Following on from my previous post, Tony Burke has delayed the policy announcement originally scheduled for Thursday. Today’s update says:
the announcement could come as early as next week, with Cabinet considering the original plan insufficiently comprehensive and its enforcement too weak.
Sources say Cabinet’s discussion on Monday focused mainly on overstaying, which has also been a point on which the Liberal Party and One Nation have continually attacked Labor’s migration policy. The policy is also expected to address all parts of the migration system, including the previously mentioned tightening of family migration and limits on Working Holiday Visa numbers.
The Deputy Prime Minister, who chaired the meeting, considered the original plan still too weak and insufficiently comprehensive. Tony Burke’s team subsequently also recognised that the current implementation process is confused and complex, while Parliament already has a considerable backlog of tax-reform legislation to progress. The implication is that they are looking for a faster and more direct way to implement the measures.
There is also an important hint: AFR said the Prime Minister was on leave this week and did not attend Monday’s meeting, but will chair a second meeting next week to approve a revised migration policy package. A reform involving both Cabinet and the Prime Minister personally really could be far-reaching.
The clear direction of these migration reforms: reducing Australia’s net overseas migration
The thinking is now clear: it is not only about stopping people outside Australia, but also targeting people onshore. Those who have already stayed should leave sooner, those who cannot remain should go promptly, and new arrivals should not stay too long. In short, it is all about reducing net overseas migration. PS: today we saw an onshore visitor visa application granted for two months with condition 8503 imposed as well.
My advice is still to act as quickly as possible, including:
- Skilled migration and employer-sponsored applicants can currently obtain a waiver of condition 8503, so they can still use a Subclass 600 visa as a bridge and thereby obtain a bridging visa.
- The same reasoning applies to Subclass 309: while holding a Subclass 600 visa, lodge the Subclass 309 application offshore, then enter on the Subclass 600 and apply for a Bridging Visa A to wait onshore.
- For a second regional Subclass 485 visa, there is no need to wait until the current Subclass 485 expires. A holder who has lived in a regional area for two years can renew as soon as possible. After the visa is granted, however, applicants must comply with its conditions and remain in a regional area.
Risk warning: existing policy openings could be closed quickly
All the signs indicate that people deeply familiar with migration law are definitely involved in these reforms and discussions. If they want to change the openings described above, or identify an omission and close it, doing so would not be difficult.
After reading the full report, however, my personal view is that AFR’s description of the original proposal as too weak—the areas where enforcement could be stronger—may target overstayers whose original temporary visas, including student and work visas, have expired but who want to remain onshore. For now, we can only wait for the outcome. If a pathway is available, act quickly; in the current climate, who knows…
