THE Joint Standing Committee on Treaties has recommended the Australian Government ratifies the Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the United States of America on Access to Electronic Data for the Purpose of Countering Serious Crime (CLOUD Act Agreement).

Committee Chair, Josh Wilson MP said, “If certain conditions are met, the CLOUD Act Agreement would allow Australian authorities to seek an Order under Australian law to obtain data related to a serious offence from communications service providers that operate under the jurisdiction of the United States, and vice versa.

“The CLOUD Act Agreement would provide an agreed administrative mechanism so that providers in the receiving country can comply with Orders without the necessity of law enforcement or intelligence agencies relying on mutual legal assistance arrangements, while still requiring certain steps to be followed for the CLOUD Act Agreement to be properly invoked," Mr Wilson said.

The committee agreed that current processes for obtaining data from United States (US) communications service providers under the mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT) process can be cumbersome and not necessarily suited to modern communications, data storage, and cloud computing. The CLOUD Act Agreement would complement but significantly improve on the current MLAT process for the acquisition of data held by US communications service providers.

The committee did, however, examine a range of issues with the CLOUD Act Agreement, including implications for civil liberties, reporting on and oversight of Orders, and consultation during negotiations.

The committee encouraged the Australian Government to be mindful that consultation, reporting, and oversight were critical integrity elements that should be applied appropriately where surveillance or other incursions into privacy are involved.

The report can be found on the Committee website, along with further information on the inquiry.

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REFORMS to stop rorting of Australia’s migration system are urgently needed, according to a new submission to a government review.

Caps on the proportion of overseas students in all university courses, increased minimum wage thresholds for temporary skilled migrants, measures to stop rorting of skill migration visas, and tightening of family reunion criteria are among the recommendations made by Sustainable Population Australia (SPA).

The group also calls for a lower annual migrant intake (net overseas migration or NOM) of no more than 60,000, so that Australia’s population can stabilise at an ecologically sustainable level below 30 million people.

The submission says high levels of immigration have solved none of the problems it was intended to fix, while exacerbating all of the issues of most concern to Australians, from job insecurity and falling real wages to housing unaffordability, inadequate infrastructure, environmental degradation and greenhouse gas emissions.

The submission is to the Federal Government’s review, A Migration System for Australia’s Future, announced by the Minister for Home Affairs, Clare O’Neil, at the Jobs and Skills Summit in September.

SPA national president, Jenny Goldie said returning to a NOM of 235,000 annually, as currently proposed by the government, would simply deliver windfall gains to property developers, large employers, universities and migration agents, at the expense of ordinary Australians and the environment.

“High immigration leads to rapid population growth,” Ms Goldie said. “Yet the costs of population growth far outweigh the benefits.

“In particular, concerns about demographic ageing causing worker shortages have proven unfounded. The fiscal costs associated with population ageing are more than off-set by lower infrastructure costs in a stable population.”

“Excessive overseas student numbers are weakening our higher education system and placing extra costs on Australian taxpayers.”

SPA has made a number of recommendations in its submission that include:

• A sustainable scale of migration, based on a vision for an ecologically sustainable population and economy, must be the bedrock criterion;
• A NOM of no more than 60,000 a year should include a generous allowance for humanitarian refugees;
• All skilled migrants should be employer-sponsored and initially temporary. Permanent skill visas should only be offered to those who have demonstrated a period of appropriately skilled employment;
• To ensure that the jobs migrants fill are actually skilled and needed, the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) should be at least 10 percent greater than the median full-time wage, that is, the TSMIT should be set at around $90,000 a year, not the current $53,900;
• Caps should be placed on the proportion of international students enrolled in any course, perhaps no more than 25 percent except in courses specifically intended to prepare foreign students for further study;
• The family reunion system should be tightened to reduce its widespread abuse as a method for commercial chain migration. Only those who have gained Australian citizenship should be entitled to sponsor a newly-married spouse. At least five years on a permanent residence visa should be required before qualifying for citizenship.

www.population.org.au

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Further information: Jenny Goldie This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 0401 921 453
Dr Jane O’Sullivan (author of submission) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

THE House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics today released its report Review of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Annual Report 2021. The report focuses on matters arising from the committee’s public hearing with the RBA in September 2022.

Daniel Mulino MP, chair of the committee, said, “The committee’s regular scrutiny of the RBA occurred at an unprecedented time.

“The domestic and global environment had changed rapidly since the last hearing in February. International pressures, including the war in Ukraine, a recovery in local demand as we came out of pandemic lockdowns, and supply side constraints all combined to push inflation to its highest rate since 1990.

"The committee appreciates that several factors influencing inflation could not have been foreseen," Dr Mulino said.

During the hearing, the committee scrutinised the RBA’s approach to monetary policy, including the inflation target; forward guidance on interest rate movements; and the path to bringing inflation down within the target range over time.

“Transparency and accountability in the RBA’s monetary policy decision-making are paramount, and the committee will continue to scrutinise the RBA’s policy responses to current and emerging threats to the economy,” Dr Mulino said.

“The committee also expects the RBA to closely examine lessons learnt from its approach to forecasting and the way it communicated this. Australian households, workers and industries deserve nothing less.”

Other issues the committee canvassed included:

• the interaction between fiscal and monetary policy
• climate change
• housing affordability
• productivity and the labour market.

A full copy of the report is available on the committee’s website.

The committee will next hear from the RBA on February 17, 2023.

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THE Electoral Matters Committee is holding a public hearing on December 19, 2022 as part of its examination of the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Amendment Bill 2022.

The committee will hear from representatives of the Department of Finance, the Australian Electoral Commission as well as legal, electoral and constitutional experts.

Committee Chair Kate Thwaites MP said, "The committee is looking forward to hearing views on how the bill will modernise the way in which referendums are conducted in Australia, and the value in bringing this process in line with the way today’s federal elections are conducted."

"While I know many are interested in highlighting views on issues like the referendum question, amendments to the Constitution or the merits of the Voice to Parliament, it’s important to note that this inquiry will not be examining these matters; our focus is on the provisions of the bill."

Further information about the inquiry, including published submissions and hearing transcripts, will be available on the inquiry webpage.

Public hearing details in Canberra

Time: 10am – 3.30pm AEDT
Date: Monday, 19 December 2022
Location: Main Committee Room, Parliament House

The hearing will be broadcast live at aph.gov.au/live.

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