With DIAC’s most recent update on the Processing Priorities, announced on 23 September 2009, the biggest misconception about Australia at present is that migrants are not wanted and visas are not being granted. The truth of the matter is that the doors to Australia have remained open and migrants are still needed.

The new processing arrangements give priority to people seeking to migrate to Australia who have skills or qualifications in one of the occupations on the current Critical Skills List (CSL). The Australian Federal Government is making changes to the migration program in an effort to be responsive to the needs of the Australian economy.

In a time when many economies have failed, Australia’s has proved relatively resilient when compared to the rest of the industrialised world, so we hope this can only mean a brighter future in Australia for all, including new Australians.

Recent weeks have seen some positive news from Australia. Advertised jobs statistics are up, we experienced growth in the last quarter and unemployment is holding steady under 6%.

Australia's population increased by 2.1% for the year ending March 2009 according to statistics released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on the 22nd of September 2009. These rates compare with a 1.2% growth rate recorded five years ago.

As at 31 March 2009, Australia's population had grown to 21,779,000, an increase of 439,100 people over the previous year. Australia's net overseas migration contributed to more than half of this growth at 63% or 278,200 people

From a visa perspective over 108,000 skilled migrants are wanted in the current visa year. States such as WA require tradespeople, health professionals are required nationwide and engineering and a variety of other professional occupations are in demand in many of the states. Each state has a list of 'wanted' people and this is a clear indication of the state of play in that state. Email us for copies of the state lists.

For full ABS Media Release.