Sada-e-Watan Sydney ™
sadaewatan@gmail.com
STRENTHENING
COMMUNICATIONS FOR ETHNIC COMMUNITIES
Multicultural Ethnic Media Conference & Lunch followed the Prime Minister Julia
Gillard
(Coverage By: Syed
Zafar Hussain & Harish Velji)
Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced new powers will be given to the Australian Multicultural Council (AMC) to review and scrutinise Government advertising expenditure in multicultural media.
This announcement was made at the multicultural ethnic media conference . Lunch followed the Prime Misters speech and included the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport(Leader of the House) The Hon Anthony Albanese, MP, Minister for Finance and Deregulation Senator the Hon Penny Wong , Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities The Hon Tony Burke, MP, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship The Hon Chris Bowen, MP, Minister for Indigenous Employment and Economic Development, Minister for Sport, Minister for Social Housing and Homelessness ,Senator the Hon. Mark Arbib, Assistant Treasurer Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation The Hon Bill Shorten, MP, Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Mental Health Reform, The Hon. Mark Butler, MP, Special Minister of State for the Public Service and Integrity The Hon Gary Gray, AO, MP, Member for Greenway Michelle Rowland, Member for Chiefly Ed Husic and Member for Calwell , Ms Maria Vamvakinou MP and first Sub Continent Member for Federal Parliament Senator Lisa Singh.
The new
reporting framework reflects the Gillard Labor Government’s commitment to
Australia’s unique diversity and the importance of ensuring equal access to
information for all Australians.These important changes complement the
Government’s strengthened access and equity strategy, which was announced as
part of the Government’s new multicultural policy, The People of Australia.
The AMC will formally review Government campaign expenditure in ethnic media to
ensure our access and equity principles are fulfilled.
These changes in transparency and reporting reflect the Government’s commitment
to respond to the information needs of Australia’s diverse communities.
Cultural
diversity is a central feature of our national identity. 45 per cent of all
Australians were born overseas or have at least one parent who was born
overseas. We identify with more than 270 ancestries and speak over 260
languages.
The Government recognises that ethnic media plays a key role in disseminating
information to Australians from diverse backgrounds.
Under the new
framework, departments and agencies will now be required to undertake “exception
reporting” if they do not include ethnic media advertising as part of their
broader campaign strategy.
The reasons for these exceptions will now have to be publically released in
bi-annual reports which will be reviewed and scrutinised by the AMC.
Special
Minister of State Gary Gray has written to every Minister to outline and promote
these new changes.Minister Gray has asked Ministers to ensure their departments
adhere to the new reporting requirements and always consider the needs of
culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities.
Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Hon Chris Bowman said earlier in the
day The Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations,
Senator Chris Evans and he had announced a suite of measures to enhance
competitiveness in Australia’s international education sector.
The new
measures are in response to the report by the Hon Michael Knight AO, Strategic
Review of the Student Visa Program 2011, which was released.
“Our international education sector is world class, and the reforms announced
today will help entrench Australia as a preferred destination for international
students,” Senator Evans said.
“The reforms
will assist in ensuring Australia remains an attractive study option and will
offer practical support for international education providers that have been
under pressure as a result of the high Australian dollar.”
Recognising that the Australian university sector has a track record of
providing high quality international education at lower levels of risk, the
Government will introduce new streamlined visa processing arrangements for a
range of Australian university courses for faster, easier visa access for
prospective students in time for second semester next year.
The streamlined
arrangements will apply to international students enrolled in courses at the
level of bachelor degree or higher.
These students, regardless of their country of origin, will be treated as though
they are lower risk, similar to the current Assessment Level (AL) 1
requirements.
“Our consultations found that the financial requirements for Student Visas were
too onerous, so we are reducing the financial requirements for some applicants,
with students now needing around $36,000 less in the bank when applying for a
visa,” Mr Bowen said.
“This reduction in the AL financial requirements will particularly assist a
significant number of Vocational Education and Training and private education
providers.”
A two- to
four-year post-study work visa will also be available for university graduates
depending on the level of study completed. Other work visa options, such as the
Temporary Skilled 457 visa and the Skilled Graduate Visa, continue to be
available to graduates and to employers looking to meet genuine skills needs.
“Students are increasingly looking to augment their studies with graduate work
experience and this further post-study work visa option will offer university
students a more complete study experience in Australia,” Senator Evans said.
The Government will also undertake a fundamental review of the Student Visa risk
management framework, the ALs, to report by mid-2012. The AL framework review
will specifically explore a provider risk model, in consultation with an
external reference group.
The Government
will consider options for the early implementation of the findings of the AL
framework review, targeting a small number of high quality education providers –
including TAFEs – to recognise the lower migration risks associated with them.
“We need to move to a more targeted approach to assessing and responding to
immigration risk in the Student Visa program that recognises and rewards
high-quality education providers,” Mr Bowen said.
These reforms will be made possible through a new ‘genuine temporary entrant’
requirement for all Student Visa applicants that will enable the Department of
Immigration and Citizenship to better assess applications.
As part of the response to the Knight Review, the Government will also:
• Allow all
English language students to apply for a visa without first meeting minimum
English skills requirements;
• Extend the time a PhD student can stay in Australia while their thesis is
marked;
• Establish an Education Visa Advisory Group to improve information flow between
the Australian Government and the international education sector; and
• Repeal the automatic cancellation and mandatory cancellation provisions for
student visas.
Australia is
widely recognised for the delivery of high quality, internationally recognised
qualifications by a diverse range of international education providers.
Australia’s international education sector has undergone rapid growth over the
past decade, with the number of Student Visas more than doubling from 108,000 in
1997-98 to 269,828 in 2009-10.
In December 2010, the Government commissioned the Hon Michael Knight AO to
review the Student Visa program to enhance the quality, integrity and
competitiveness of Australia’s international education sector. Mr Knight
consulted with almost 300 stakeholders in Australia, India, China and Malaysia,
and considered more than 200 submissions.
The Government has accepted all 41 recommendations in the Knight Review, with
the majority proposed to be implemented through 2012-13 so that key
recommendations can come into effect before second semester 2012.
The Ethnic Media meet was a quite a success and amount of time each of the
Minister and the Members of Parliament devoted to meet was unprecedented.
Stealing the phrase of New South Wales Leader of Opposition, Hon John Robertson
this function showed that multi culture is truly part of Labor Party's DNA.
