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OVERVIEW:
MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS OF 2009-10
Staff
The Office of the MARA staffing profile was revised to reflect new priorities and workloads. Recruitment of staff to permanent positions was undertaken in the latter part of 2009. A range of support was provided to staff during this period. This included assistance to staff of the former MARA in applying for Australian Government positions, and all staff being offered training in job interview techniques. With assistance from an experienced Australian Public Service Commission officer, merit-based recruitment of new permanent personnel was carried out, based on competencies essential to the requirements of the Office of the MARA.
In addition, DIAC’s Employee Assistance Program was engaged to help staff through the process.
Stakeholder engagement
Considerable stakeholder engagement was undertaken to ensure that the role and functions of the Office of the MARA were widely communicated and to provide opportunities for feedback. Key personnel attended over 50 meetings, conferences and workshops with stakeholders such as registered migration agents, ethnic community representatives, universities and professional bodies including the Law Council of Australia, MIA and Migration Alliance.
Reform agenda
The establishment of the Office of the MARA and the advisory board implemented a number of recommendations of the review. The remainder provide the basis for a wide ranging reform agenda.
In consultation with DIAC, the Office of the MARA identified responsibility for each recommendation and significant progress has been made towards their implementation. The review listed 57 recommendations for reform. As at 30 June 2010:
- 21 recommendations were finalised or substantially completed
- 20 were in progress
- 16 were unable to be progressed as they depended on legislative change (14) or needed further research (two).
More detailed information on progress of the reform agenda is in the section on Reform: Outcomes of the review recommendations.
