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OVERVIEW:
Major achievements of 2010–11
Partnership arrangements
In 2010–11, the Office of the MARA initiated or strengthened a number of cooperative partnership arrangements aimed at raising the standards of migration services and delivering greater consumer satisfaction.
Legal services commissions
The Office of the MARA engaged with legal regulators, including the New South Wales Legal Services Commissioner, the Victorian Legal Services Commissioner, and Queensland’s Legal Services Commission, on handling complaints about agents who are also Australian legal practitioners. The cooperative partnership arrangements are to be strengthened by a memorandum of understanding to facilitate the better sharing of information.
New South Wales Fair Trading
Following a number of consultative meetings, in mid-April 2011 the Office of the MARA implemented an agreement with New South Wales Fair Trading to improve the management of complaints involving a fee dispute. The agreement enables the two agencies to refer complaints appropriately to each other. Due to the introduction of national consumer legislation embodied in the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, referred complaints are managed at Sydney’s Fair Trading Centre. Disputes that cannot be conciliated are referred to the relevant tribunal in the state where the consumer resides.
The Office of the MARA will continue to engage with New South Wales Fair Trading to develop and enhance these referral arrangements in the interests of better redress for consumers.
Tax Practitioners Board
The Office of the MARA held several meetings with the Tax Practitioners Board, which has regulatory responsibilities for tax practitioners and business activity statement agents in Australia. Information on respective functions and practices, and systems for managing complaints, is shared in the interests of better regulatory and consumer outcomes.
Review recommendations
During 2010–11, a further 16 recommendations stemming from the 2007–08 Review of Statutory Self-Regulation of the Migration Advice Profession were finalised. These included increased support for not-for-profit registered migration agents, introducing ‘decision-ready’ initiatives for specific visa programs, implementation of a higher English language requirement, the review and restructure of the continuing professional development framework, and reductions to the LEGENDcom subscription fees for registered migration agents.2
Details of progress on the reform agenda are now available on the Office of the MARA’s website and continue to be included in the CEO newsletter.
2 LEGENDcom is an electronic database of migration and citizenship legislation and policy documents, provided by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.
