WEBVTT - The plan to fix a “broken” migration system 0:00:00.760 --> 0:00:03.040 My name is Lily Madden and I'm a proud Arunda 0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:08.080 Bungelung Calcottin woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:10.319 that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the 0:00:10.360 --> 0:00:13.880 Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:16.840 Straight Island and nations. We pay our respects to the 0:00:16.840 --> 0:00:19.639 first peoples of these countries, both past and present. 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:28.440 Good morning and welcome to the Daily os It's Wednesday, 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:30.600 the thirteenth of December. I'm Sam. 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:31.920 That day, I'm Zara. 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:32.639 Thank you. 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:36.239 The federal government has unveiled its new migration plan in 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:39.960 an effort to quote fix Australia's broken migration system. 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:43.320 When we arrived in government, we found a migration system 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:45.600 in tatters. We are going to make sure that we 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:49.880 bring numbers back under control and perhaps most importantly of all, 0:00:49.960 --> 0:00:53.000 that we build a program that delivers for the national interest. 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:57.000 Now, under the new plan, the government will make it 0:00:57.080 --> 0:01:00.560 harder for some international students to live and study here 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:03.440 in Australia. So we're going to outline what's going to 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:06.399 happen and how it will happen in today's deep Dive. 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:08.839 The first Sam, It's making headlines. 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:15.160 An independent report into Australia's education system is calling for 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:18.120 better funding in public schools to close the gap between 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:23.400 advantaged and disadvantaged students. An expert panel made several recommendations 0:01:23.440 --> 0:01:26.760 to improve student well being and performance and increase support 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:32.280 for educators. Recommendations included introducing standardized literacy and numeracy testing 0:01:32.319 --> 0:01:35.600 for year one students and measures to help senior students 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:39.880 transition to life after school. The report's findings are expected 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:43.000 to inform how schools are funded under a new agreement 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:46.280 to be decided next year and implemented from twenty twenty five. 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:51.240 New sexual harassment laws for Australian workplaces have come into effect. 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:55.480 Under the legislation, employers will be responsible for implementing a 0:01:55.600 --> 0:01:59.360 proactive approach to prevent harassment from occurring in the workplace, 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:04.440 rather than a reactive response after the incident occurs. Workplaces 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:07.440 could be investigated by the Australian Human Rights Commission if 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.520 they fail to implement measures to prevent sexual harassment. 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:16.160 The CEO of Netball Australia, Kelly Ryan, has resigned, effective immediately. 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:19.440 It comes as the sport's peak body negotiates a new 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:23.400 collective player Agreement pay deal. Ryan said the timing felt 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:26.919 right to hand over the reins. Since Ryan became CEO 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:29.600 in twenty twenty one, the Diamonds won gold at the 0:02:29.600 --> 0:02:33.560 Commonwealth Games and the Netball World Cup. Executive General Manager 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:37.520 Stacy West has been appointed Netball Australia's acting CEO. 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:41.079 And the good news three Aussies are in the running 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:44.640 for a Golden Globe Award. Margot Robbie, Sarah Snook and 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:48.120 Elizabeth de Bickie have all been nominated. Robbie is up 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:50.760 for Best Female Actor in a Comedy for Barbie, whilst 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:53.200 Snook has been nominated for Best Female Actor in a 0:02:53.240 --> 0:02:57.600 TV Show for her portrayal of Shivroy in Succession. Debicki 0:02:57.720 --> 0:02:59.840 is up for Best Female Supporting Actor in a TV 0:02:59.840 --> 0:03:02.840 Show Award, and that is for her performance as Princess 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:05.520 Diana in The Crown. The ceremony will take place on 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:12.200 the seventh of January. So Sam, Yesterday we uploaded a 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:16.280 story on Instagram about the government's new migration plan and 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:19.480 the very first comment we got was from someone called Jess, 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:23.760 who commented, would love a deep dive on the pod, Suggess. 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:26.120 If you are listening your wish is our command and 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:29.400 today we are going to deep dive into that topic. 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:33.280 So it's the government's new migration strategy and it came 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:36.280 as a result of a review of our country's migration 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:39.560 system and basically maps out where to from here. 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:42.160 How good is that for a feedback loop with the 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:44.840 audience that you can request a deep dive in the 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:47.960 comments and the next day here it is. So I'm 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:51.000 keen to dive into this. Why was there a review 0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:51.760 in the first place. 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:56.160 So, as we all know, migration to Australia during COVID 0:03:56.280 --> 0:03:59.680 nineteen all but stopped. We had, of course, those hard 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:03.440 borders closures and very very strict rules for letting people 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:07.000 into the country, so not many people arrived from overseas 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:11.400 between twenty twenty and twenty twenty one. But then naturally, 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:15.240 as the borders opened and Australia kind of re emerged 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:19.080 from COVID, we had waves of people coming into the 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:22.520 country and in the year to March twenty twenty three, 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:25.839 net migration to Australia grew by more than four hundred 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:27.440 and fifty thousand people. 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:29.440 Give me a sense of where that fits in terms 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:30.880 of the usual average. 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:34.000 So it's a lot. The average in the years before 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:37.279 COVID was about two hundred thousand a year, so wow, 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:41.080 double that and then some. And essentially what the government 0:04:41.200 --> 0:04:45.480 is saying is that those migration levels are unsustainable. Home 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:47.760 Affairs Minister Claire O'Neil went so far as to say 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:50.760 that the migration system here is broken, and she said 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:53.960 that the government needed a plan to bring migration numbers 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:54.719 back to normal. 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:58.160 When we arrived in government, we found a migration system 0:04:58.160 --> 0:05:00.680 in tatters. It was a system that it wasn't working 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:03.479 for workers, that wasn't working for business, and that was 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:07.800 not oriented towards meeting our national interest. Our government has 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:11.440 picked up this really ambitious reform project and what will 0:05:11.440 --> 0:05:14.200 be launching to you today is a plan that will 0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:17.000 see us address those major challenges in the system. We 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:19.560 are going to make sure that we bring numbers back 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:23.120 under control, that we build a better planned system around 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:26.920 essential things like housing, and perhaps most importantly of all, 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:30.040 that we build a program that delivers for the national interest. 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:33.400 So here's the problem as the government sees it, and 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:36.039 this was what was set out in their strategy. I 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:38.159 think there are like five main problems, but i'll just 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:41.800 summarize them Essentially, the reason that they think that there 0:05:41.839 --> 0:05:44.160 needs to be a new strategy is there are too 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:48.359 many instances of migrant worker exploitation, There are loopholes in 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:50.800 the system that are allowing people to stay in Australia 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:54.760 longer than they should be. There is quote insufficient regard 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:59.080 for pressures on housing and infrastructure in Australia, and skilled 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:02.359 people are being turned off by what they call a 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:07.040 very complex and cumbersome migration system. So according to the government, 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:10.120 that is why they have released this new strategy. They 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:13.159 say that all needs to change in order for Australia 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:13.760 to move forward. 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:15.640 And I think we can all agree that trying to 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:19.960 change a system is complex and as in demand as 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:23.400 our migration system is really ambitious. And the government sets 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:27.400 some pretty ambitious goals and even labeling that problem and 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:29.960 trying to overcome it, how are they going to actually 0:06:30.279 --> 0:06:31.080 fix the system? 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:33.520 Yeah, So, I mean, there are a few elements to 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:36.680 the plan, but I want to start with international students 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:40.240 because I think that that probably overlaps quite significantly with 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:44.800 the people listening today. So international students make up the 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:48.760 largest share of what's called permanently temporary, which sounds like 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:52.560 an oxymoron migrants, so that describes those who have lived 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:56.800 in Australia for years but without permanent residency. This year, 0:06:57.080 --> 0:07:01.000 nine hundred thousand international students are enrolled to study in Australia. 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:05.000 That's two point five percent higher than before COVID and 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:07.719 more than one hundred thousand students and graduates have lived 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:11.080 in Australia for more than five years. And the government 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:14.400 has said that students in this category are vulnerable to 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:18.440 exploitation and are often working below their skill levels. 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:19.640 And how is that going to change that? 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:22.600 So essentially it's going to be harder for international students 0:07:22.640 --> 0:07:25.880 to come to Australia. So students will need to get 0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:30.160 a higher minimum result on a standardized English language test, 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:32.800 so they'll have to complete that test and get a 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:36.239 higher result in order to come study here. The government 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:38.440 is also going to roll out something that's called the 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:42.320 Genuine Student Test, and that will determine whether a visa 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:46.480 applicants primary intention is to work rather than to study. 0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:48.640 I think it's fair to say there were some strong 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:52.560 opinions about that in our comment section yesterday. I think 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:55.120 not everyone agreed that that was the best way forward. 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:59.520 Those aren't the only reforms in relation to international students, 0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:03.280 though the government will also target what's called ghost schools, 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:06.920 where some students are allegedly enrolled in study to get 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:10.920 a visa without actually attending classes. So now the Home 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:14.320 Affairs Minister will have the power to deem education providers 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:17.840 as high risk and essentially what that means is that 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:21.160 visa applications from those providers will be subject to more 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:25.040 scrutiny before being granted and they'll take longer to process. 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:27.760 Okay, So moving away from international students, what else did 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:30.080 the government announce to reform the system? 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:33.439 So the government said that it is going to target 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:37.720 the sponsorship program. So sponsors are employers who employ a 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:41.600 migrant worker and in exchange, they vouch for them, and 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:44.679 it's a system that's seeing temporary migrants come to depend 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:48.199 on one single employer because when you're sponsored, you're kind 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:51.720 of limited in changing workplaces because they're the reason that 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:54.040 you're in the country or that you can stay in 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:57.120 the country. Rather, the government says there have been some 0:08:57.320 --> 0:09:01.240 cases of workers being exploited under this ship's system. So 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:04.760 it's setting up an approved list of employers that can 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:08.640 sponsored temporary migrant workers and they'll have to update details 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:11.560 like how many migrant workers they employ and so on. 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:14.640 The government's also bringing in this thing called a Skills 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:17.720 in Demand visa, which it says will give some workers 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:21.280 a path to permanent residents. And remember we said that 0:09:21.320 --> 0:09:24.080 there was this skills shortage that the government had identified, 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:27.120 so that is their way of rectifying that issue. Not 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:30.920 everyone agrees those Shadow Immigration Minister Dan tian So, the 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:36.560 coalition's immigration spokesperson, so that changing the sponsorship system could 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:40.560 adversely impact the amount of temporary migrants working in hospitals 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:43.680 and schools, working in regional areas, and he said the 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:46.719 government's treated regional Australia as an afterthought. 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:48.640 What else has been the response to the announcement. 0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:52.200 Well, Dantean said that the government had quote opened the 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:56.360 doors to record migration when Australians were suffering from housing 0:09:56.360 --> 0:10:01.000 shortages and a rental crisis. And there's certain may emerged 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:03.840 as a bit of a talking point in politics this week, 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:07.920 this idea that because we have high numbers of migrants 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:11.360 coming into the country, that that is directly impacting the 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:14.600 housing crisis that we're experiencing in the country at the moment. 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:18.360 The Greens, as expected, did not agree with the Opposition 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:21.839 on this one. They accused Labor of blaming migration for 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:25.080 the crisis and said there's very little difference between the 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:29.160 major parties. According to Nick McKim, who is the Greens' 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:33.800 immigration spokesperson, he said Australia's housing crisis has been caused 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:37.400 by forty years of deliberate underinvestment in social housing by 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:40.920 both major parties. So the Greens, they're trying to kind 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:45.360 of dismantle this argument that migration is somehow directly impacting 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:49.840 the housing crisis. The government did acknowledge the strain on 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:53.000 housing and infrastructure, as I mentioned at the top, but 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:56.360 it certainly seemed to be part of this broader migration 0:10:56.480 --> 0:10:59.000 strategy that they're looking to bring in. So it's a 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:02.320 major chain to our system and it'll be really interesting 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:04.760 to see how that unfolds and what it looks like 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:08.640 and how it actually impacts those migration numbers and who 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:11.080 is coming into the country in the years to come. 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:13.360 So this is one of the last kind of major 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:17.160 reforms we're going to hear about this year from Australian politics. 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:20.960 Politicians take a bit of time off over December and January, 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:24.760 so we'll expect this conversation to ramp up again when 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:28.320 Parliament returns in the new year. That's all we've got 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:31.040 time for today on the Daily OS. Remember this whole 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:34.120 episode was based on a comment that we got on 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:37.480 Instagram from a listener. But you don't have to hop 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:38.839 over bit to Instagram if you don't want to. You 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:42.079 can actually just comment in Spotify on this episode. Give 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:44.640 us your thoughts, send us in the direction of the 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:48.120 conversations you want to hear, and we'll do our best 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:51.280 to chase those stories down for you. We'll be back 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:59.320 again tomorrow morning. Until then, have a wonderful Wednesday.