澳洲各大媒体及移民相关机构对PT新政的评论
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大家先看英文版的吧。一会儿指南针会分别为大家写个摘要。
来自ABC新闻的
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/11/11/3063897.htm
Migration test to target highly skilledBy Meredith Griffiths and staff
Updated Thu Nov 11, 2010 8:25pm AEDT
Audio: Skilled migrants will need better English and higher qualifications (PM)
The Federal Government has announced changes to its skilled migration test in an overhaul designed to favour people with higher skills.
The review of the general Skilled Migration Points Test will make it harder for overseas students with low-quality Australian qualifications to get permanent residency.
The new points test favours workers who are aged between 25 and 32 and have a higher level of English as well as more qualifications and work experience.
It is designed to work alongside the new Skills Occupation Lists announced by the Government in July.
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen says a small number of occupations have been able to dominate the points test.
"For too long we've had a situation that Harvard graduates, in say environmental science with extensive work experience, would not qualify for skilled migration to Australia whereas someone with a 60-point occupation with a small amount of work experience would," he said.
But Mr Bowen would not specify which professions dominated the points test.
"Anybody who is highly skilled and who feels they have a contribution to make to the Australian economy should be able to make that application and not feel inhibited because their particular profession - and it may be a highly skilled and highly sought after profession - is not any arbitrary list," he said.
"What I'm concerned about is that somebody could nominate a particular profession and not have what would be regarded as a high level of qualifications and skills, and just because they've nominated that particular profession or trade, be able to have that virtually assure their claim for skilled migration into Australia."
He says that system is not giving Australia the problem-solvers it needs.
"The reforms I'm announcing mean the general skilled migration program will deliver a supply of migrants whose skills will be in demand in the medium and long-term and who possess high levels of human capital to enable them to compete in labour market through all stages of the economic cycle," he said.
The new system will come into effect in the middle of next year if approved by Parliament.
Severing ties
Thursday's announcement follows on from changes in May when the Government reduced the number of occupations listed in its skilled migration program.
Mr Bowen says the new test has been devised after extensive consultation and he says it is designed so that no one factor guarantees a visa.
Currently applicants can obtain 50 per cent of the pass mark just by nominating certain occupations.
Now, no points will be awarded on the basis of occupation.
The test will be changed to emphasise the importance of high-level qualifications, work experience and high proficiency in English.
That has already angered the Restaurants and Caterers Association.
Association chief executive John Hart says it will be harder to fill the 5,000 vacant positions.
"The English language level requirement is already very difficult for particularly cooks from offshore to get past, and the reality is that they don't need English language to work in an Italian restaurant or a German restaurant or a Chinese restaurant," Mr Hart said.
"To be honest, most Australians like the fact that it's authentic Chinese or Italian cuisine and we're not going to bring those sort of cooks and chefs into the country."
But Monash University demographer Bob Birrell says cooks were excluded from this system under the earlier changes in May, and can be nominated by employees.
Dr Birrell says all the changes the Government has made this year will go a long way to severing the link between migration and Australia's education sector.
"It's not so much that it's harder, it's rather that the advantages were there for people applying onshore - particularly former overseas students to gain selection - have been reduced sharply; we now have much more of a level playing field for the visas that are available," he said.
Relevant
The new system tries to recognise the value of foreign qualifications while still encouraging people to study at Australian institutions.
But Robert Atcheson from the Council of International Students, says many students already here will be disadvantaged because now the maximum points will go to people who are 25 to 32 years old.
He says most foreign students are under 25, with little work experience.
"They do give you more points for your employment, both Australia and overseas," he said.
"There again it has to be relevant to your occupation; so you may have an international student that comes over here and waits tables four or five years if they're doing a combined degree, but of course none of that counts and in order to get relevant work experience, they're only going to be able to get a maximum of five points under that 18-month transitional visa.
"So it's not really going to do a whole lot for international students in that category."
But Mr Atcheson says he is grateful that the Government has released the proposed changes more than seven months before they will take effect.
Tags: community-and-society, immigration, unemployment, work, australia
First posted Thu Nov 11, 2010 4:20pm AEDT
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