For years both the left and right of politics have been busy pushing “open borders” and trying to banish debate about the size of Australia’s population from the public square. Instead of sensible debate we have had name calling (“anti-immigration, xenophobic, selfish”) and media de-platforming.
The vacuum this has created has left way too much room for greedy charlatans. It has corrupted our universities, who used to be about academic excellence and the pursuit of truth and free speech, but now have a business model which is all about profit from international students to pay outrageously high executive salaries. The coronavirus pandemic has laid bare the extent to which they have lost the plot.
Now we learn, courtesy of the New South Wales inquiry into Crown Casino, that the gambling corporation Crown has been abusing the so called high roller scheme and has been engaged in visa fraud. As long ago as 2010 the Department of Foreign Affairs said that “An analysis of (visa) applications lodged by Crown reveals that very few are part of the high-roller scheme”.1
The Departmental email went on to say that “A significant number of Crown (visa) applicants that we speak to have no connection to Crown casino or anyone who intends to gamble there. And it appears Crown has become a visa agent, lodging on behalf of travel agents and junket operators from all over China”. “More alarmingly, we continue to see significant levels of fraud in the caseload”...
The fact is that the temporary visa scheme was massively ramped up over a decade ago and has been out of control ever since. The Federal Government must take the opportunity provided by the coronavirus pandemic to get back control over the temporary visa program and stop it being rorted in future in the disgraceful way it has been rorted during the past decade.
The Hon. Kelvin Thomson
National Committee
Sustainable Australia Party
@HonKelThomson
1. Australian Financial Review:
But, on Wednesday, the ILGA probe read out emails from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade taking issue with Crown's choice of clientele.
"An analysis of applications lodged by Crown reveals that very few are part of the high-roller scheme," the October 2010 email to a Crown migration officer said.
"A significant number of Crown [visa] applicants that we speak to have no connection to Crown casino or anyone who intends to gamble there. And it appears Crown has become a visa agent, lodging on behalf of travel agents and junket operators from all over China."
"More alarmingly, we continue to see significant levels of fraud in the caseload, and we refuse approximately 10 per cent of applications lodged by Crown. This does not represent a low level of risk, and we have met with Crown on a number of times to discuss our concerns."
