'Reprioritising' Australia's aid budget



Image source: AusAID

In 17 December 2012, Foreign Minister Bob Carr announced that the government would report up to $375 million as support for asylum seekers waiting to have their claims heard in Australia. In effect this meant that $375.1 million would be diverted from the overall aid budget to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. The reallocation represents an effective cut of 7.3 per cent to other elements of the aid budget. The Australian Federal Police and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research also suffered cuts of 7.6 per cent to their respective aid budgets. Details of the revised Budget Estimate were released in the Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements 2012-13 (pp.102–105).

The other temporary skilled visa

While the Temporary Work (Skilled) (subclass 457) visa has undergone heavy scrutiny of late, another temporary skilled visa has been expanding more rapidly, and is about to become even more attractive.

 

The Temporary Skilled Graduate visa (subclass 485) is for overseas students who have completed a qualification at an Australian higher education institution. The visa was introduced in 2008 to enable graduates to remain in Australia for up to 18 months after completing their course, to gain work experience or improve their English language skills. An applicant had to meet the Australian standard for an occupation on the Skilled Occupation List.

National Close the Gap Day

Image source: Council of Australian Governments

Closing the gap developed out of the call in Tom Calma’s Social justice report 2005 for Australian governments to commit to achieving equality for Indigenous people in health and life expectancy within 25 years. In March 2006 some non-government agencies came together to develop a National Indigenous Health Equality Campaign and in April 2007 a Close the gap campaign was launched.

Asylum seekers, refugees and people smuggling—links to the key Parliamentary Library papers

The Parliamentary Library has recently released several new and updated papers on asylum seekers, refugees, boat arrivals and people smuggling.

Links to these papers are included below together with links to other research papers in related areas.

 

National Forced Adoptions Apology

In June 2012 the Attorney-General announced that the Government would offer a national apology to those affected by forced adoption practices in Australia. A Forced Adoption Apology Reference Group was subsequently established in August 2012 to provide advice on the wording and timing of the apology and on 19 December 2012 the Australian Government announced that the formal apology would be conducted on Thursday 21 March 2013 at Parliament House in Canberra.

Match-fixing: the Australian legislative response

Image source: SA Government

The Australian Crime Commission Report into Organised Crime and Drugs in Sport raised the issue of the increasing level of association between professional athletes and organised criminal identities in Australia, leaving individual athletes vulnerable to corrupt practices such as match-fixing. One of the key findings is that the threat to the integrity of Australian sport is an emerging and critical issue which must be addressed now.

In the wake of the South Australian and now Victorian Governments introducing bills to directly criminalise match-fixing, what is the rest of the country doing?

Tweeting from the Chamber

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

On 12 March 2013, the Manager of Opposition Business Christopher Pyne asked Speaker Anna Burke to make a ruling on a tweet by Member for Bendigo, Steve Gibbons during question time, asking for the Member to withdraw.

Steve Gibbons‏@SteveGibbonsMP

Looks like @tonyabbottmhr has contracted out his nasty side to interjector's in the public gallery. A new low even for the Libs!

Mr Gibbons had tweeted this after two people had been ejected from the public gallery in succession, for interjecting during Question Time.

Temporary skilled migration and the 457 visa



Image source: www.liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au

On 23 February 2013, the Government announced that there would be changes to the temporary skilled (subclass 457) visa program to ensure that employers are ‘not nominating positions where a genuine shortage does not exist’ and that ‘employers give Australian workers a fair go’.

The changes listed on the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) website, ‘Strengthening the integrity of the 457 program’, include the introduction of a ‘genuineness criterion’ and the removal of English language exemptions for certain positions. According to DIAC, it is envisaged that the changes (to take effect on 1 July 2013) will not affect the ‘vast majority’ of ‘genuine’ 457 visa applicants. 

Australian Government funding for schools

Image source: UK Government

There is much anticipation about the future of school funding with the Australian Government’s proposed new arrangements for school funding expected to be presented to the Council of Australian Governments’ meeting in April this year. The proposed changes will follow on from the recommendations of the final report of the Review of Funding for Schooling (the Gonski Review).

Women in the Australian workforce: A 2013 update

Image source: Australian Human Rights Commission

First observed as an international event in 1911, International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated around the world on March 8 each year. Originally emerging from female labour movements in North America and Europe, female participation in politics and the workforce remains an important focus of IWD. As we celebrate IWD in 2013, this article briefly reviews current female participation in the Australian workforce.

Is this the end of coal seam gas for now?

Drilling a gas well
Image source: Wikimedia commons

Coal seam gas (CSG) has become a divisive issue in recent times, particularly in rural and regional areas of Queensland and New South Wales. Despite the regulation of CSG being primarily a State responsibility, several private members have introduced bills that aim to exert greater Commonwealth controls over CSG. This FlagPost will examine the latest bill, which was introduced into the House of Representatives on the 11th of February. It could have the effect of stopping all new coal seam gas developments across Australia for at least two years.

‘Ice’ and other amphetamine-type stimulants: international and Australian trends

Image source: Customs

On 28 February, the Joint Organised Crime Group (comprising the Australian Federal Police (AFP), NSW Police, NSW Crime Commission, Australian Crime Commission (ACC) and the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (Customs)) announced it had seized 585 kilograms of ice in Sydney, an Australian record for a single seizure of the drug. The second largest seizure also occurred recently, with 306 kilograms seized by the AFP and Customs in July 2012. This FlagPost puts these seizures in context by examining some recent international and Australian findings on ice and related illicit drugs.

Motorways for the masses

Image source: author's own

With the approach of a Federal Election, ambitious metropolitan road projects are in the spotlight. Both major parties are offering federal funding to address worsening urban congestion issues as Australia’s cities continue to grow. The Liberal National Party coalition has promised to support the construction/upgrade of three metropolitan limited access roads to connect to existing motorways in our largest cities. And the Prime Minister has announced further funding support for the WestConnex project in Sydney, contingent upon it providing better freight links to Port Botany and a toll-free M4 connection with the city. 

International Women's Day

Image source: UN Women

On Friday 8 March women around the world will celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD). IWD had its genesis in events of the early 1900s, when women in places such as Europe, North America and Australia began demanding an end to inequality, and access to equal pay, better working conditions and voting rights. As outlined by UN Women Australia:

In 1910, Clara Zetkin, the leader of the Women’s Office for the Social Democratic Party in Germany tabled the idea of an International Women’s Day at the second International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen. The proposal received unanimous assent from over one hundred women representing seventeen countries.
 

The very first International Women’s day was held the following year on March 19th. Meetings and protests were held across Europe with the largest street demonstration attracting 30,000 women. The day sparked great public debate, and advocates drew attention to the absolute necessity of extending the right to vote to women to make parliament more democratic. In 1913, IWD was transferred to March 8th and has been held on this day ever since.

The 2013 Italian general election: a new source of European instability?

Source: Italian Parliament

The Italian general election took place on 24–25 February with the lowest voter turnout since the 1950s (under 75 per cent) and did not produce a clear parliamentary majority. It has left Italy politically deadlocked whilst rekindling fears of a new source of European instability.

European press and politicians have suggested that an uncertain election result in the Eurozone’s third largest economy (after Germany and France) has renewed fears of an imminent crisis in the Eurozone. Trading on the international financial markets was affected after the results were announced, as Italy’s markets slumped and the global oil price dropped. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported that the Australian share market was also adversely affected.