Rally for a fair go for overseas vocational students!

 Protest changes to the skilled migration program
1pm, Saturday, 12 June, Sydney Town Hall Square
Organised by Fairness & Justice for Overseas Students
Contact: Iggy Kim 0421 322 175, Sajit Shakya 0431 814 427, Byung-jo Kang 0414 116 758
WE’RE PEOPLE WITH RIGHTS, NOT CASH COWS!
On 8 February, Senator Chris Evans, the immigration minister, announced a review of the skilled
migration program. With this announcement, Evans sought to sweep under the carpet the issue of
greedy vocational colleges ripping off overseas students, a problem that was highly publicised – and
embarrassing for the government – at the time. This review will only be scapegoating the students
themselves: it is expected to exclude, from the list of skills that are eligible for permanent residency,
the trades that these vocational students are currently working toward. Imposing such a change on
those already studying here is an unfair shifting of the goalposts.
The government may succeed in closing down the greedy colleges, but it will also drive away these
hundreds of thousands of young people who already contribute so much to the economy and who
will help future-proof our ageing society.
Therefore, we ask the federal government:
• To exclude those students who are already studying in Australia from any changes to
the skilled migration program.
• To allow those students who held a 572, 573 or 574 visa on 8 February 2010 to apply,
upon graduating, for permanent residency on the basis of the Skilled Occupations List
that was in force on 8 February 2010.
We demand fairness and justice:
✔ Because there are nearly half a million of us already working and living in Australia;
✔ Because a wealthy country like Australia can afford to take us in, but more importantly
because we already contribute so much to that wealth – some $26.6 billion in 2007-08 alone,
according to Access Economics;
✔ Because the next meal you eat out might be cooked by an overseas vocational student
working for free to rack up the 900 hours of work experience for their course;
✔ Because most of us are like most Australians – ordinary, hard-working people from ordinary
families who’ve pooled their family savings to give their children a leg-up in an increasingly
competitive, dog-eat-dog world.
Email Fairness & Justice for Overseas Students at fajos2010@gmail.com