balkanghost

Australian News, Multiculturalism, Migration Points Test, Top 100 Wines, Droughts Ends, House Prices, Study, Work, Travel.


Young take on the monoculture. It is not just the deft Tony Jones and the well-chosen line-up of witty pundits and politicians that make the ABC's Q&A program such a unique and pleasurable television event.

It is the audience. Nowhere else in television, except for SBS, can viewers see Australians represented as we truly are..... In the Q&A audience are people of Indian or Chinese or Middle East background mingled in among the blond, blue-eyed Anglos, asking pointed questions in Aussie English, and simply fitting in. Watching the Q&A audience makes you realise what is lamentably lacking in the rest of the media: any effort to represent Australians in all our colour, diversity and complexity.


Business groups slam new migration test, claims English language test could exacerbate skills crisis. Business groups have slammed the Government's new skilled migration test, saying it will exacerbate the skills shortage and make it even harder for small businesses to hire new and qualified staff in specialised areas.

The comments come just after new figures from economists suggest immigration will drop over the next few years and the skills shortage will become worse as employers search for qualified staff, especially in the engineering, trades, manufacturing and construction industries.

John Hart, chief executive of Restaurant and Catering Australia, says the new test will make the skills shortage in the hospitality industry even worse, warning that restaurants and other catering firms may struggle to find qualified chefs who are specialists in overseas cooking methods.


Skilled Visa Points Test - Summary and Comment PomsinOz.


James Halliday's annual Top 100 list of the best Australian reds, whites and sparkling wines, as well as Peter Lalor's Top 20 beers.



The drought breaks. The Millennium Drought is finally over, bringing regional communities back to life. THE sunburnt country has been recharged. The ravages of drought are replaced with the kind of fruitful abundance that many feared had been lost to history. Like the Federation Drought before it, the Millennium Drought has finally broken.

Along a great inland swath from Queensland through NSW, southwestern Victoria and into South Australia, the dams and rivers are lapping at their confines. Crops are bulging in the field and nature has grasped the opportunity to restock and recover from the decade-long dry.


House prices hit a wall. Australia’s house price growth slowed to a crawl in the three months to September, amid higher interest rates and worsening affordability.


Tom predicts a riot. Last week, I listened to Gapyear.com founder Tom Griffiths talking about supply conditions from the UK and Europe. He said: “Let’s have a look some news from Europe on what’s been happening this year....

..If this unprecedented negative view of Australia won’t affect future numbers, let’s all carry on as normal. But if there’s a chance there might be a problem, we should address it. And no-one seems to remember the solutions Tom offered – chiefly working with operators like himself in the UK and Europe to spread the word that there are jobs in Australia.

This morning he wrote me an e-mail pointing out how Australia is a positive solution for many UK students and suggesting the industry works together to come up with one message – “that Oz is the perfect place to come to escape all this, further your life, work and travel”.


Tourism Australia "Aussie Specialists". Aussie Specialist Travel Agents are dedicated to selling and promoting Australia. Having undertaken training on the destination Aussie Enthusiasts are a good resource to help you plan and book your trip to Australia.

Vash the Stampede

I expect skilled immigrants to be capable of adequate English. If they can't speak the language fluently, they're not sufficiently qualified.

Business groups are only complaining because tougher tests reduce their chances of hiring cheap overseas labour. It has nothing to do with "qualified staff in specialised areas." That's just a smokescreen.

Billabong

Agree entirely Vash!!!

Amazulu

Exactly. 457s are now required to be able to speak english too.

This will encourage migration from countries that speak english - UK, Ireland, SA, India, Philippines etc) - and less from countries like China.

balkanghost

You would be surprised, think major issue was that those coming through onshore student pathways were able to "slip under the wire" without adequate English and if not working had insufficient exposure to English and native speakers.

Does not say much about the education system, employers' recruitment processes, nor IELTS the "monopoly" test .... but many have more than adequate English and for many positions employers need other languages for our major markets i.e. China, India, Japan etc., and also the cross cultural skills and contacts that international work requires.

Another factor is that many Australians speak incomprehensible English and do not know how to "communicate" to those for whom English is not their first language.

Further, many native speakers of English do not have the required written English skills in Australia, and elsewhere, e.g. we see Slovenians getting higher IELTS scores than many British!

Vash the Stampede

I honestly wouldn't. One look in the window of a local real estate agent is enough to tell you that there are plenty of native English speakers to whom the concept of grammar is an uncharted land.

Amazulu

The english test is fine as it is - in fact it should be made harder.

Pollyana

As has been discussed here before, non-native English speakers often learn English in exam mode, knowing they have to be correct and hence getting higher scores. Native English speakers don't do this, they learn it often by osmosis, soaking it up, not with exams in mind.

Tis a bit worrying though at times communicating with non-English speakers. Sat next to one on the plane this week, an Indian coming from Singapore. He asked me to translate a phrase used by the crew "OK guys we're nearly there" - he didn't even understand "OK" but had a PR visa and was migrating permanently. He's probably still trying to find his way out of Brisbane airport.

Seneca21

I agree. In fact it is really important not just to the host society but also to the immigrants. The English tests should be much more demanding and everyone should have to do it as well including native speakers, because I know a few people from Europe who have considerably better English than some natives and it's not fair they have to prove it when these people do not, especially when they absolutely would get higher test scores.

Wol

The standard of English is certainly not what it was. I read the Torygraph online most days and it's pretty obvious that what you see online is the "work under construction". Whereas the printed edition of the DT is fairly decently done, the articles online are often just as the journalists type them in, before the subs get to work - and the grammar, spelling and even the logical flow are frequently truly dreadful!