Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs
Child Migrants Trust — extension of funding
| 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs | - | - | - | - |
The Government will provide $0.5 million over three years to continue funding for the Child Migrants Trust in order to provide counselling and family tracing services for former child migrants from England and Malta who arrived in Australia post World War II. The cost of this measure will be fully met from within the existing resources of the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs.
Further information can be found in the press release of 11 October 2005 issued by the Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs.
Counter-terrorism — developing a national action plan to address intolerance and the promotion of violence
| 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs | 5.9 | - | - | - |
The Government will provide $5.9 million in 2005-06 to develop and implement a national action plan to address intolerance and the promotion of violence, as a component of its broader counter‑terrorism strategy. The initiatives will include Muslim community liaison, community partnership projects, a national youth summit, and media and leadership training for Muslim leaders.
Further information can be found in the press release of 27 September 2005 issued by the Prime Minister.
Indigenous Land Reform — Northern Territory township tenure
| 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs | - | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
The Government will provide up to $15.0 million over five years (including $3.0 million per annum in 2009‑10 and 2010-11) to the Northern Territory Government to administer a new township tenure model following amendments to the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 and relevant Northern Territory legislation. The township tenure model will facilitate Indigenous home ownership and economic development on Indigenous land in the Northern Territory.
See also the related expense measures titled Indigenous Land Reform — Home Ownership on Indigenous Land Programme and Indigenous Land Reform — Home Ownership Incentive Programme in the Employment and Workplace Relations and the Family and Community Services portfolios, respectively.
Further information can be found in the press release of 5 October 2005 issued by the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs.
Migration legislation — amendments
| 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs | 9.3 | - | - | - |
| Refugee Review Tribunal | 2.5 | - | - | - |
| Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman | 1.6 | 1.6 | - | - |
| Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet | 0.6 | - | - | - |
| Total | 13.9 | 1.6 | - | - |
| Related capital ($m) | ||||
| Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman | 0.4 | - | - | - |
| Refugee Review Tribunal | 0.3 | - | - | - |
| Total | 0.7 | - | - | - |
The Government will provide $16.2 million over two years to implement more flexible and timely immigration detention arrangements arising from amendments to the Migration Act 1958 through the Migration Amendment (Detention Arrangements) Act 2005. These changes will enable the detention of families with children to take place in the community and introduce processing time limits on the determination of primary protection visas and on reviews by the Refugee Review Tribunal. This measure includes $0.7 million in capital funding in 2005-06 for information technology and office fit-out.
The changes will also provide the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman with a specific role in reviewing the cases of long-term detainees.
The funding for the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet will enable it to oversight these changes.
Further information can be found in the press release of 17 June 2005 issued by the Prime Minister.
National security — introducing a maritime crew visa
| 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs | 7.4 | 6.0 | 11.9 | 12.7 |
| Australian Customs Service | 0.4 | 3.8 | 9.0 | 9.4 |
| Australian Security Intelligence Organisation | - | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.2 |
| Total | 7.8 | 10.9 | 22.0 | 23.2 |
| Related capital ($m) | ||||
| Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs | 4.7 | - | - | - |
| Australian Customs Service | 0.5 | 4.3 | 2.8 | - |
| Australian Security Intelligence Organisation | - | 0.4 | 0.3 | - |
| Total | 5.1 | 4.8 | 3.1 | - |
The Government will provide $100.4 million over five years (including $23.3 million in 2009-10) to implement a visa requirement for all maritime crew arriving in Australia. This measure will strengthen Australia’s border control mechanisms through increased security checking of maritime crew.
The measure provides funding for the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) to implement and monitor the new visa sub-class, including increased compliance activity and improved information technology connectivity.
The measure also provides funding to enable the faster boarding of vessels by the Australian Customs Service (Customs) to conduct face-to-passport checking of sea crew arriving in Australia, and to enable Customs’ data to be captured on DIMIA’s movements record database.
The measure includes $13.1 million in capital funding for the development and implementation of essential information technology systems and office fit-out.
Palmer and Comrie Reports — implementation plan
| 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs | 35.7 | 51.8 | 36.1 | 35.6 |
| Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman | 3.8 | 3.1 | 3.6 | 3.6 |
| Total | 39.6 | 54.9 | 39.7 | 39.2 |
| Related capital ($m) | ||||
| Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs | 8.8 | 2.6 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman | 0.7 | - | - | - |
| Total | 9.5 | 2.6 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
The Government will provide $243.7 million over five years (including $38.4 million in 2009-10) to implement its response to the Inquiry into the Circumstances of the Immigration Detention of Cornelia Rau (the Palmer Report) and the Inquiry into the Circumstances of the Vivian Alvarez Matter (the Comrie Report). This measure will improve training, accountability, culture, client focus, information management and quality assurance in the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, and case management and mental health services for detainees.
This measure will also provide the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman with an expanded role in handling and investigating immigration complaints and broader detention issues.
The measure includes $12.2 million in capital funding over four years for information technology upgrades.
The cost of this measure will be partially offset by $22.2 million provided from the existing resources of the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs.
Further information can be found in the press release of 6 October 2005 issued by the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, the Palmer implementation plan, which is available on the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs’ website (www.immi.gov.au) and the Comrie Report, which is available on the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s website (www.ombudsman.gov.au).