject them. Now they can't even if they want to," he said.

(9) Universities implicated in Migration fraud

Migration fraud alert

Guy Healy    The Australian    February 03, 2010  12:00AM   

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/migration-fraud-alert/story-e6frgcjx-1225826091679

UNIVERSITIES and colleges should tighten up oversight of their offshore agents to ensure they aren't caught up in "organised migration fraud", Navitas chief executive Rod Jones warned this week.

"There's a need to tighten up their relationships with their agents to ensure agents are carrying out student checks at acceptable levels," he said.

Mr Jones - whose company feeds tens of thousands of overseas students to 14 universities - made the comments after it was revealed that 39 per cent of student visa fraud detected last year targeted universities.

In a revelation that has been met with a muted response from universities, higher education was identified as the Australian education sector most highly targeted by fraudsters until mid-2008.

Fifty-three per cent of student visa fraud targeted universities in the 12 months to mid-2008, says an Ernst & Young report prepared for the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, and obtained by the HES under Freedom of Information laws.

"Those figures did surprise me but I am quite certain that's not a reflection of what happens with us," Mr Jones told the HES.

The report - which comes as Britain suspends applications from north Indian students - has implications for government moves to place a greater legal onus on education providers for the behaviour of their offshore agents.

The confidential E&Y report reveals increased levels of "organised migration fraud through offshore migration and education agents".

It says bogus students were making up fictitious bank branches for their loan documentation, and using photographic software to create student IDs to thwart English language testing requirements, a critical factor in getting a student visa.

Mr Jones said under the Education Services for Overseas Students act, education institutions were responsible for the actions of their agents.

Migration Institute of Australia chief executive Maurene Horder said only agents registered by Australia's Migration Agents Registration Authority should be allowed to prepare applications such as student e-visas.

(10) Britain tightens up on bogus students coming for short courses - and bringing dependents too

Britain to tighten student visa requirements

Sunday, February 7, 2010; 2:12 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/07/AR2010020701759.html

LONDON -- Britain is tightening its rules on student visas to prevent people from flouting the rules and working illegally.

The changes - which are effective immediately - won't stop genuine students from traveling to Britain to study but will close an avenue that has been exploited, Home Secretary Alan Johnson said Sunday.

"There's an awful lot more of adults, not young people, not coming to study degrees at universities but coming on short courses into this country," Johnson told the BBC. Asked if many of those students were "bogus," Johnson said, "Yes, yes."

Under the new rules, those from outside the European Union who come to Britain for short courses - less than six months - can no longer bring their dependents. Johnson said the number of hours foreign students will be able to work will also be cut from 20 hours a week to 10, and that a higher standard of English will be required. ...