Newsletter 157

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Tasmanian Skilled Migration State Nomination Program Update – 28 June 2023 

Tasmania’s share of the state and territory-nominated visa categories for the 2023–24 programme year has been released by the Australian government. The distributions are:

Nominated Skilled (subclass 190) 600 spots for visas.

600 slots for the Skilled Work Regional (subclass 491) visa

For any jurisdiction, there are no fresh nomination allocations for the Business Innovation and Investment Programme (BIIP) in the 2023–24 programme year.

This allocation is far smaller than expected. As a result of the high quotas and subsequent number of nominations submitted in 2022–2023, the Department of Home Affairs has recommended that reductions have been implemented across the whole State and Territory Nominated Programme.

Caseload processing details (at 24 August 2023) 
 
Skilled Nominated (subclass 190) visa:  

• Nominations – 0 of 600 places used 
• Nomination applications lodged but not decided – 160 
• Invitations to apply for nomination issued but not yet accepted – 7 

Skilled Work Regional (subclass 491) visa:  

• Nominations – 0 of 600 places used 
• Nomination applications lodged but not decided – 149 
• Invitations to apply for nomination issued but not yet accepted – 42 

Further details on state and territory nomination allocations van be found on the Department of Home Affairs website.

Do you want to enhance your job readiness? 
 
Jobs Tasmania’s Job Ready Fund provides up to $750 to support migrants who have been residing in Tasmania for more than 6 months to get a job. The assistance can be used for expenses such as White Card accreditation, work boots, protective clothing or tools or training.
 The Career Connector service provides personalized career advice, connection to local Jobs Hubs, employment opportunities, service providers, and other programs. The service is avilable to anyone who has been residing in Tasmania for more than six months. 
Free face-to-face Career Coaching, Career Coaching Online Learning Modules and industry information is available from the Migrant Resource Centre Tasmania. These are open to Tasmanian Nominated Skilled Migrants and their family members, current and Tasmanian international students and graduates. 
Have you recently lost work and do you want to reskill? 

The Rapid Response Skills Initiative (RRSI) provides up to $3,000 for Tasmanian Nominated Skilled Migrants and their family members who have lost work in the last 12 months with suitable training and licenses including: 

• occupational tickets and licenses 
• formal education and training (eg. Tas TAFE, other Vocational Education and Training (VET) providers or universities) 
• non-accredited training that is recognized by professional bodies, employers, and other authorities in an area of skill and employment demand – approval or otherwise will wholly be at the discretion of Jobs Tasmania. 

Improving the use of interpreters and translators in court proceedings 

Even though Carl Gene Fordham believes that most attorneys and judicial officials “do a fantastic job” working with interpreters and translators, he asserts that there are fundamental problems that need to be resolved in order to ensure that everyone in the community has access to justice.

On this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy talks with Carl Gene Fordham, an NAATI-certified interpreter and adjunct professor at the University of Queensland, about the difficulties that interpreters and translators encounter during court proceedings in Australia, as well as the reasons behind these difficulties.

Mr. Fordham also discusses the practical steps legal professionals can take to ensure better collaboration, the training and education to be across, and the reasons why making such efforts remain so critically important. He also outlines what he sees as the flow-on consequences if lawyers or judicial officers do not meaningfully work with interpreters and translators.

Malka Leifer jailed for 15 years over sexual abuse of students at ultra-Orthodox Jewish school. 

Malka Leifer, a former principal of the institution, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually abusing two former pupils.

Before becoming eligible for parole, the 56-year-old must complete at least 11 and a half years of her sentence. Due to pre-sentence detention in Australia and Israel, the court will count 2069 of that sentences as having already been served by the defendant.

In April, Leifer was found guilty of 18 charges committed between 2003 and 2007 against sisters Elly Sapper and Dassi Erlich.

“(They were) ignorant in sexual matters until shortly before they got married. They had no understanding of human anatomy, puberty, or sexual relations,” he said. 

Judge Gamble said Leifer started giving “private lessons” to Ms Erlich, where she told her she loved her and felt she was a mother to her. 

He said Leifer “prepared” the complainant for offending and said he accepted this as “grooming”. 

She was extradited to Australia from Israel in 2020 after she spent years fighting calls to face justice. 

Prosecutor Justin Lewis KC told Victoria’s County Court in June that three separate panels of psychiatrists found Leifer faked mental problems to delay legal proceedings, and other experts reported psychotic breakdowns took place only in the days leading up to hearings in Israel as authorities were attempting to extradite her. 

A 2011 judgment concluded she was fit to be extradited and “she had been essentially pretending to be ­mentally ill in order to avoid the extradition”. 

In 2018, another two expert reports concluded the same, and in 2020 another panel of ­experts unanimously concluded Leifer was “fit to stand trial”, Mr Lewis said.