Welcome to the beauty of a budget surplus and Labor’s tradition of nation-building. This synthesis is the heart of the strategy embraced by Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan in their first budget. Consider its landmark features: an attachment to fiscal conservatism, the creation via the surplus of three new investment vehicles worth $40 billion to fund [...]

Australia is on the verge of a historical shift in immigration. We are about to enter a period of record-breaking levels in permanent and temporary immigration during the next three years. At the end of the 2007-08 financial year, Australia will have accepted more than 300,000 permanent and temporary migrants in an attempt to meet [...]

Matter Refused: 457 Work Visa This decision considered relevant abilities and skills. The applicant applied for a 457 visa, which a delegate of the Immigration Department refused because was not satisfied that the visa applicant had personal attributes and an employment background relevant to and consistent with the nature of the activity to be performed as required [...]

Australia is undergoing an unparalleled movement of people and ethnic change through “hidden immigration”, but lacks a comprehensive policy to deal with it, according to an eminent demographer. Monash University professor Andrew Markus said raw immigration numbers masked the magnitude of a demographic revolution that had produced a population where one in four residents was [...]

For thousands of Indians and other international visitors, an Australian holiday will become dearer beginning July as Australian tourist visa fees and airport departure tax soar following the Kevin Rudd government’s first budget. The hike in tourist visa application fees from A$75 to A$100 (approx US$70-100), with the cost of a visa extension rising from [...]

The Government’s increase in skilled migration numbers will add more demand to already undersupplied housing market. Another 31,000 permanent skilled migrants wold require another 10,000 dwellings a year, according to BIS Shrapnell senior economist Jason Anderson. Net migration is at record levels after almost 180,000 people arrived in Australia in the last year, and new housing [...]

Businesses have been rewarded with an additional 630,000 training places as part of a massive $1.9 billion package to provide skilled labour, particularly in areas of chronic shortage. Yesterday’s budget revealed the Rudd government will kickstart the scheme next year, with nearly a quarter of a billion dollars ($232.6 million), rising to $620.3 million in [...]