19th Oct 2023, 10:42 AM – Representatives Migration Amendment (Australia's Engagement in the Pacific and Other Measures) Bill 2023 - Consideration of Senate Message - Agree with amendments and so pass the bill

The majority voted in favour of a motion:

That the Senate amendments be agreed to.

This means that both the House of Representatives and the Senate have now agreed to the final wording of the bill, and so it can now become law.

What does this bill do?

The bill was introduced alongside the Migration (Visa Pre-application Process) Charge Bill 2023. According to the bills digest, which is a document prepared by the non-partisan parliamentary library:

• The Bills provide for a visa pre-application process – a ballot – to be conducted as part of the application validity criteria for a specified visa. This is a process which does not currently exist in the Migration Act 1958 and its introduction would be a new approach for visa processing in Australia.

• The visa pre-application process would be distinct from the visa application though ‘eligibility requirements for registration in a ballot will reflect some of the key objective criteria for the grant of the relevant visa’.

• The insertion of the visa pre-application process is in order to support the Government’s election commitment to introduce a new permanent Pacific Engagement Visa, which is intended to strengthen ties with the Pacific region. The new visa would be introduced into the Migration Regulations 1994 following passage of the Bills.

• The provisions would allow a visa pre-application process to apply to any specified visa, subject to provision in the Migration Regulations and to rules governing the process for the ballot set by Ministerial Determination. Such Ministerial Determinations would be disallowable.

• The Bills provide for the imposition of a charge on the registration of a participant in the visa pre-application process (separate from the visa application charge). The amount of charge is to be set out in regulations, however, the Minister has stated that the charge for the Pacific Engagement Visa would be $25. The Government’s intent in imposing a nominal charge is to encourage only genuine applications for the process, thereby supporting processing efficiency.