The Scanlon Foundation Research Institute’s latest annual Mapping Social Cohesion Report was released late last year. It found that the sense of national pride and belonging has declined to its lowest level since the survey began in 2007. However, the report also indicates that while the sense of belonging at a national level has declined, social cohesion at the neighbourhood level was resilient, particularly amongst culturally diverse communities. This FlagPost explores some issues in the report’s findings related to migrant communities and sense of belonging. Read more...
In 2021, the Australian Government made a series of announcements regarding visa programs to fill labour shortages in the agricultural sector. These included merging the existing Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP) and Pacific Labour Scheme (PLS) into the new Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme and, separately, creating a new Australian Agriculture visa program. This FlagPost examines how the new programs will operate and what the key differences between them will be. Read more...
Following the defeat of the Migration Amendment (Strengthening the Character Test) Bill 2019 (the 2019 Bill) in the Senate on 20 October 2021, the Government has reintroduced the Bill with a number of changes which reflect the amendments moved by the Government in the Senate during the debate on the 2019 Bill. The focus of this Flagpost is to explain these changes and their intended effect. Read more...
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