International students help, but racism continues: former High Court Judge Michael Kirby

by Matthew Raggatt.         

Photo: Commonwealth Secretariat

“AUSTRALIA’S level of racism has gone down on the Richter scale,” retired High Court judge Michael Kirby says.

“From a 10 when I was a boy, it’s now a seven.”

It is a disturbing statement.

That it comes from the man who retired in 2009 as the longest-serving judge in Australian history only reinforces how far the nation still has to come.

“Australia was built on racist attitudes, racism was enshrined in legislation,” the former High Court Justice says.

“There is a long way to go.”

Yet the number of international students who have arrived in the last decade shows Australia is a popular place to learn. And it is the international education industry which has helped shift the views of many, Mr Kirby says.

Bringing young international students with “flexible attitudes” to the island nation helps Australians to know, understand and embrace people from different backgrounds, Mr Kirby states.

“It’s easier to dislike them when you don’t know them,” says the man who sat on Australia’s highest court for 13 years, and who for nine years was Chancellor of Macquarie University in Sydney.

“[Meeting different people] reinforces what Australian students are taught in theory.”

The ease of meeting a student from another nation has never been greater.  In 2009 the number of enrolled international students hit a record 630,663, up 130 per cent from just seven years earlier.

His Honour (he no longer retains the Justice title) does not pretend to know exactly how great a factor international education has been in creating a more tolerant country. But the effect of being able to see and relate to those who might seem different reminds him of the influence a TV soap opera had decades ago on opinions of the gay population.

The suburban based soapie Number 96 portrayed the first openly homosexual man on Australian television, a lawyer played by Joe Hasham.

“Number 96 played a significant role in changing attitudes to gays…it did more than two hundred learned, serious-minded speeches could have,” Mr Kirby says.

In addition to the personal connection many Australians have had with international students in the last 20 years, countless businesses and education providers have come to rely on the foreign student dollar.
Mr Kirby says this can help to change some intolerant views.

“[As] more Australians get an economic investment, this gives people a stake in [the students’] presence,” he says.

Crimes against international students

Yet seven on the Richter scale is still an almighty quake, and overseas students have not all been free from attack – physical and verbal.

Robberies of students, particularly from India, and a number of highly-publicised serious assaults have seen public demonstrations in Melbourne in 2009, with the Indian community demanding better protection.

In February last year, Meld Magazine had reported the acknowledgment by then-Chief Police Commissioner Simon Overland that race had been playing some part in the over-representation of international students, in particular Indian students, among robbery victims.

“Undoubtedly some of what we’re seeing is racism,” the Chief Commissioner had said.

Michael Kirby is surprised to learn of the remark from Meld, but is glad at least one public official was prepared to make it at the time.

“I support that,” Mr Kirby says.

“Had there been more comments of that kind, there would have been less damage to the Australian education industry, particularly in India.”

Mr Kirby is highly critical of the “denialist” manner in which the spate of attacks on international students had been managed and presented by government.

He acknowledges, as Chief Commissioner Overland had at the time, most victims were likely targeted because they were on their own, often travelling late at night for work, and were easy targets for opportunistic criminals.

“They probably would have been attacked even if they weren’t of [predominantly] Indian background,” MrKirby says.

But he says authorities had failed to confront the issue as they should have.

“They should have made it clear that if there was even the slightest element of race, perpetrators would face the full effect of the law, and race would be taken into account in sentencing.”

The co-author of a decade-long study on racist attitudes in Australia agrees with Kirby that the 2009 attacks on Indian students, to the extent they had been racially motivated, reflects a more widespread intolerance.

Head of University of Western Sydney’s Social Sciences Department Kevin Dunn has said the 2009 attacks had revealed “a deep undercurrent of racist incivility” against those who appear different.

With his report, published in September, showing more than 43 per cent of Indians and Sri Lankans surveyed had experienced discrimination via name-calling or similar insults, Professor Dunn echoes Kirby’s view that leaders had to open up and confront the issue.

“This country would be in a far better position today if more political effort was expended on anti-racism initiatives than it was on denying racism,” Professor Dunn said.

Michael Kirby says the public relations handling of the 2009 events had been “very poor”.

“It was not a good look,” Kirby says.

Since 2009, the number of international students enrolled in Australian courses has dropped, Australian International Education figures show.

The number of Indian students enrolled had fallen by more than 20,000 in 2010. The Strategic Review of the Student Visa Program, completed by Michael Knight this year, outlines a range of factors responsible for the dip, with the 2009 events and their publicity included among separate economic and permanent residency factors.

“[The attacks] undermined Australia’s reputation as a safe destination for students…it will take some time to overcome the negative perceptions,” Mr Knight said.

Attitudes towards migration

An honorary graduate of universities in India and Sri Lanka, Mr Kirby says while there is a view in Asia that Australia accepts student migration simply for economic advantage, the nation will remain an attractive place for Asian students.

“That’s logical; we’re an English speaking, democratic, generally safe country on the edge of Asia,” Mr Kirby says.

Economics aside, Mr Kirby would like to see more international students studying at secondary schools around the country. It is in our interests, he says, for young Australians to meet people from other backgrounds.

Mr Kirby says international education can help Australia show the world it can be relied on to provide a place to study free from the racism of the past.

“We must be worthy of the trust of other countries.”



Published by Meld Magazine on 10 November, 2011

Link to article & comments: http://www.meldmagazine.com.au/2011/11/interview-michael-kirby/

A little more speculation works for the Gallery

      Image courtesy Sydney Morning Herald

by Matthew Raggatt

To the almost eternal annoyance of those in power, the media loves to document any hint of or reason for a leadership challenge. 

From the biggest names of national journalism to the newest scribe on the block, political challenges are like baby play and can trump seemingly any policy issue for newsworthiness.

But do commentators get a little too much of a kick out of it? Is the writer's ego stroked more than the public interest and knowledge base is enhanced?

Consider last week's Michelle Grattan article in The Age on former Labor powerbroker and now talking head Graham Richardson. Richardson's interest in using his connections to grow his media influence is laid bare. With a gig on Sky, a regular column in the News Ltd press and frequent appearances on current affairs shows such as Q & A, Richardson's expertise - which seems to be particularly focused on what MP X says about leader Y - is in demand.

The irony of Richardson's media game, acknowledged in a Daily Telegraph article in June, is his apparently important role in removing Kevin Rudd last year. Since then the media has barely gone 48 hours without some story on leadership tension, and it is now Richardson telling us the names of some Labor backbenchers pushing Rudd's cause.

Grattan herself is of course a prolific commentator on leadership issues, on multiple occasions each week telling us what the recent events mean for Gillard's standing in the polls and the party-room.

Laurie Oakes is likewise the first to jump on a leadership tidbit. The current polls, including their views on preferred alternative leaders, justify articles raising the omnipresent question of Rudd's future role. Brilliant and balanced, one does suspect however that Oakes would see some justice in a return to the Queenslander. His massive reputation continues to be maintained through updating us on the latest leadership whispers.

Then there's Andrew Bolt, whose distaste for Julia Gillard needs no referencing. As he stirs the leadership drama, Australia's most read columnist seems to increase his influence; we will wait to see if the recent High Court finding can effect that.

As Crikey editor Sophie Black openly stated last month, part of the reason for the constant leadership chatter is its ease of production.

"All the media - all of us - instinctively like leadership stories. We're addicted to them, partly because they're so easy to cover - they're not about complex policy issues, they don't require sophisticated analysis, they don't demand hours of research in order to say something interesting or meaningful."

Yet one should not forget that journalists do have an interest in publishing the polls and the inside backroom politics. More readers, more viewers, and everytime Gillard vs Rudd vs Abbott goes up in lights, the commentator's name shines a little bigger and brighter too.


Published by Media Musings on 7 October, 2011

Where there's a Will there's a story - Mirabella, the QC and the $100,000 gift

Sophie Mirabella in Parliament. Courtesy Kym Smith, The Australian.


Was The Age right to lead with the personal story of Sophie Mirabella and her relationship with the late Colin Howard QC?

Amongst the nation's leading papers there was general acceptance the story was news.

On The Age's website comments were fairly evenly divided. Of those which took a clear position, 14 said the story had no public interest, with one suggesting it was a "very grubby article". 17 posts however attacked the Liberal Member for Indi on her judgment and character.

Meanwhile Daily Telegraph editor and headkicker David Penberthy took what some may say was a hypocritical look at the issue. Acknowledging the story was one of public interest given its questioning of Mirabella's morality, Penberthy proceeded to criticise those commenting on the article too harshly.

Organisations needed to "lift their standard" for publishing views on news comment sections and opinion forums, he said.

Penberthy said the treatment of Mirabella "is merely the latest example of this modern trend towards abusing people first and asking questions later.”

Over at Crikey, who published their own shorter version of the story before The Age, there were fewer comments but a similar spread of views, divided between statements that their article unnecessarily covered a private matter to others that the issue went to the heart of the MP's integrity.

The Age later reported that Mirabilla had not declared $100,000 worth of gifts Howard gave to allegedly assist her in her career-making 2001 election win. "At the time, any contribution for an election campaign of $1500 or more was required to be disclosed," Michael Bachelard wrote.

An unfair targeting of a Coalition MP or just uncovering the grim details of another pollie's shady acts?

Penberthy appears to have a short memory on such issues.

Last month the Daily Telegraph attacked Craig Thomson over the union credit card escort scandal, describing how the Gillard government would fall if he were forced to resign. This month News Ltd reported NSW police findings there was no evidence Thomson had committed a crime.

It may be there is also no impropriety by Mirabella to be found.

"All declarable items have been declared," she told The Age.

The articles however warrant further explanation from the shadow minister. For Penberthy to  focus on the views of those commenting on websites rather than the actual issues at hand seems a surprising shift given his active participation in the recent torrid political environment.


Published by Media Musings on 30 September, 2011

King Ling the servant leader

There’s a biblical verse saying “whoever wants to be first must place himself last of all and be the servant of all”. Few men in the AFL have lived that verse like retiring Geelong skipper Cameron Ling. After 246 uncompromising games, Ling left footy as the humble leader of the most dominant side since the Hawks of the late '80s.

With the red mane of a lion and a heart to match, Ling made a name for himself as arguably the game’s best tagger. While stars like Selwood, Bartel and previously Ablett chalked up possessions at will and Podsiadly, Johnson and Mooney kicked the goals, it fell to Ling to focus on the other side’s best player. It’s a far from glamorous job, trekking the kilometres alongside the nation’s best and fittest, often being found at the bottom of a pack. Like a full-back, your game is judged on the statistics of someone else.  A success is when someone else isn’t noticed.

Off the field the media took a liking to the left-footer. On Before The Game and for any TV or radio station after one, Ling smiled, copped the good-natured flack over his flaming hair and never took himself too seriously. As his comments this week indicate, Ling was happy just to be playing alongside some of those who will be remembered amongst the Cats’ greatest.  “It’s just an honour to work next to you guys. I’m so lucky to be part of this group,” the skipper said in the hours after his latest premiership.


Even with the cup in his hands, with Ling it never seemed to be about him. For the life-long local, teammates, club and city seemed to come first. 

If one is only as good as his last game, Ling can move on in life mighty pleased. Five days after Dane Swan won the Brownlow medal with the most votes in the history of the 3,2,1 system, Ling blanketed him. His close tagging was typefied by a first-half broken nose, after he banged his head into the back of Swan’s.

As ABC Radio’s Mark McClure said, if you matched the two up in a foot race Ling would get beaten my 50 metres over a 100. “But put a football in there and it’s a whole different story,” he said.

Both players ended up with 20 possessions. For a tagger, that means your job is done. For Ling, however, particular satisfaction can come from the fact that when the game and season was on the line in the final quarter, he did more than stop an opponent. He had 6 possessions, the Brownlow medallist just one.

While Bartel and Johnson kicked goals from everywhere to lead the Cats to victory, Ling, fittingly, pounced on a spillage in the last minutes to kick his first and the game’s final goal.

He will himself go down in history, joining players like Hird, Voss, Judd and his mate Tom Harley as a premiership captain.

But it will be for his determination and selflessness, as the player who gave up the chance for individual glory each week for the good of the side, that Ling the player will be remembered. With three premiership medals his to keep, there’s no doubt where this servant finished.


By Matthew Raggatt

Clarifier: what does High Court decision mean for offshore processing?

by Crikey intern Matthew Raggatt

The High Court decision announced yesterday throws serious doubt over the potential validity of offshore processing in Nauru and Manus Island, refugee experts have said. The court’s decision yesterday, placing a permanent injunction preventing the deportation of two asylum seekers to Malaysia, has left the Gillard Government’s Malaysian Solution in tatters but what does it mean for the future of offshore processing in general? Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has referred to the “new test” that was applied to this decision, so what is it and how will it impact on our future asylum seeker policy? John Gibson, barrister and president of the Refugee Council of Australia, told Crikey the decision poses a threat to offshore processing generally. “It is not by any means sure that if any challenge was made to the Nauru and Manus Island declarations that it would necessarily meet the [High Court] test,” Mr Gibson said. Referring to the Opposition spokesman Scott Morrison’s public comments after the release of the decision, Mr Gibson said: “Morrison said deceitfully that the High Court had approved a Nauru declaration,” he said. “It did no such thing.” Mr Gibson said the decision emphasised the requirements for a declaration under s.198A of the Migration Act, which include protection of human rights and protections from refoulement, would all have to be met by any offshore processing facility. Section 198A(3) provides that when making a declaration for a country to complete offshore processing, the Minister may:   (a)  declare in writing that a specified country:    (i)   provides access, for persons seeking asylum, to effective procedures for assessing their need for protection; and (ii)   provides protection for persons seeking asylum, pending determination of their refugee status; and (iii)  provides protection to persons who are given refugee status, pending their voluntary repatriation to their country of origin or resettlement in another country; and (iv)  meets relevant human rights standards in providing that protection.   … The decision reaffirmed the importance of the Refugee Convention, Mr Gibson said. “The High Court… has effectively confirmed that the Refugee Convention is essential to managing how people come to this country, and these standards have to be met, and the nature of the obligations entered into by third parties [nations] are going to be crucial,” he said. The decision clearly stated that the declaration by the Minister that Malaysia provides asylum seekers access to ”effective procedures” for processing their asylum claims, ”protection” for persons seeking asylum and that it ”meets relevant human rights standards in providing that protection” was not valid under s198A unless the country concerned is legally bound by international law or its own domestic law to provide the access and protections set out in that provision. Papua New Guinea is a signatory to the Refugee Convention, while Nauru also entered into the international treaty in June. However, The Sydney Morning Herald journalist Philip Coorey has reported this morning government legal advisers’ beliefs that the full consequences of the decision are to “disqualify” Manus Island and Nauru as valid locations for processing. The paper reported that the legal advice apparently indicates Papua New Guinea fails to comply with seven aspects of the convention. Uncertainty remains over Nauru, as Australia effectively completes the offshore processing for it. Leading refugee barrister Julian Burnside QC told Crikey the decision made other offshore processing options more difficult. “I don’t think [the government] will be able to legislate around it. The Greens won’t provide much help,” Mr Burnside said. “There needs to be [legislative] changes [for the Nauru and Manus Island offshore processing to occur validly],” he said. “Nauru has no domestic legislation dealing with refugees, let alone legislation dealing with the way they are to be treated.” Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has left open the option of processing asylum seekers in Nauru, and the re-introduction of temporary protection visas, The Age’s Michelle Grattan reported this morning. Published by Crikey, September 1, 2011 URL to article and comments: http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/09/01/clarifier-what-does-high-court-decision-mean-for-offshore-processing/

Who’s patrolling the skies?

Crikey speculated on a scaling back of the armed air marshals program and questioned whether there were any guns left on Australian flights. We’re now assured there are, but the numbers are unclear. The Australian Federal Police tells our intern Matthew Raggatt the program placing air marshals on flights remains in operation, but they will “realise efficiency savings” of $16.5 million over four years. 

An adviser to Home Affairs and Justice Minister Brendan O’Connor also confirmed the marshals, known as Air Security Officers (ASOs), would continue to be placed on domestic and international flights.

But the number of active marshals is not publicly known, with the AFP refusing to provide numbers for security reasons. “Releasing this sort of information would contradict this policy, and could potentially allow people to identify the parameters of the program more broadly,” an AFP spokesperson said.

They say ASOs are deployed on flights based on intelligence and risk: “[It] forms part of a layered approach to aviation security that includes a range of comprehensive security measures such as improved security screening at airports, hardened cockpit doors, a uniformed policing presence at major airports, regional rapid deployment teams and specialist bomb appraisal and canine capabilities.”

The ABC reported earlier this month that Darwin International Airport will lose its air marshals on all flights. Then AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty had confirmed in February 2009 that ASO numbers were cut in the previous year. The Australian reported that month numbers of marshals peaked at 170 in 2006.


Published by Crikey, September 2, 2011

URL to article: http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/09/02/tips-and-rumours-532/

What the PR professional of tomorrow looks like

STUDYING media and comms? Matthew Raggatt navigates the changes facing the public relations industry and what it means for graduates.

Public relations graduates will need to be creative and curious to succeed in the future, with the PR industry to undergo a shift towards more strategic thinking, a survey from the nation’s largest PR agency suggests.

In a decade, those in the industry will be known as “communications” rather than “PR” professionals, the survey prepared by Ogilvy Public Relations and the International Association of Business Communicators also forecasted.

Ogilvy PR Australia strategic and planning director Katherine Scott said the survey highlighted the increasing importance of entertainment as a “way in” for organisations to educate their target audiences.

“That means we must both capture and hold their attention, find and tell a compelling story, be interesting,” Ms Scott said.

Thirty-six per cent of respondents said the greatest contribution PR communication will make to clients’ needs in 2021 was strategic thinking and planning, followed by 31 per cent for implementation and execution.

For budding PR professionals, curiosity was the most important attribute, Ms Scott said.

“[They] must be curious about the wider world around them, must be an explorer of all media, naturally inquisitive about the cultural zeitgeist if you will,” she said.

Being technologically savvy will also be essential, with 87 per cent of survey respondents agreeing those that embrace technology will have an “outcome-changing” advantage.

The Sydney-based Scott said the research indicated a growing role for PR agencies in helping “socialise” organisations, increasingly about online engagement with audiences on sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Socialising organisations, viewed by 67 per cent of respondents as the new role for the industry, referred to enabling companies to have better, more meaningful and relevant relationships with their customers and employees, on their terms, Ms Scott said.

University of Melbourne marketing lecturer Greg Nyilasy agreed technology and social media had critical roles in the current and future PR industry.

Mr Nyilasy, formerly a metrics planner with JWT New York, a global marketing communications agency, said the online market provided challenges for PR companies, who now have to compete with digital agencies and social media marketing agencies.

“However, PR [agencies] are in the best position to capitalise on their core competencies, but they need to upskill on the technical front,” Mr Nyilasy, whose time at JWT included work with Microsoft, stated.

Creative and business-minded graduates would be of most value to employers, Mr Nyilasy said.

“Grads must be creative, [and agencies] want someone who has a good understanding of metrics and how to apply that in a strategic concept,” he said.

The reference to metrics hits on the biggest threat to the industry according to the survey respondents, that of how to effectively measure PR success.

Only one per cent of respondents believed that the Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE), the accepted measure of PR campaigns internationally, would be the most important indicator of success in 2021.

The AVE relies on the measuring of media column inches and minutes of airtime and compares this to the cost required to purchase that advertising.

RMIT University communications program director Philippa Brear said the AVE fails to account for the fact that PR now encompasses more than traditional media coverage, and the roles of PR agencies are much broader than they once were.

“The AVE has been on the nose for years,” Ms Brear, currently on the Victorian board of the Public Relations Institute of Australia, said.

Ogilvy PR Australia recently acknowledged that most of their clients no longer used the AVE, with the company to permanently ditch the measure next year.

The company is evaluating the Valid Metrics guidelines, developed by the International Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communications, which would provide a more comprehensive indicator of the success of PR campaigns, and take into account measures such as brand marketing, reputation building, employee engagement, investor relations and crisis/issues management.

In a sign the industry’s own reputation may need some building, 76 per cent of respondents agreed that by 2021 the industry will refer to itself as communications professionals and agencies, rather than having PR in titles.

Graduates can be reassured however that whatever the name, the industry remains healthy, Philippa Brear told Meld.

“The term [PR] has a bad reputation, but at the same time it doesn’t seem to be affecting the growth of people employed in jobs that we define as public relations,” Ms Brear said.

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Published by Meld Magazine, August 4, 2011

URL to article: http://www.meldmagazine.com.au/2011/08/pr-pro-of-tomorrow/

Student attacked and robbed outside State Library

Early one Wednesday morning last month, Malaysian student Kai Ping Tan, “KP” to his friends, decided his hunger couldn’t wait. He left his friends at an internet cafe on A’Beckett St and walked the 400 metres to a 24 hour restaurant on Lonsdale St. Food in hand, he strolled alone back towards his bed for the night. His route took him to the front of the State Library, the street lights shining above.

“Most people had told me it was very safe. I thought it would be safe.”

It was not.

All KP saw as he approached the library was a couple in the distance heading north as he was, and two males sitting in front of the Library lawn.

As he reached the two males, the taller man stood and grabbed him from behind. Punches were thrown. KP went to ground and the taller attacker pinned him, overpowering the much shorter student, due to return to Malaysia just days later.

The attackers knew what they wanted. While the smaller accomplice kicked KP’s hand, which he held near his jeans, the other man made his demand to his victim.

“He said that if I didn’t give him my wallet he would kill me,” KP says.

The pain in his left eye becoming unbearable, KP relented. The attackers took their spoil and, after some final punches, fled. Their undeserved reward was $500 and some Malaysian ID and bank cards. It was the second time KP had been robbed in Australia.

KP is left with injuries above and around his eyes, to his right cheek, his lips, chest and abdomen, and a small fracture in his leg.

Three days after the attack, KP's face still showed his injuries.

For the sophisticated, multicultural and liveable city of Melbourne, these events are more common than they should be.  With assaults on the rise, international students cannot be complacent with their security, police and student representatives say.

Victoria Police figures reveal that crimes against people in the City of Melbourne have increased 4.7 per cent in the last 12 months. Assaults  are up by 2.5 per cent.

Divisional Superintendent for Melbourne region Rod Wilson expresses no alarm at the assault figures.

“[It’s] not a great figure, but it’s not significantly up,” Supt. Wilson says.

While the figures are not broken down to identify the victims, Supt. Wilson’s anecdotal evidence is that international students are not suffering more than others.

“I don’t see international students featuring as highly as they were,” he said.

The statement reminds Melburnians of the uproar following attacks on international students more than 18 months ago. The attacks, predominantly on Indian students, led the Indian High Commissioner to demand better protection for those Indians living, working and studying in Melbourne.

Supt. Wilson says Victoria Police have taken a number of measures to ensure the safety of all in the city, with 120 police officers now on foot patrol in the CBD on Friday and Saturday nights.

Police are also working with licensees to encourage a greater professionalism within the city’s bars and clubs, due to alcohol “fuelling the assaults”, the Superintendent says.

Councillor Jennifer Kanis says the City of Melbourne is doing its part to ensure streets are as safe as possible, with the number of CCTV cameras having doubled in recent years.

“Last year we also introduced the Youth Street Teams [an outreach of the Salvation Army] to assist people in getting home safely on a Friday and Saturday night and we hold a bi-annual Lord Mayor’s student welcome to ensure the safety and wellbeing of international students ,” Councillor Kanis says.

For Council of International Students (CISA) president Arfa Noor, a lack of accurate and appropriate information means foreign students are often overconfident about Melbourne’s safety record.

“They tend to overestimate how safe it is, and take risks they shouldn’t take,” the Pakistani business student at Melbourne Institute of Technology says.

Ms Noor says she was warned at her orientation not to walk home alone at night, but believes the safety information might “sink in” better if students are given it before they arrive in Australia.

CISA is advocating for increased student accommodation close to universities, and for international students to be allowed to purchase concession cards for public transport.

Many international students are leaving themselves open to attacks in efforts to save money on public transport, walking the last part of their trip home rather than buying Zone 2 tickets, Ms Noor says.

Ms Noor and Supt. Wilson agree that opportunism, rather than race, is at the heart of most assaults, with attackers looking for easy targets and a victim on their own.

KP Tan agrees.

“They picked me because I was alone,” he says.

The attack hasn’t stopped KP, who had just completed his business degree in Malaysia prior to his visit, from saying he would one day consider living in Australia.

“If I get a place to stay and a job I might live there, or I might retire there,” KP says from Singapore.

He says he was touched by the interest in his attack, and complimented the police for their efficient response.

A Victoria Police spokesperson has confirmed that after reviewing CCTV footage police are aware of possible persons of interest, however these people have not yet been identified. The investigation is continuing.

The safety of Melbourne remains important for KP, with his girlfriend now studying at Victoria University’s Flinders St campus.

“I’m glad she’s got the opportunity to study [there].

“[But] I couldn’t say I was 100 per cent comfortable with her being in Melbourne,” KP says.

Victoria Police have 24 hour police stations in the CBD at 637 Flinders St and 226 Flinders Lane, and at 36 Wreckyn St in North Melbourne.

Published by Meld Magazine, August 17, 2011

URL: http://www.meldmagazine.com.au/2011/08/student-attacked-robbed-state-library/

International students face tough penalties for illegal work

AN INTERNATIONAL Student Roundtable has called on the Gillard Government to average out the 20-hour weekly work restriction and limit the automatic visa cancellation of students who breach it.

Published by Meld Magazine, September 2, 2011

The recommendations, part of submissions given to the Minister for Employment on Monday, come after an independent review last month found there was a growing number of non-citizens working illegally.

Council of International Students Australia president Arfa Noor said the student representatives had agreed to push for the weekly hours’ restriction to be changed to 80 hours over 28 days.

“The 20 hour condition (makes) it very difficult to get a job,” Ms Noor said.

“(Many students) do end up working extra hours, furthering opportunities for exploitation from employers.”

Ms Noor, a Melbourne business student, said the 30 international student representatives, meeting at Old Parliament House in Canberra, decided to push for a more flexible approach, rather than an increase or scrapping of the 20-hour per week restriction.

“The 20 hour work limit is more generous than (elsewhere) internationally,” Ms Noor said.

And if the limit was increased, Ms Noor said they “were worried that students would end up taking advantage of that leniency”.

“The increased work limit may affect students’ academic results,” she said.

Where special circumstances caused students to breach the restriction, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship should be able to consider those reasons before cancelling the visa, the roundtable submitted.

An independent review by Melbourne barrister Stephen Howells found, while it was not possible to calculate how many non-citizens were working illegally, at a minimum the number was 50,000.

“(And) there might now be in excess of 100,000 non-citizens working without permission,” Mr Howell said.

“In simple numerical terms it is the most significant problem facing Australian migration authorities; albeit a small number when compared with the total number of non-citizens who enter as visitors,” Mr Howell, found in the review.

Department estimates for 2010 place the figure at about 73,000, a spokesman for the Department of Immigration and Citizenship said.

The review found those in breach of visas which allowed some work rights, such as students, were one part of the problem, together with “visa over-stayers” and those who had a visa which did not grant any right to work.

Two weeks ago an immigration operation apprehended six people in their 20s who had been working illegally at the Flemington markets in Sydney.

The Chinese nationals had all arrived in Australia on student visas.

The student visas of four of the people had expired, while the permanent residency applications of the other two had been rejected.

According to a department spokesman, the illegal workers were transferred to a detention centre where they would be processed ahead of their removal from Australia.

“While student visa holders may have work rights, illegal workers in Australia will not be tolerated and the department actively investigates community reports and takes swift action to apprehend non-citizens without work rights,” the spokesman said.

Those with active visas found in breach of their visa conditions face cancellation and potential detention and deportation, plus exclusion periods, the department spokesman further confirmed.

“The exclusion period is three years, however it can be …longer, for instance, if someone was removed from Australia after their visa was cancelled under the character provisions, that equates to a permanent exclusion,” the spokesman said.

Once any exclusion period lapses, a person’s immigration history is considered if they apply for a visa after that time.

The immigration department spokesman also reminded students who may look to focus more on illegal work than study that course records such as attendance and academic performance are provided to the department when international students fail to reach required standards.

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URL to article: http://www.meldmagazine.com.au/2011/09/international-students-tough-penalties-for-illegal-work/

Intelligent(ce) cleaners

‘General cleaners’. Not the most exciting job advertisement. However, this ad was for cleaning positions within ASIO. That’s right, our domestic spy agency needs new people to do the vacuuming.

At first, my suspicions kicked in. Was this really an advert for cleaners, or some secret subliminal message designed to attract the best intelligence minds?

Why did the job require a current driver’s licence? Was the requirement to have ‘a willingness to learn new tasks’ a hint that the heaviest part of the job wouldn’t be taking the trash out? You know, join ASIO to ‘clean’, like you join the News of The World to ‘research’. 

However my suspicions were a little hasty. The advert did after all describe the positions on offer as being for standard business hours. Hardly prime time, one imagines, for gathering intelligence. Some experience in cleaning was necessary. Plus a half-page ad in a metropolitan daily normally isn’t wasted on subtle messages.

I then realised the amazing attribute of this job ad was its explicit content. This was an ad for a public servant cleaning position. Our government departments, courts and prisons may have long ago contracted out their cleaners, but at least our intelligence agency has kept them on the payroll.

And rightly so. There is something reassuring knowing our ASIO cleaners are public servants. When a spook accidentally throws a page in the bin he thought Wikileaks had already revealed, isn’t it good to know that a Commonwealth employee will be the one taking care of it. Public servants are required to act in accordance with public service values, including impartiality. In current circumstances I assume that means passing the document only to an Independent MP.

The public servant roles have a starting wage above $44,000, not groundbreaking but better than the poor private sector equivalents.

But the best part of these advertised jobs? Has to be the supplied uniform. While security guards everywhere now have their company name emblazoned on their shirt badge, ASIO cleaners can look down with pride at the national emblem.  

Yep, life as a Commonwealth cleaner must be very nice and civil. Just make sure those vacuums are low energy.