SYDNEY: Australia proposed on Thursday overhauling its immigration system to speed up getting highly skilled workers into the country and smoothening the path to permanent residency.
The federal Labor government said the current system used to select skilled migrants — the points test — will be modified to identify people with the correct skill sets the Australian economy needs going forward.
“Our migration system ... is broken. It is failing our businesses, it is failing migrants themselves. And most importantly, it is failing Australians. That cannot continue,” Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said in a speech at the National Press Club.
Australia has been competing with comparable countries, like Canada and Germany, to lure more skilled migrants, with the surge in demand exacerbated by an aging population.
The government said the visa process for high-skilled professionals will be made quicker and easier, while steps would be taken to retain international students.
Temporary skilled visa holders, who had been denied even the opportunity to apply for permanent residency, will be able to do that by the end of this year, O’Neil said. But it will not add to Australia’s annual intake of permanent migrants, she said.
In September, Australia raised its intake of permanent migrants to 195,000 this financial year, up by 35,000, to help businesses battling widespread staff shortages and pledged more staff and funds to speed up visa processing.
From July 1, the government said it would raise the migrant wage threshold of temporary skilled workers to A$70,000 ($46,250) from A$53,900, stuck at the same level since 2013.
Around 90 percent of all full-time jobs in Australia are now paid more than the current threshold, leading to the exploitation of migrant workers, the government said.
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Australia to overhaul immigration system, smooth entry for skilled workers
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Australia to overhaul immigration system, smooth entry for skilled workers
- Home affairs minister: ‘Our migration system ... is broken. It is failing our businesses, it is failing migrants themselves’
- Australia has been competing with comparable countries, like Canada and Germany, to lure more skilled migrants
Thousands in Kosovo march against war crimes trials on 18th anniversary of independence declaration
- Protesters, many wrapped in red and black Albanian flags, braved cold and snowy weather in the capital, Pristina, to voice their opposition to the proceedings in The Hague
- PM Albin Kurti added that ‘the KLA-led war was pure, liberation (struggle) and an anti-colonial war ... a just struggle of an occupied and oppressed people under apartheid’
PRISTINA, Kosovo: An air of defiance marked Kosovo’s independence celebrations on Tuesday as thousands of people joined a march in support of former fighters who are facing trial at a Netherlands-based court for alleged war crimes during a 1998-1999 separatist war from Serbia.
Protesters, many wrapped in red and black Albanian flags, braved cold and snowy weather in the capital, Pristina, to voice their opposition to the proceedings in The Hague against former president and rebel leader Hashim Thaci and three others accused of atrocities during and after the conflict that killed some 13,000 people.
Earlier on Tuesday, Kosovo’s security forces paraded in Pristina as part of the independence ceremonies, and Parliament held a special session.
The war started in 1998 when the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army launched its struggle for independence and Serbia responded with a brutal crackdown. The war ended after NATO bombed Serbia for 78 days in 1999, eventually forcing it to pull out its troops from the territory.
Serbia still does not recognize the 2008 declaration of independence of Kosovo and this has been a source of persistent tension in the volatile Balkan region. As both Kosovo and Serbia seek European Union membership, they have been told they must normalize ties before joining.
Prosecutors at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague — which formally is part of Kosovo’s judicial system although seated abroad — have asked for a maximum 45-year prison sentence for Thaci and the other defendants. Thaci also faces a separate trial on charges of intimidating witnesses that will begin later this month.
Officials and protesters in Kosovo have criticized the proceedings as political and designed to strike a false balance with Serbia whose political and military leaders previously had been tried and convicted of war crimes in Kosovo by a separate UN court.
Protesters at Tuesday’s march held banners reading “History cannot be rewritten” and “Freedom for the liberators.” They arranged metal fences around a landmark independence monument and placed a sign reading ”Kosovo in Prison” on top of it.
President Vjosa Osmani said in a statement that “truth cannot be changed by attempts to rewrite history or to tarnish and devalue the struggle of Kosovo’s people for freedom.”
Prime Minister Albin Kurti added that “the KLA-led war was pure, liberation (struggle) and an anti-colonial war ... a just struggle of an occupied and oppressed people under apartheid.”
In Belgrade, a Serbian government liaison office for Kosovo described the independence declaration 18 years ago as a “flagrant violation of international law.” The statement alleged “systematic terror” and persecution against minority Serbs in Kosovo.
The United States and most EU countries are among more than 100 nations that have recognized Kosovo’s independence while Russia and China have backed Serbia’s claim on the territory.
Thaci resigned from office in 2020 to defend himself against the 10 charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The court and an associated prosecutor’s office were created after a 2011 report by the Council of Europe, a human rights body, following allegations that KLA fighters trafficked human organs taken from prisoners and killed Serbs and fellow ethnic Albanians. The organ harvesting allegations haven’t been included in indictments issued by the court.
Protesters, many wrapped in red and black Albanian flags, braved cold and snowy weather in the capital, Pristina, to voice their opposition to the proceedings in The Hague against former president and rebel leader Hashim Thaci and three others accused of atrocities during and after the conflict that killed some 13,000 people.
Earlier on Tuesday, Kosovo’s security forces paraded in Pristina as part of the independence ceremonies, and Parliament held a special session.
The war started in 1998 when the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army launched its struggle for independence and Serbia responded with a brutal crackdown. The war ended after NATO bombed Serbia for 78 days in 1999, eventually forcing it to pull out its troops from the territory.
Serbia still does not recognize the 2008 declaration of independence of Kosovo and this has been a source of persistent tension in the volatile Balkan region. As both Kosovo and Serbia seek European Union membership, they have been told they must normalize ties before joining.
Prosecutors at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague — which formally is part of Kosovo’s judicial system although seated abroad — have asked for a maximum 45-year prison sentence for Thaci and the other defendants. Thaci also faces a separate trial on charges of intimidating witnesses that will begin later this month.
Officials and protesters in Kosovo have criticized the proceedings as political and designed to strike a false balance with Serbia whose political and military leaders previously had been tried and convicted of war crimes in Kosovo by a separate UN court.
Protesters at Tuesday’s march held banners reading “History cannot be rewritten” and “Freedom for the liberators.” They arranged metal fences around a landmark independence monument and placed a sign reading ”Kosovo in Prison” on top of it.
President Vjosa Osmani said in a statement that “truth cannot be changed by attempts to rewrite history or to tarnish and devalue the struggle of Kosovo’s people for freedom.”
Prime Minister Albin Kurti added that “the KLA-led war was pure, liberation (struggle) and an anti-colonial war ... a just struggle of an occupied and oppressed people under apartheid.”
In Belgrade, a Serbian government liaison office for Kosovo described the independence declaration 18 years ago as a “flagrant violation of international law.” The statement alleged “systematic terror” and persecution against minority Serbs in Kosovo.
The United States and most EU countries are among more than 100 nations that have recognized Kosovo’s independence while Russia and China have backed Serbia’s claim on the territory.
Thaci resigned from office in 2020 to defend himself against the 10 charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The court and an associated prosecutor’s office were created after a 2011 report by the Council of Europe, a human rights body, following allegations that KLA fighters trafficked human organs taken from prisoners and killed Serbs and fellow ethnic Albanians. The organ harvesting allegations haven’t been included in indictments issued by the court.
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