Abul Rizvi

Abul Rizvi PhD was a senior official in the Department of Immigration from the early 1990s to 2007 when he left as Deputy Secretary. He was awarded the Public Service Medal and the Centenary Medal for services to development and implementation of immigration policy, including the reshaping of Australia’s intake to focus on skilled migration, slow Australia’s rate of population ageing and boost Australia’s international education and tourism industries.

Abul's recent articles

ABUL RIZVI. The Best of 2018: Dutton Sets New Asylum Seeker Application Record.

Why did 50,000 asylum seekers arriving by boat represent a crisis for our border sovereignty while the arrival of a similar number over the past two and a half years by plane is just ho hum? Peter Dutton in 2017-18 has set a new record for the number of asylum seeker applications received. His record surpasses that set in 2012-13 under the Rudd/Gillard government. This is the result of a crisis in our visa processing system (see here) which is likely to be creating a honeypot for people smugglers. The new record will likely be exceeded in 2018-19 as Home...

ABUL RIZVI: Is Minister Coleman Unwinding Duttons Sub-class 457 Changes

Poor David Coleman. Business and employer groups, particularly in regional Australia, have been pillorying him for the ham-fisted changes to employer-sponsored temporary and permanent migration implemented by his predecessor Peter Dutton. Contrary to the traditional approach of past Liberal Party Immigration Ministers, Dutton tightened these categories in a way that shocked business and employer groups. Coleman is now sensibly moving to unwind many of Duttons changes. But can he make the changes quickly enough to satisfy employers around regional Australia and will he get the balance right between streamlining visa pathways, protecting the opportunities of semi-skilled Australian workers, maintaining visa...

ABUL RIZVI. Dutton Sets New Asylum Seeker Application Record

Why did 50,000 asylum seekers arriving by boat represent a crisis for our border sovereignty while the arrival of a similar number over the past two and a half years by plane is just ho hum? Peter Dutton in 2017-18 has set a new record for the number of asylum seeker applications received. His record surpasses that set in 2012-13 under the Rudd/Gillard government. This is the result of a crisis in our visa processing system (see here) which is likely to be creating a honeypot for people smugglers. The new record will likely be exceeded in 2018-19 as Home...

ABUL RIZVI. Dutton Sets New Asylum Seeker Application Record

Why did 50,000 asylum seekers arriving by boat represent a crisis for our border sovereignty while the arrival of a similar number over the past two and a half years by plane is just ho hum? Peter Dutton in 2017-18 has set a new record for the number of asylum seeker applications received. His record surpasses that set in 2012-13 under the Rudd/Gillard government. This is the result of a crisis in our visa processing system (see here) which is likely to be creating a honeypot for people smugglers. The new record will likely be exceeded in 2018-19 as Home...

ABUL RIZVI: Is our Visa Processing System in Crisis?

A fundamental aspect of a well operating immigration system is one that encourages people to apply for the right visa and follow intended visa pathways after arrival rather than use visitor visas to by-pass applying for the right visa. Visitor visas have the lowest level of scrutiny and are the easiest to exploit. But the current Home Affairs leadership has let both offshore and onshore backlogs and processing times increase dramatically with a commensurate decline in the integrity of Australias immigration system. This includes allowing unscrupulous labour agents to use the Protection Visa system to supply easily exploitable labour to...

ABUL RIZVI. What do the new ABS Population Projections tell us?

The ABS has released its latest population projections, updating those it produced in 2012 (see here). So what has changed and how should we interpret these in terms of current policy?

ABUL RIZVI. Morrison says enough to a problem largely of his making.

Scott Morrison says enough to the level of migration to Sydney and Melbourne (see here). Yet he fails to mention that it was his actions that brought about the surge in migration to Sydney and Melbourne in the first place. And more knee jerk decisions wont help, either from the Commonwealth or the states.

An agricultural visa would change Australian society for the worse

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has, for the time being, rejected creation of an agricultural visa in favour of changes to the existing working holiday maker program and the seasonal worker visa (see here). These are unlikely to satisfy demands of the National Farmers Federation (NFF) for an agricultural visa. While most Australians would see this as a marginal issue, they should not. An agricultural visa has the potential to take us down a very slippery slope if the experience of other nations with such visas is any guide.

How the 2017-18 migration program was delivered

The report on the 2017-18 migration program has now been publicly released, more than two and a half months after an exclusive to The Australian newspaper and a short time after the Home Affairs department appeared before Senate estimates. As reported in The Australian, the outcome was indeed 162,417, over 27,500 below the ceiling of 190,000 - by far the largest program shortfall in at least 50 years.

ABUL RIZVI: Is Dutton Frustrated by the Success of Turnback Policy?

After Scott Morrisons success in implementing boat turnbacks, and Shorten insisting he will maintain that policy, Duttons role in this space has largely been confined to scaremongering. At last he has found a role he excels in. But like the boy who cried wolf, is the Australian public starting to see through Duttons bluster?

ABUL RIZVI: Privatising visa processing the alarm bells are ringing (Part 2)

Major ICT transformation projects conducted in partnership with a big IT company are high risk. Privatisation of core government functions such as visa processing are also high risk, especially when undertaken under the cloak of commercial-in-confidence type secrecy. Doing the two together multiplies the risk big time. But that is exactly what the Home Affairs department is doing.

ABUL RIZVI. Privatising visa processing - the alarm bells are ringing (Part 1)

Major ICT transformation projects conducted in partnership with a big IT company are high risk. Privatisation of core government functions such as visa processing are also high risk, especially when undertaken under the cloak of commercial-in-confidence type secrecy. Doing the two together multiplies the risk big time. But that is exactly what the Home Affairs department is doing.

ABUL RIZVI. Morrisons U-Turn on Migrants for the Bush.

Scott Morrison has given another exclusive, this time to news.com, on his ideas to encourage more skilled migrants to settle in the regions and smaller cities and away from the major metropolitan centres. While its great to have a prime minister prepared to talk about immigration and population, he again failed to explain why usage of existing visas for the regions and smaller cities has steadily declined since he first became immigration minister under Tony Abbott and why Peter Dutton took steps to strangle the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme. Will Morrison now reverse Duttons changes?

ABUL RIZVI. Playing God.

Did Peter Dutton breach his own guidelines for ministerial intervention?

ABUL RIZVI: Scott Morrisons Record on Immigration

While Scott Morrison earlier this year publicly disagreed with Tony Abbott on immigration levels, he eventually gave way to Duttons ruse about greater scrutiny leading to the migration program ceiling not being delivered in 2017-18. Will he continue to compromise with Abbott and Dutton on immigration or has he drawn a line in the sand by appointing a moderate in David Coleman as the new immigration minister?

ABUL RIZVI: Will the number of temporary entrants continue to grow?

Apart from Senator Annings appalling speech, the other big immigration news this week was that the stock of temporary entrants in Australia was over 2 million as at 30 June 2018. Since 2012, the stock has grown by over 400,000. This has been a long-term trend since the recession of the early 1990s. But is it inevitable this trend will continue, and if so, is that a good idea?

ABUL RIZVI. What is Dutton Hiding Now?

In announcing the outcome of the migration and humanitarian programs, immigration ministers have traditionally provided extensive details on outcomes against planning levels by visa category, as well as other relevant information (see here for examples of such reports for past years). For the 2017-18 outcome, Peter Dutton rushed to get the news out via an exclusive for the front page of The Australian around a week before the Longman by-election. But unlike past years, Dutton held back the details. The report on the 2017-18 outcome is still under embargo almost a month after the exclusive for The Australian. Dutton is...

ABUL RIZVI: Business migration should focus on establishing businesses not passive investment

While Eryk Bagshaws article of 8 July 2018 screams Millionaires stream in, the Sun Heralds editorial of the same day is a bit more sanguine about the benefits and risks of the Business Innovation and Investment Programme that facilitates entry of business migrants and investors. This Programme and its predecessors, while superficially attractive, have a chequered history as recognised by the Productivity Commission in its 2016 Report on the Migrant Intake and Minister Alex Hawkes decision to initiate a review of the Programme.

ABUL RIZVI: Pezzullos Dark World View is Paralyzing Australias Immigration System.

In a recent speech to heads of international border agencies, Mike Pezzullo, head of Australias new Home Affairs Department, again highlighted the dark world view that, together with the policies of Peter Dutton, is paralyzing our world class immigration system.

ABUL RIZVI. Will Dutton's high stakes gamble wrong-foot the Treasury?

Peter Dutton is gambling with a long-standing pillar of Australias economic and budget success. By making the biggest cut to permanent skilled migration since the recession of the early 1990s, combined with a throttling of skilled temporary migration, Dutton will significantly reduce net migration and therefore our population growth rate. The 1.6% per annum population growth assumption in the recent Budget could be too high by between 12% and 25%.

ABUL RIZVI. Inter-generational inequality, the fertility rate and population ageing.

Australias fertility rate continued its steady decline in 2016-17 and fell to 1.732, close to the level when Peter Costello rang the alarm about low fertility accelerating our rate of population ageing. It is also a level well below that assumed in the 2015 Inter-generational Report (1.9) and in the ABSs 2012 population projections (1.8).

ABUL RIZVI. Is Bob Birrell Right on Australias Skilled Migration Program?

Australia has tentatively begun a debate about immigration both the size of the annual intake and whether the country is choosing the right migrants. Its a vital debate, but one that is open to misunderstanding, to producing more heat than light. With such a sensitive topic, the facts are critical.

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