In this bulletin, a migration crackdown, with tougher rules for international students and visa overstayers, new powers to tackle organised crime in New South Wales. And in sport, Giants captain Toby Greene quits GWS for Geelong.
Key Points
- International students concerned over new visa crackdown
- NSW proposes police have new powers in crime crackdown
- Greene quits Giants for Geelong for family reasons
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TRANSCRIPT
The federal government has unveiled sweeping changes to Australia's migration system, tightening the rules around who can come to the country and who can stay.
The long-awaited overhaul will restrict international students in bringing family members to Australia, stop people using visitor visas to extend their stay, tighten visa-hopping rules and strengthen efforts to remove people who no longer hold a valid visa.
Skilled migrants in areas including healthcare, construction and education will be given priority.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke says one of the biggest changes will end the ability of international students to automatically include family members on student and graduate visas.
"If you're an Australian citizen and your partner is not an Australian citizen and they live overseas and you put in an application for them to come here you have to wait quite some years at the moment if you're an international student and you want to come here with your partner you get them right from the start, what we will be doing for international students we will no longer be allowing the attaching of family members for international students or graduate visas."
The government says the overhaul will help drive net overseas migration down from 292 thousand to 245-thousand this financial year, and 225-thousand the following year.
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International students are raising concerns about the government's new restrictions on bringing family members to Australia.
Saudi student Muath Alqarni, who is completing a master's degree at the University of Melbourne, says he understands the government wants to address problems with the system, but believes individual circumstances should be considered.
Mr Alqarni had been planning to bring members of his family to Australia and told SBS Arabic he's now uncertain whether that will be possible.
“There are certain countries [that] never had immigration issues with international students’ families. I’m really concerned now because I was planning to bring my family to show some members of my family Australia now I'm really concerned if I can bring them to Australia or not."
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New South Wales premier Chris Minns will introduce new crime laws to state parliament, to provide the NSW Crime Commissioner with additional powers.
Under the proposed changes, the Commissioner will be able to seize digital devices when an individual is served a summons, rather than waiting until their hearing.
Mr Minns says the reforms will send an unambiguous message that organised crime will not be tolerated in the state.
"We said at the outset of this wave of violent behaviour that we would listen to law enforcement agencies; the New South Wales Police, the Crime Commission and when they said they needed new laws to confront these new waves of organised criminals we would give them those powers, and today, will give effect to that promise. This will be an amendment to the legislation that's already before the Legislative Assembly. We hope it passes the LA today and it's in law next week before the Legislative Council."
Greens MP and justice spokesperson Sue Higginson says members haven't been given enough time to debate the laws and alleges the changes will infringe upon civil liberties.
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South African police are investigating the deaths of at least eight women whose partially naked and battered bodies have been found near Johannesburg over the past two months.
Six of the bodies have been discovered in just one week, with police yet to determine whether the killings are linked.
Acting Minister of Police Firoz Cachalia says a reward is now being offered for information that could lead to the arrest of those responsible.
"We will leave no stone unturned to bring the culprits to book. We have set up a high level multidisciplinary team, under the leadership of the deputy provincial commissioner, to lead this investigation."
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The Australian Conservation Foundation is calling on the federal government to fund a national platypus survey, to track species distribution and decline.
AFC runs a citizen-science platypus project, which suggests that distribution has shrunk by nearly 25 per cent over the past two decades.
Platypuses are not protected under national environment law but are listed as endangered in South Australia and a vulnerable species in Victoria.
Jess Abrahams is the national forest campaigner at AFC and says inconsistent classifications have impacted platypus protection.
"If a platypus were to be listed as threatened, it triggers a whole lot of legal protections under Australia's national environment laws. It requires a recovery plan to help recover platypus numbers and it would also mean that if a project that if a project were going to threaten platypus that would require some kind of assessment or approval. Whereas right now, changes are made to our rivers and we know they're really harming platypus numbers but there's nothing illegal about that."
Online information published by the federal environment department says there is no evidence of declining platypus numbers and there are no plans to list it for national protection.
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And in AFL, Greater Western Sydney captain Toby Greene has told the Giants he wants to leave the club and join Geelong next season.
The 32-year-old wants to return to Victoria for family reasons and has been offered a three-year deal by the Cats.
Greene has been with the Giants since their foundation season in 2012, kicking 450 goals in 282 games.
The move would see him reunite with former Giants teammate Jeremy Cameron at Geelong.
