New Minister for Immigration

[Guest pippa1]

How sad am I?

 

Well he's gone...just waiting for new immigration minister....and it is....

 

Chris Bowen??

[chalkyhill]

I couldn't stand the guy - he was alright after the big breakfast but after that he went downhill.

[rgrangana]

For people who are waiting for SMP this is Bad news I suppose. May be it will take months when new minister go through all these policies and take a decision.

[electrical guy]

now dying people can take a breath of life

[Guest FlemingOz]

Good riddance! :v_SPIN:

[Guest MOTO]

For people who are waiting for SMP this is Bad news I suppose. May be it will take months when new minister go through all these policies and take a decision.

Good for people in CAT3 though. :wink:

[User Name]

Good for people in CAT3 though. :wink:

 

And 4 as well.

[George Lombard]

Chris Bowen becomes the new immigration minister replacing Chris Evans, who moves to a jobs portfolio. See Gillard announces her team .

 

Interesting that Evans is going to have a role with the skills side of immigration - you'd expect that the economic modelling input to future manifestations of the skilled occupation list, any new MODL or CSL, and state sponsorship lists. Just a shame that he won't be able to drive the reform of disability discrimination in migration from his new jobs portfolio.

 

Bowen, according to his Wikipedia entry, is an atheist, which will give him interesting discussions with the many religious groups who work in the broader immigration portfolio. Otherwise his CV doesn't reveal any special qualifications for the job apart from growing up in multicultural Western Sydney and being a former mayor of Fairfield. See Chris Bowen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia .

 

Cheers,

 

George Lombard

[rgrangana]

And 4 as well.

:unsure:

[Guest Jamie Smith]

Chris Bowen:

 

37 years old.

 

Like many in the current government, has never had a "proper job" working in a business that has to earn money, he has always been paid by ratepayers or taxpayers.

 

At age 25 was elected to a council and then became mayor, before going into politics in a safe Labor seat. Since then has never held a portfolio for more than 18 months.

 

Has main interest in industrial relations and economics.

 

 

• Minister for Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law (since 9 Jun 2009)
  
• Minister for Human Services (since 9 Jun 2009)
  
• Assistant Treasurer (3 Dec 2007 to 9 Jun 2009)
  
• Minister for Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs (3 Dec 2007 to 9 Jun 2009)
  
• Shadow Assistant Treasurer (10 Dec 2006 to 6 Dec 2007)
  
• Shadow Minister for Revenue and Competition Policy (10 Dec 2006 to 6 Dec 2007)
  
• Entered House of Representatives on 9 October 2004 — General election
  

 

The Hon Chris Bowen MP | MP Profile | Q&A | ABC TV

Home - Chris Bowen - Federal Member for McMahon - Minister for Human Services - Minister for Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law

 

Note that his portfolios are not about change, all are basically portfolios that require maintenance rather than innovation.

 

My assessment, FWIW, is that some people get promoted because they never screwed up, not because they actually achieved something.

 

They get put somewhere to stop the boat getting rocked by other people, but can't design or skipper the boat in the first instance.

 

:policeman:

 

Overall, appears reasonably smart but not a risk taker or innovator. Not good for immigration in terms of new ideas, perhaps.

 

On the other hand, he seems cautious and MIGHT unwind the pace of Evans' reforms and slow things down a bit eg points test review, reviews of all visa systems etc.

 

That would be nice!

 

I think this new Minister is likely to be fairly unsympathetic to business issues (with background in supporting workers and consumer issues ie "victims"), so unlikely to ever speed up or simplify 457 and ENS processing to help employers.

 

He will err on the side of supposed caution ie slower processing and will be a defender of a ponderous bureaucratic system as that is really all he has ever known.

 

He may restore labour market testing for 457 and ENS even though it is ponderous, able to be rorted and inefficient.

 

With his perceived victim protection orientation, he could possibly be more sympathetic to those affected by cap and kill.

 

I don't see him holding up the SMPs as long has senior DIAC staff verify that the States followed the process laid out by Evans for approval.

 

I see this appointment as Gillard putting a steadying and more cautious hand on the immigration tiller after Evans' reckless pace of change.

 

Hopefully the new "safe pair of hands" Minister will see Metcalfe as the vague and political animal that he is and move him along "to further develop his career". :jiggy:

[User Name]

If he is buddies with Evans then it's even more bad news. He might finish off Evans unfinished business like the cap n kill bill.

 

Given no prior experience in immigration matter, I doubt he will do much different from Chris Evans policy.

[Guest Jamie Smith]

Evans will be giving Bowen the usual glossy tour.

 

Now is the time to educate the new Minister about how unfair the system is at present, and how individuals have been treated. That is exactly Bowen's area of interest - supporting the maltreated and disenfranchised.

 

In a few days I will put up the new contact details for the new Minister, and I suggest EVERYONE let's him know what they think of the immigration system and their own status within it :realmad:.

[John Gilfillan]

For people who are waiting for SMP this is Bad news I suppose. May be it will take months when new minister go through all these policies and take a decision.

 

 

Try and look on the bright side for gods sake. The guy hasn't even sat in his new seat yet and you are speculating what might or might not happen. No one knows what he is going to do, he may even be great for us.

THINK POSITIVE !!!!!

[John Gilfillan]

Evans will be giving Bowen the usual glossy tour.

 

Now is the time to educate the new Minister about how unfair the system is at present, and how individuals have been treated. That is exactly Bowen's area of interest - supporting the maltreated and disenfranchised.

 

In a few days I will put up the new contact details for the new Minister, and I suggest EVERYONE let's him know what they think of the immigration system and their own status within it :realmad:.

 

Thats it Jamie, you go steaming in with all guns blazing mate. Very positive. Let the guy sit down first for gods sake.

[littlem]

Let's just hope for once it is good news for all of us! Cat 3 and cat 4!

[Guest MOTO]

I kind of agree with John. Think about it. You just got a new job and all of a sudden you get all these inquiries coming in from different directions. What would your first move be ? Consult with ex-minister. I can just see Evans brainwashing the new guy and telling him how brilliant old reforms were.

 

Hope you get the picture.

 

Regards.

[John Gilfillan]

I kind of agree with John. Think about it. You just got a new job and all of a sudden you get all these inquiries coming in from different directions. What would your first move be ? Consult with ex-minister. I can just see Evans brainwashing the new guy and telling him how brilliant old reforms were.

 

Hope you get the picture.

 

Regards.

 

 

Thanks Moto,

 

glad to see some common sense mate. As far as what I would do. Any time I have moved in to a new position throughout my managerial working career, I have always listened to my predecessor intently, then sat back and made my own mind up about things. I would imagine Mr Bowen may want to put his own mark on the immigration process and not listen to someone who has failed in that position.

 

Cheers,

 

John

[SHANO7]

Unfortunately

 

When you get a new job , whatever the industry particularly office basedjobs you dont get time to settle. Clients require a service from day one and if they have a question to answer why should they wait for somebody to become comfortable.

 

Personally I wont be on his case as I cant see what good it would do but for people that are disenchanted by the service they have received they have to have the right to make contact from day one.

 

I work in the Insurance Industry and know from experience that when someone leaves a company the existing client base remains. We are that existing base for Mr Bowen . He must realise that Evans fuc%&d off thousands of people and that his email, phone or carrier pidgeon will be red hot !!

 

Again I hope that people with SS on SMP or not, are processed with priority . The fairest thing is to not be retrospective. If Bowen implements this fairness from day dot then I cant see him getting a rough ride from Pre July 1st applicants.

 

Once again we wait.

 

Shane

[SHANO7]

And 4 as well.

 

Hu username

 

We are In Cat 4. What makes you think this is good news for us aswell. ?

 

I hope your right

 

Shane

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi George

 

Thanks very much for posting the information on here so quickly.

 

"It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion."

Francis Bacon. The whole essay is below for anyone who wants to read it.

 

Essays of Francis Bacon - Of Atheism (The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, of Francis Ld. Verulam Viscount St. Albans)

 

Having to deal with a few drowning boat people will bringeth Matey's mind about to religion, I suspect.....

 

I am sceptical of people who shout that they are "atheists." Why don't they simply shut up about it since an atheist has nothing to say about somebody else's philosophy and any religious beliefs that might inform his/her philosophy? I suspect that when a pollie trots out the word "atheist," the pollie is hoping that the rest of us might believe that s/he is a humanist instead, but very few people would believe that claim if it were made by a pollie!

 

Interesting that Evans is going to have a role with the skills side of immigration - you'd expect that the economic modelling input to future manifestations of the skilled occupation list, any new MODL or CSL, and state sponsorship lists.

Interesting. I've spent much of the last 3 weeks suspecting that Evans was after the Jobs and Work side of the DEEWR but that he would want to lose Education out of that portfolio. It looks like he has succeeded so far.

 

I reckon that Immigration has proven to be a very bad dream as far as he is concerned and that he will dump everything to do with Immigration with a sigh of relief. I reckon that he will scuttle back to his Trades Union roots in a hurry and that his new Department might as well be called DPTU - The Department for Pandering to the Trades Unions.

 

Just a shame that he won't be able to drive the reform of disability discrimination in migration from his new jobs portfolio.

I'd trust him to push quite hard for this in the new Cabinet. It is said that this is one of the few "causes" involved with Immigration in which Evans has a personal and passionate belief, and he is said to want to make Australian Immi much more inclusive as far as the Health requirement is concerned. I hope that Evans will push Bowen to finish what Evans and Shorten started in this regard. I doubt that Bowen has enough atheist beliefs about disability and migration to do anything except obey Evans, Shorten and the JSCM.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest Tanner]

Thanks Moto,

 

glad to see some common sense mate. As far as what I would do. Any time I have moved in to a new position throughout my managerial working career, I have always listened to my predecessor intently, then sat back and made my own mind up about things. I would imagine Mr Bowen may want to put his own mark on the immigration process and not listen to someone who has failed in that position.

 

Cheers,

 

John

 

First, I congratulate Mr Bowen for being trusted to sit in such an honourable office which can really make a difference in people's life and contribute positively to both Australia her prospective migrants.

 

Second, I agree with most of you that this is a GREAT opportunity to rectify current problems in the current GSM program and a chance to make the system fairer for all.

 

However, I do not agree with holding a machine gun to his head as a mean of welcoming him to the office. Imagine what kind of impression you will be making for the prospective immigrant communities, esp. to someone with all that power. Of course, he will be thoroughly briefed with all the issues, GUARANTEED!

 

Recent events (e.g. Oceanic Viking boat saga), saw many Australians genuinely deplore people who simply blackmail themselves in. As civil GSM entrants, I think there's a difference, and we should provide dialogues with the new minister in good faith.

 

If we get him on our side, I trust we will achieve better results for ourselves. If you get someone on the wrong side, it is hard to try to get them to back down from their own ego (no Chris Evans II please). Australia, like it or not, is a sovereign country after all, who "decides who come to this country and the manner in which they come", as famously quoted.

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi All

 

I have made a mess of this thread. By mistake, I somehow merged George Lombard's thread and Pippa1's thread and then replied to George on Pippa1's thread.

 

It will take me 2 hours to get a reasonable result out of the mess I have made of the posts.

 

Rob (Site Admin - Cerberus1) is not on-line at the moment. I will ask him whether he can go back to the back-ups from before the time of my original post and get the two threads back into order.

 

I am very sorry for the mess that I have made and I promise that we will try to sort it out as quickly as possible. Rob is the only person who has access to the back-up files and I know that the forum does automatic back-ups 24/7, so hopefully he will be able to sort it out.

 

Mea culpa:notworthy::mad:

 

Gill

[Guest MOTO]

Unfortunately

 

When you get a new job , whatever the industry particularly office basedjobs you dont get time to settle. Clients require a service from day one and if they have a question to answer why should they wait for somebody to become comfortable.

 

 

 

 

Shane

 

I absolutely agree with your statement. It applies to those employed in private sector. However, you seem to be forgetting one thing, polies and people employed in private sector are two different things altogether. Who is a polie anyway? Someone who procrastinates for x number of years once elected and only does something when new elections are coming up.

 

Regards

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi All

 

Rob says that he cannot roll back the two threads so as to split the posts into their rightful threads.

 

Having read the whole of this merged thread again, the sense flows OK as it is.

 

The thing that bugs me is that I wanted the merged thread to start with George Lombard's post and to move the posts from Pippa1's thread into George's separate thread.

 

I should have checked the times of the various posts because the PiO software automatically puts all the posts into chronological order if you merge two threads together.

 

I apologise unreservedly to everyone - particularly to George Lombard, Pippa1 and Cerberus1 (Rob) for making such a dog's breakfast of the whole thing.

 

However it does seem that I would merely make things even worse if I ask Rob to split the merged thread now, because there is no guarantee that I would put any posts except Pippa's and George's original posts into the right threads if we now try to make two new threads.

 

I think we'll do less damage if we simply leave the whole thing alone from now on.

 

Fortunately I had already cloned George's post into a new thread in the Agents Information sub-section of the forum so at least the information provided by the expert is prominently displayed somewhere.

 

Once again, please accept my apologies for the muddle and please feel free to shout at me as much as you like for causing the muddle in the first place.

 

Regards

 

Gill

[User Name]

Hu username

 

We are In Cat 4. What makes you think this is good news for us aswell. ?

 

I hope your right

 

Shane

 

The sooner they get cat3 done some of in cat4 will get processed... slowly.

 

As there in constant flow of applications in cat 3, if COs can blitz through them and then process some of cat 4.

 

With SMP, some in cat 4 will be rescued but not all. Without SMP, all in cat 4 gets processed in first in first out basis which I think is fairer.