4 years ago
MORRISON GOVERNMENT DOUBLES DOWN ON VISA PRIVATISATION
ANDREW GILES MP
The Morrison Government is proceeding with its $1 billion privatisation of Australia’s visa system, despite delays in the tendering process, according to reports today.
Thousands of Australian jobs are at risk across Australia as well as integrity of Australia’s visa system.
No one believes that privatising the system that controls who comes to Australia is a good idea.
A former deputy secretary of the Department of Immigration said the visa privatisation plan contains “extraordinary risks” during a Senate inquiry into the controversial proposal.
The Community Public Sector Union (CPSU) says visa privatisation could be the new “robodebt” - with the private operator of the system to have “immense discretion” to determine who is issued a visa to come to Australia.
LNP backroom player, Scott Briggs, a close friend of Scott Morrison and a former colleague of Immigration Minister David Coleman — is a major investor in one of the bids to win the contract worth more than $1 billion. Scott Morrison and David Coleman may have recused themselves from this process – but selling off Australia’s visa system still stinks.
In the United Kingdom, where the visa system has been privatised, there are rising calls to overhaul the system following profiteering of visa operators and their exploitation of vulnerable people.
Reports have shown visa applicants can only attend one of just six “core centres” across the country which offer a free service. Or they can go to another 51 which charge a fee starting from £60 –forcing people to travel hundreds of miles or pay high fees in order to submit their applications on time due to a lack of free appointments.
The problems experienced in the UK are an inevitable consequence of introducing the profit-motive to visa processing.
For more than two years Peter Dutton has refused to talk about his $1 billion privatisation scheme because it can’t be justified.
Enough is enough. The Morrison Government must stop its plan to privatise Australia’s visa system, immediately.
Thousands of Australian jobs are at risk across Australia as well as integrity of Australia’s visa system.
No one believes that privatising the system that controls who comes to Australia is a good idea.
A former deputy secretary of the Department of Immigration said the visa privatisation plan contains “extraordinary risks” during a Senate inquiry into the controversial proposal.
The Community Public Sector Union (CPSU) says visa privatisation could be the new “robodebt” - with the private operator of the system to have “immense discretion” to determine who is issued a visa to come to Australia.
LNP backroom player, Scott Briggs, a close friend of Scott Morrison and a former colleague of Immigration Minister David Coleman — is a major investor in one of the bids to win the contract worth more than $1 billion. Scott Morrison and David Coleman may have recused themselves from this process – but selling off Australia’s visa system still stinks.
In the United Kingdom, where the visa system has been privatised, there are rising calls to overhaul the system following profiteering of visa operators and their exploitation of vulnerable people.
Reports have shown visa applicants can only attend one of just six “core centres” across the country which offer a free service. Or they can go to another 51 which charge a fee starting from £60 –forcing people to travel hundreds of miles or pay high fees in order to submit their applications on time due to a lack of free appointments.
The problems experienced in the UK are an inevitable consequence of introducing the profit-motive to visa processing.
For more than two years Peter Dutton has refused to talk about his $1 billion privatisation scheme because it can’t be justified.
Enough is enough. The Morrison Government must stop its plan to privatise Australia’s visa system, immediately.