On Wednesday, June 27, the Joint Standing Committee on Migration will commence the first public hearing of this inquiry that looks into the efficacy of the current regulation of Australian migration agents.
The investigation includes the nature and prevalence of fraud, professional misconduct and other breaches by registered migration agents, the current review mechanisms for migration agents and the adequacy of penalties.
The inquiry committee is collecting evidence of the volumes and patterns of unregistered migration agents and education agents providing unlawful immigration services in Australia.
In the first session, the Department of Home Affairs is expected to be the only body allowed to participate as a witness.
In March, the Assistant Minister for Home Affairs, Alex Hawke, initiated a Parliamentary call to review the regulatory framework for international education. Mr Hawke asked the Committee to conduct an investigation into the effectiveness of the current regulation of Australian immigration agents.
Committee chair, Jason Wood, told SBS Spanish the investigation hopes to conclude with a series of recommendations to the government designed to combat unlicensed immigration agents.
Mr. Wood didn’t rule out an increase of resources to protect international students from scams to strengthen international education - a sector that in 2017 injected AUD $32.3 billion to the Australian economy, according to the Department of Education and Training.
For the last four months, the Committee has been collecting background information and receiving submissions from both public and private entities.
So far 34 organisations, including the Commonwealth Ombudsman, the Education and Training Department of Australia and the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), have lodged their submissions.
This Committee is also collecting relevant stakeholders’ views through two online questionnaires,targeting students, immigration agents and education agents.
The market of international education in Australia has been regulated since the year 2000, when the Federal Government created specific norms and regulations to guarantee minimum standards for international students. The main actors are the education providers, the migrant agents and the education agents.
Education agents play an important role in the recruitment of international students. In 2017 education agents were responsible for 73.6% of the enrolments of the more than 624,000 foreign students who came to Australia to study.
However, they are not legally responsible under Australian regulations, as detailed by the Australian Department of Education and Training in their submission to the inquiry starting this week.
The state's oversight responsibility over the education agents is outsourced to the Australian private schools providing the courses. According to the 2018 National Code of Practice for Providers of Education and Training to Overseas Students 2018, it is the role of the "Australian registered providers to ensure that their education agents act ethically, honestly and in the best interest of overseas students and uphold the reputation of Australia’s international education sector."
The 2018 National Code of Practice for Providers of Education and Training to Overseas Students is one of the three regulators for educational services that are overseen by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA). The other two legal frameworks that regulate the industry are the Education Services for International Students Act (ESOS 2000) and the Higher Education Standards Framework (2015).
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【澳洲留学移民】政府希望887签证和187签证移民留在偏远地区
