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Registered Migration
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Parish Patience
Solicitors, Immigration Law Section
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| Issue No 12 | August 1999 | ||
Tougher penalties for people smuggling |
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Tougher penalties for people smugglingOn 22 July new penalties for criminal activities generally referred to as "people smuggling" came into effect. As is often the case with amendments to the criminal law in areas that have received a large amount of sensational publicity, most of the activities referred to were already illegal under existing laws. Whether the tougher penalties (up to 20 years imprisonment) will have a deterrent effect or simply raise the prices charged to the hapless victims and increase the level of violence engaged in by the criminals remains to be seen. One significant change that will possibly have long term effects is the addition of such offences to the list of investigation types for which police have easy access to warrants for telephone tapping. One has to wonder whether, serious as it is, this area of criminal activity poses the same level of threat to society as, for example, terrorism or drug smuggling, so as to justify this potentially very dangerous intrusion into the civil rights of ordinary people. Strange outcomes of skilled migration programAs reported in last month's issue, a key element in the new skilled migration program which came into effect on 1 July is the "skilled occupations list" (SOL), which specifies those occupations which are eligible for points, and the number of points each occupation is to get. Any occupation on the SOL receives either 60, 50 or 40 points. Occupations are defined in terms of a system known as the Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO). Under the previous system, occupations were awarded points according to the level of formal qualification or experience required by Australian standards. While the SOL reflects this approach to some extent in the number of points awarded to different occupations on the list, the difference is that an occupation not on the list, regardless of the qualifications or skills required, receives no points. A criticism of the old system was that it took no account of the level of demand for different occupations in Australia. A qualified blacksmith with a recognised trade certificate, or a musicologist with a recognised degree, was able to score maximum points despite having very little prospect of finding work in that field. The new SOL, while excluding musicologists (but not blacksmiths), still contains a number of strange anomalies. Virtually all occupations listed as "trades" in ASCO are included on the SOL and given 60 points. Besides blacksmiths, the list includes farriers, piano tuners, tree surgeons and several other occupations that hardly rate as essential to the modern Australian economy or in high demand. All are eligible for 60 points. On the other hand, in the professional and associate professional areas large blocks of occupations are excluded or awarded only 40 or 50 points. With the pass mark at 110, it is very difficult for an indpendent applicant to pass with an occupation worth only 40 points. A number of occupational categories which would seem to be more relevant to the Australian economy than farriers and piano tuners are left out entirely, such as agricultural scientists, while many occupations in highly technical and information-related industries receive only 40 points. It must be considered an oddity that an engraver, for example, receives 60 points while a computing support technician is only allowed 40. The SOL is subject to alteration by the Minister by simple notification in the Gazette. It can only be hoped that once the program has been in operation for a while some of these obvious anomalies will be corrected. Hot linksWith each edition of Australian Immigration Law Update we will try to find some new or interesting sites that you might enjoy visiting. This month, you might like to try out some of these*:
*These sites are not in any way endorsed or connected with Parish Patience. The listing of a commercial site does not imply any recommendation or warranty concerning the products or services offered. Contact us:Parish
Patience Immigration Tel: +612
9286 8700 Liability is limited by the Solicitors Scheme under the Professional Standards Act 1994 (NSW) Previous editions:
Copyright © Parish
Patience Solicitors 1999. All rights reserved.
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