[ANSWER]Assessment 1 Ministerial Briefing Note

TASK DESCRIPTION

Ministerial Briefing Note

To: The Hon David Coleman MP, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs

From: [insert your name]

RE IMPLICATIONS OF AUSTRALIA’S TWO-STEP IMMIGRATION POLICY FOR IMMIGRANT WORKERS

PURPOSE

• To brief the Minister about the negative implications of Australia’s two-step immigration policy for immigrant workers
• To advocate for emphasis on permanent immigration as opposed to temporary migration

CRITICAL DEADLIN

Not applicable

SUMMARY OF ISSUES

• Australia remains one of the top destinations for immigrants globally thanks to its historically immigrant-friendly policies (Carlson & Kerr, 2017).
• However, the country’s increasing emphasis on temporary migration through its two-stage immigration policy could ruin this reputation.
• There is evidence that the two-stage approach to immigration disadvantages immigrants by exposing them to exploitation in the labour market and reducing their access to permanent employment, with immigrants from non-English-speaking countries being the most affected (Gregory, 2014; Phillips, 2017).
• Emphasis on temporary as opposed to permanent migration has been informed by the baseless assumption that the growing number of immigrants disadvantages local workers in the labour market (Committee for Economic Development of Australia, 2019).
• The Minister is urged to consider a return to the permanent migration approach

BACKGROUND

• Since the end of World War 2, Australia has earned reputation as one of the most immigrant-friendly countries in the world (Carlson & Kerr, 2017). As of 2019, the country’s immigrant population exceeded 7.5 million people (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2020). This represents roughly 30% of the country’s total population.
• Since the mid-1990s, however, Australia has increasingly become hostile towards immigrants. This is reflected in the country’s changing stance on immigrants.
• Terrorism as well as concerns that immigrants are adding strain on the country’s socioeconomic resources and that they might considerably alter the social characteristics of the country are among the major factors that have played a significant Briefing Note in this change (Carlson & Kerr, 2017).
• Australia has adopted a demand-driven approach to immigration where emphasis is placed on temporary immigration as opposed to permanent migration, which had been the mainstay of the country’s immigration policy prior to the 1990s (Phillips, 2017). This new approach involves a two-stage policy.
• First, temporary immigrants enter the country via temporary work and student visas. After working or study in Australia for a given period of time, temporary migrants can then seek permanent residence under Ministerial Briefing Notothen Migration Program.
• Today, temporary immigrants significantly exceed permanent immigrants by more than two times. In 2015-16, for instance, a total of 198,770 migrants were granted permanent visas compared to 396,456 temporary visas (Phillips, 2017).
• While Australia’s two-stage immigration policy allows the government to monitor prospective immigrants prior to granting them permanent residence, it is problematic for a number of reasons. First, as documented by a senatorial inquiry into this matter, the policy exposes immigrants to exploitation in the labour market (Spinks, 2016).
• This exploitation particularly affects immigrants from non-English-speaking countries. An analysis by Gregory (2014) found that immigrants from non-English-speaking countries are substantially more represented in part-time employment Ministerial Briefing Note compared to their counterparts from English-speaking countries. Evidently, Australia’s two-stage immigration policy Ministerial Briefing Note disadvantages immigrant workers from certain backgrounds.
• There is the argument that permanent migration negatively affects Australian citizens when it comes to the labour market by shrinking the number of job opportunities available to them. This argument has no basis according to a recent report by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (2019).
• Over the years, permanent immigration has provided Australia with a steady inflow of young and skilled workers, playing an instrumental role in the economic growth and development of the country (Carlson & Kerr, 2017). Emphasis on temporary Ministerial Briefing Note migration threatens to roll back these gains.   

ATTACHMENT(S)

• References list

ADVICE FROM OTHERS

• Robert Gregory, Australian National University
• Hariet Spinks, Social policy, Parliament of Australia
• Committee for Economic Development of Australia

FUNDING COMMENT

• Not applicable  

RECOMMENDATION(S)

• Consider reversion to permanent migration (Gregory, 2014)

Authorised by:

[Insert your signature]

Signature block [student number, topic code, course enrolled in, university]

REFERENCES

Carlson, E., & Kerr, L. (2017). Chapter 13: Citizenship and globalisation. In Australian social policy and the human services. 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press.

Committee for Economic Development of Australia. (2019). Effects of temporary migration: Shaping Australia’s society and economy. CEDA. https://www.ceda.com.au/CEDA/media/General/Publication/PDFs/190709_CEDATemporaryMigration_FullReport_FINAL.pdf

Gregory, R. (2014). The two-step Australian immigration policy and its impact on immigrant employment outcomes. IZA Discussion Paper No. 8061. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2420706

Phillips, J. (2017). Migration to Australia: A quick guide to the statistics. Parliament of Australia. https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1617/Quick_Guides/MigrationStatistics

Spinks, H. (2016). Migration – issues for Australia’s migration program. Parliament of Australia. https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BriefingBook45p/MigrationProgram

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