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Refugee advocate and Liberal candidate for Adelaide Carmen Garcia has criticised Kevin Rudd’s Papua New Guinea asylum seeker resettlement policy – which her party supports – saying Australia is dodging its responsibility on asylum seekers. Asked yesterday whether she supported mandatory resettlement in PNG for asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat and are found to be genuine refugees, Garcia said “I think it’s handballing our responsibilities.” “I think it’s really unfair that a country like PNG that has its own social development ...

Fairfax Media analysis of the Bureau of Statistics jobs data reveals that, comparing the six months to April with the same months two years earlier, Australia gained just 131, 000 full-time jobs - one new full-time job for every five new people. But, in net terms, people born overseas gained 97, 000 more full-time jobs, while Australian-born people gained only 34, 000. The economy created only one new full-time job for every 10 more Australian-born people aged 15 and over. The figures raise doubts ...

One Sydney church has helped to rehouse more than 90 asylum seekers dumped in an inner-city hotel the day after leaving Curtin Immigration Detention Centre. They arrived with the singlets on their backs and $85 to last them two weeks in a cramped room with no cooking facilities. Reverend Andrew Bruce, the minister of St Peters Anglican Church, says Australia's asylum seeker policy is ''heartless, unacceptable . . . a complete shambles''. He was halfway through a sermon on Good Friday when 45 ...

TAFE SA English Language Services hopes to organise classes in Bordertown to be held at the local TAFE campus off of Naracoorte Road. Of course, to be feasible, at least 24 people need to show interest in the classes which would be run as part of the Adult Migrant English Program according to program coordinator Ms Sarah Dumuid. “At the moment we have about 12 people interested, but we really need at least double that number, especially because we would be setting up a brand new ...

I've seen people, wearing the national dress of their homeland, clasping an Australian flag and welling-up with tears as they promise to uphold and obey Australian values and laws.They serve as a reminder of what I term ''the genius of Australian multiculturalism''. It is presently fashionable to declare multiculturalism dead or to blame it for crime and terrorism. Germany's  Chancellor, Angela Merkel, recently declared multiculturalism in her country had ''utterly failed''. To some, multiculturalism is simply a diverse population, and a non-discriminatory immigration policy. These are  ...

Renewable energy firm, TrustPower, has appointed Siemens as its turn-key supplier to construct the Snowtown II wind farm, using for the first time in Australia, world-leading gearless drive wind turbine technology. With the $439 million project formally reaching financial close last week, the Snowtown II wind farm development will be capable of generating 270 megawatts of renewable energy and powering about 180, 000 South Australian homes. Siemens Energy head, David Pryke, believes Snowtown offers some of the most ideal wind conditions for the production of renewable energy. “The ...

It is simply impossible to plot a route through Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane or Perth that doesn't involve bumping into a swarm of construction workers or 'tradies' building the latest addition to an Australian skyline. In a nation where median home values have increased by 86 per cent in real terms from $259, 000 in 2001 to $482, 000 in 2010, property prices still reserve a place in the conversational Rolodex at dinner parties. After 22 years of successive economic growth without a sniff of a ...

The Monash University Centre for Population and Urban Research study revealed huge growth in migrant workers was  stripping opportunities from Australia's job market. Lead author Dr Bob Birrell wrote that Treasury forecasts showed the growth in the number of employed Australians  would fall from 259, 000 in May 2011 to a likely 110, 000 this fiscal year. At the same time, the permanent entry migration program brought a record 214, 000 in 2012-13 and was "encouraging  ...

6. LODGEMENT OF APPLICATIONS AND BIO-METRICS Effective from 10 December 2012, the Australian Consulate in Dubai has made arrangements for applications to be lodged with Australian Visa Application Centres (AVAC) The only AVAC offices in Pakistan are in Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore. Biometrics can be done at time of application. ISSUES RAISED BY MIGRATION AGENTS 1. Most migration agents will continue to lodge applications through Dubai because of the high risk of loss/ theft of documents when sending completed applications (including the DIAC receipt) ...