Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will make it easier for Indians to work or study in Australia after last week signing an agreement with counterpart Narendra Modi to expand immigration.
“Prime Minister Albanese conveyed to Prime Minister Modi that his government would facilitate the efficient and timely processing of student visa applications for Indian nationals who are offered admission by Australian universities and other vocational training institutes”, both Prime Ministers said in a joint statement on Friday (India time).
“The Prime Ministers expressed satisfaction at the deep and vibrant people-to-people ties between the two countries, which is energised by the 976,000 Australians of Indian descent, and agreed to further strengthen this special bond”, the statement reads.
“The Prime Ministers tasked the concerned officials on both sides to expedite the conclusion of an ambitious and balanced MMPA within the next three months, which will promote and support the mobility of students, graduates, academic researchers, business people and other professionals now and into the future”.
Anthony Albanese also announced he would expand Australia’s visa processing capability “to enhance the immigration relationship”.
This followed the signing earlier in the week of the Mechanism for Mutual Recognition of Qualifications so that “Indian qualifications will be recognised in Australia”.
This agreement, which has clearly been drafted by India, requires Australia to recognise all Indian:
- Senior secondary education qualifications awarded by a relevant board or council of senior secondary education or awarded by any other authority empowered by the Government of India.
- Technical and vocational education and training qualifications awarded by institutions approved by the All-lndia Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and/ or National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET) and/or its equivalent body and State Councils for Vocational Training (SCVT).
- Higher education qualifications awarded by institutions authorised by the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All-lndia Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), as well as other equivalent bodies.
Australia is required to deem Indian vocational and university graduates to be “holding the comparable AQF qualification for the purposes of admission to higher education”.
Most importantly, “the Government of Australia will deem graduates with the qualifications listed in paragraph 12 [directly above] to be holding comparable Australian qualifications for the purposes of general employment, where such qualifications are required”.
So basically, Indian vocational and university graduates will now be allowed to work in Australia on the same terms as local graduates.
This is concerning as the Indian tertiary education system is far inferior to Australia’s, with their best university ranked at a lowly 415th in the world (and the lowest at just 1994th).
In turn, Anthony Albanese has rubber stamped a tsunami of migrant arrivals from India that will further suppress wage growth and exacerbate infrastructure and housing strains across Australia.
Australia’s youth will be shut out of rental accommodation and jobs by Indians prepared to work for much lower salaries. Older Australians will also find themselves increasingly unemployable over 50.
It is another treasonous betrayal of Australian workers by a fake “Labor” Party that is every bit as corrupt and neoliberal as the Coalition, only with a woke coat of paint.
Why aren’t the Unions pushing back against this deal? Why aren’t they representing Australian workers?
