Australia and New Zealand Immigration News

The new Australian immigration minister Scott Morrison has said that he will be 'tough' on those abusing the 457 temporary work visa. Speaking at an immigration conference in Canberra on Monday 28th October 2013, said 'you will not hear from this government that migrants take Australian's jobs'.

In an attempt to attract a greater share of the world's international students, New Zealand education minister Steven Joyce and immigration minister Michael Woodhouse have announced reforms of New Zealand's rules governing students' work rights while in New Zealand.

They also announced a new 'streamlined and prioritised visa processing' system which will make it easier for some students to apply for visas.

The population of Western Australia grew by 3.4%, or 82,600, in the year to March 2013. 63% of this rise has been attributed to immigration and in particular to an influx of workers with temporary work visas. The population of the state is now 2.5m.

Western Australia is the largest state in Australia at 2,530,000 square kilometres but is home to only 10% of the population. Most of the population lives in the state capital Perth which has a population of 1.75m.

A man from the Pacific island republic of Kiribati is to appeal to the High Court in New Zealand claiming to be a refugee because of global warming. The man's original application for asylum was rejected by New Zealand's Immigration and Protection Tribunal earlier this year. The man's lawyer, Michael Kidd, has said he will take the case to New Zealand's Supreme Court.

A new report commissioned by New Zealand's Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has found that temporary immigration has had, overall, a positive effect on employment and wages for native New Zealand workers.

The report looked at figures gathered by Statistics New Zealand and New Zealand's Inland Revenue to compare the wages and rates of employment of New Zealanders over the decade running from 2001 to 2011.

The report examined the impact of all temporary workers on the New Zealand economy. Temporary workers include

The Western Australian government has delayed the introduction of school fees for the children of international workers in the country on temporary work visas who are being educated in state schools.

In August, state treasurer Troy Buswell announced that the state would require any worker in Western Australian with a Temporary Work (Skilled) visa (subclass 457) visa to pay AUS$4,000 for every child that is being educated in a state funded school.