Reform of aged care - a small step

Image source: Department of Health and Ageing

On 20 April 2012, after much anticipation, the Government released its response to the Productivity Commission’s (PC) Inquiry into Caring for Older Australians and put forward its reform plan, Living Longer. Living Better, for aged care. The initial response from stakeholders was largely positive. But as aged care providers and stakeholder groups have had the chance to reflect on the package, there have been claims that the cost of care provided in the home will increase for elderly Australians. Discussions about whether the family home should be included in the arrangements for paying for aged care also persist.

Skilled migration flows to Australia



Image source: http://www.immi.gov.au/

There has been a distinct shift in the focus of Australia's Migration Program in favour of skilled migration over the last decade or so. As a result, more permanent places are now allocated to skilled migrants than any other category. Migrants entering Australia under the skill stream in 2010–11 accounted for 67.4 per cent of all visas granted to permanent migrants.

Perhaps even more significant is the rise in temporary long-term skilled migration to Australia over the last decade with many of these entrants transitioning to permanent residence over time. In 2009–10, 43 390 temporary migrants who entered Australia originally with a long-stay business (subclass 457) visa, became permanent residents—the majority having been granted permanent employer sponsored visas.

The Parliamentary Library has just published a new paper with more detail on this topic—Skilled migration: temporary and permanent flows to Australia. The paper provides background on migration to Australia since the first immigration department was established in 1945. It also outlines some of the more recent changes that have been made specifically to address labour market concerns and encourage more ‘demand-driven’ sponsored skilled migration. Skilled migration statistics since the 1980s are provided in the appendix.

Other key Parliamentary Library immigration-related papers include:

• H Spinks, Australia's Migration Program, 2010
• J Phillips, M Klapdor and S Simon-Davies, Migration to Australia since federation: a guide to the statistics, 2010
• E Koleth, Multiculturalism: a review of Australian policy statements and recent debates in Australia and overseas, 2010
• E Koleth, Overseas students: immigration policy changes 1997 to May 2010, 2010.

Trading aviation emissions - Part 2

Image source: Department of Infrastructure and Transport

The leader of the Nationals, Warren Truss, has called the EU's inclusion of aviation in its emission trading scheme (ETS) an 'iniquitous tax', siding with a number of countries that oppose the move. In its FlagPost Trading aviation emissions from February, the Parliamentary Library outlined the main elements of the EU's decision and some of the international relations issues that have arisen. Since then, a series of new developments have taken place and the debate is far from resolved. This FlagPost is an update on the situation globally.

Calls to waive dentists' debts to Medicare

Image source: WA Department of Health

On 19 March 2012, the Opposition health spokesman the Hon. Peter Dutton, introduced the Health Insurance (Dental Services) Bill 2012 into the House of Representatives. The Bill was also introduced into the Senate on 21 March by Senator David Bushby, and immediately referred to the Senate Finance and Administration Committee for inquiry. The Bill proposes to 'redress past and future inequities that have arisen from the operation of subsection 10(2) of the Health Insurance (Dental Services) Determination 2007' (the Determination). This Determination prescribes the arrangements which allow dentists, dental specialists and dental prosthetists to provide Medicare funded services (capped at $4250 over two years) to patients with chronic conditions as set out under the Chronic Disease Dental Scheme (CDDS). The Opposition and the Greens also supported a Senate motion on 21 March 2012 calling on the Government to waive debts of dentists.

Resignation of Senator Bob Brown

Source: Wikimedia

On 13 April 2012, Senator Bob Brown announced his retirement as leader of the Australian Greens and resignation from the Senate with the intention to leave the Senate when a candidate for the vacancy has been found.

Asylum levels and trends 2011

Image source: UNHCR

On 27 March 2012, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) released the 2011 report on Asylum Levels and Trends in Industrialized Countries. After analysing asylum application trends in the 44 industrialised countries included in the report (38 European countries plus Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Canada and the USA), the UNHCR found that an estimated 441 300 asylum applications were lodged in 2011—the highest level since 2003. In a press release accompanying the report, the UNHCR noted that ‘rising outflow from older crisis spots such as Afghanistan’ helped contribute to the 20 per cent rise in asylum claims in 2011.

Bucking the global trend, Australia experienced a 9 per cent decrease in asylum applications in 2011—the first decrease in six years. This is a reverse of the situation in 2010 when much of Europe experienced a decline in applications while Australia experienced a 33 per cent increase compared to the previous year.

So how significant are these fluctuations and how useful is it to compare asylum trends between Australia and other receiving countries?