Federal Government set to maintain record high immigration levels

THE Federal Government is set to maintain record high immigration levels, despite growing concern about the impact on young job seekers and urban congestion.

The Rudd Government has admitted it wants to bring in up to 230,000 migrants annually over the next 40 years, according to a new Immigration Department report on skilled arrivals.

This is about the same number as last year's record intake, which was cut by 18,000 places amid the global recession.

Australia needed to maintain an annual migration intake of between 150,000 and 230,000 people to deal with the ageing of the workforce, said the issues paper, Select Skills: Principles for a New Migration Occupations in Demand List.

"Within the framework, it will be important that those skilled migrants we choose are not only young and healthy, but also have a high level of education, language and skills," it said.

Monash University demographer Dr Bob Birrell said yesterday the latest data showed that young Australians were losing jobs as migrants streamed in.

The number of employed 15 to 24-year-olds fell by 100,000 to 1,818,000 in the year to July, Dr Birrell said.

"The real brunt of the fall in jobs is being felt by young people," he said.

"Yet the Federal Government is barrelling on with its big migration numbers."

Dr Birrell said Australia could deal with its ageing workforce problem through better training and smarter work practices.

A major poll taken after the latest federal election revealed growing concern about high migration, with more than 40 per cent of Victorians wanting it cut.

This was way above the 27 per cent who wanted a reduction during a 2004 survey. It is believed that rising concern about jobs, urban congestion and water shortages is driving negative attitudes towards migration. continues here

Mixed marriage rates rise in Australia

Researchers say the growth in intermarriage is evidence that racism is waning



Most Aboriginal men and women intermarry with non-indigenous Australians, new research has shown.

Analysis of the 2006 census reveals that 52% of Aboriginal men and 55% of Aboriginal women were married to non-Aboriginal Australians.

In Australia's larger east coast cities, the intermarriage rate was well above 70%; in Sydney, as many as nine out of 10 university-educated Aborigines had a non-indigenous partner.

Until the 1970s, hostility to such unions prompted the government to remove their children, creating what became known as the "stolen generation." Researchers from Melbourne's Monash University say the growth in intermarriage is evidence that racism is waning in Australia.

Dr Bob Birrell, who led the research said: "In the US, the social divide between black and white is deep, and intermarriage rates with African Americans is 8%. We don't see any parallel here. Prejudice to intermarriage has pretty much evaporated."

He said a growing number of people identified themselves as Aboriginal – up from 250,738 in 1982 to 455,028 in 2006 – which was further evidence of declining prejudice.

But Birrell said demographics, not politics, were the main factor in the growth of cross-cultural relationships. Intermarriage was "especially high when the indigenous move into communities where they are the minority", he said.

In the Northern Territory – where Aborigines in are the majority – far fewer choose partners from a non-indigenous background. In the capital city of Darwin, 33% of men and 45% of women marry non-Aboriginal partners, while, in the outback, just 2% of men and 5% of women take a non-Aboriginal partner.

Yet despite the growth in mixed marriages in Australia's urban centres, racist notions dating back to the 19th century persist and children of mixed parentage are still described as "half-caste" or "quarter-caste".

Linda Burney, the first indigenous person elected to the New South Wales parliament, said that, despite the figures, indigenous Australia was unlikely to disappear altogether.

"My mother was white, my father Aboriginal but I am Aboriginal. I have one child who is very fair, blue eyed and blonde and the other has a very similar dark complexion to me. Their father was an Aborigine with an English father and an Aboriginal mother," she said. continues here

Homeless players aim for extra time at world cup

They came; they scored, they scarpered. It may not have been a complete surprise for the hosts of the annual Homeless World Cup football tournament but it was still a little embarrassing for the Australian organisers.

At least 15 footballers from Zimbabwe and Afghanistan who travelled to Melbourne to participate in the games decided that they just did not want to play ball. At least, not on the football pitch.

Instead they walked off the field and into the immigration department, where they applied for visas to remain in the country.

A spokesman for the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship told The Times that it had received 15 visa applications from the international teams. She would not confirm their nationalities.

In addition the entire Liberian women’s team were also believed to have missed flights out of the country after the tournament closed and a Kenyan player was still missing, Australian newspapers reported.

The Homeless World Cup, which has been going for six years, offers hope to thousands of players, most of whom come from the most disadvantaged backgrounds in the world. It is aimed at raising awareness of the plight of one billion homeless people and to help them to improve their lives.

While some use it as a step up, others use it as a step out. This year 56 countries took part in the games and 400 visas were given out.

None has expired yet, according to immigration officals.

Organisers of the Homeless World Cup said they could not confirm the asylum reports. Steve Persson, the executive director of the event, said that he thought it would be naive “not to think that it was a possibility”. “This is an international event and this occurs on all international events, including the Olympics, including the Commonwealth Games, including World Youth Day,” he said. continues here