Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move to the Migration Amendment (Regulation of Migration Agents) Bill 2019 Greens amendments (1) and (2) on sheet 8957:

(1) Clause 2, page 2 (table item 1), omit "Sections 1 to 3", substitute "Sections 1 to 4".

(2) Page 3 (after line 11), after clause 3, insert:

4 Independent review of operation of Schedule 1

(1) The Minister must cause an independent review to be conducted of the operation of the amendments made by Schedule 1 to this Act.

(2) Without limiting the matters to be covered by the review, the review must consider the performance of:

(a) immigration lawyers; and

(b) legal profession complaints handling systems and disciplinary procedures with respect to the activities of immigration lawyers.

(3) The review must:

(a) start as soon as practicable after the end of 3 years after Schedule 1 commences; and

(b) be completed within 6 months.

(4) The persons who conduct the review must give the Minister a written report of the review.

(5) The Minister must cause a copy of the report to be tabled in each House of the Parliament within 15 sitting days of that House after the report is given to the Minister.

(6) In this section:

immigration lawyer means an Australian legal practitioner who provides immigration assistance, as defined in section 276 of the Migration Act 1958.

I'll only speak very briefly to these amendments. I'll make the point that the Productivity Commission in an annual review of regulatory burdens on business and consumer services recommended that dual regulation should cease, and I acknowledge that's effectively what this bill does. However, the Productivity Commission went on further to recommend:

An independent review of the performance of these immigration lawyers and the legal professional complaints handling and disciplinary procedures, with respect to their activities, should be conducted three years after an exemption becomes effective.

What this amendment does is seek to give effect to that Productivity Commission recommendation. I don't understand why the government has not included a statutory three-year review in this legislation. It's simply good practice when you make a change of this nature which has the potential to impact significantly on the way that people practising as migration agents are regulated and, more importantly, has the potential to impact significantly on clients of people who act as migration agents. In those circumstances, we think this is a very practical and sensible amendment.

The Migration Institute of Australia has argued that the current system and registration of migration agents that currently captures lawyers includes robust complaints mechanisms and codes of conduct which, when complaints are lodged, set off thorough investigations. This, they further argue, ensures a better quality and better qualification of migration agent services. The review that we're seeking to insert into this legislation will be able to assess, after three years, whether that was or was not the case. It will be in everyone's best interests to know whether or not that is in fact the case. We are moving this for many reasons and on behalf of many people, but most particularly we are moving it on behalf of people who are clients of people acting as migration agents, because it is in all of our interests that people receive the very best advice, and a statutory three-year review would assist in that aim.