EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

 

Select Legislative Instrument 2006 No. 158

 

Issued by the Minister for Immigration

and Multicultural Affairs

 

Subject -          Migration Act 1958

 

                        Migration Agents Amendment Regulations 2006 (No. 1)

 

Subsection 504(1) of the Migration Act 1958 (the Act) provides, in part, that the     Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters which by the Act are required or permitted to be prescribed, or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

Subsection 288(2) of the Act requires a person seeking to register as a migration agent to satisfy either the individual or joint publishing options set out in section 288A.  Section 288A provides that either notice must be published in the prescribed way. 

The purpose of the proposed Regulations is to amend the Migration Agents Regulations 1998 to remove, for individuals intending to register as a migration agent, the requirement that they publish a notice of their intention to register in a newspaper.   It is considered that this would reduce the financial burden on potential migration agents without compromising benefits to consumers.  Potential migration agents would continue to publish their intention to register on the Migration Agents Registration Authority's website.

 

Details of the Regulations are set out in the Attachment.

 

The Act specifies no conditions that need to be satisfied before the power to make the Regulations may be exercised.

 

The Regulations are a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.

 

The Regulations commenced on 1 July 2006.

 

The Office of Regulation Review in the Productivity Commission has been consulted and advises that the Regulations are not likely to have a direct effect, or substantial indirect effect, on business and are not likely to restrict competition.

 

The Migration Agents Registration Authority and the Migration Institute of Australia were consulted in the making of these Regulations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ATTACHMENT

 

Details of the Migration Agents Amendment Regulations 2006 (No. 1)

 

Regulation 1 -- Name of Regulations

 

This regulation provides that the title of the Regulations is the Migration Agents Amendment Regulations 2006 (No. 1).

 

Regulation 2 -- Commencement

 

This regulation provides for the Regulations to commence on 1 July 2006.

 

Regulation 3 -- Amendment of Migration Agents Regulations 1998

 

This regulation provides that the Migration Agents Regulations 1998 ('the Principal Regulations') are amended as set out in Schedule 1.

 

Regulation 4 -- Transitional

This regulation provides that the amendments made by these Regulations apply to an application to be registered as a registered migration agent that is made on or after    1 July 2006.

Schedule 1 -- Amendments

Item [1] -- Subregulation 4(5)

This item omits subregulation 4(5) of the Principal Regulations.

 

The effect of this amendment is to remove, for individuals seeking to register as a migration agent, the requirement to publish a notice of intention to register in an English language or non-English language newspaper.   

 

Item [2] -- Subregulation 4(6)

This item omits the word "also" from subparagraph 4(6) of the Principal Regulations.

 

This amendment is consequential to the amendment made by Item [1] of this Schedule.  Individuals seeking to register as a migration agent are now only required to publish a notice of their intention to register on the Registration Applicants page of the Migration Agents Registration Authority's web site for a continuous period of at least 30 days.