THE ‘PROUD TO BE PUBLIC’ CAMPAIGN NOTIFIED …
SCOMO GOVT ABANDONED VISA PRIVATISATION PLAN!!!
‘Today (20 MARCH 2020) the government have abandoned their visa privatisation plan, announcing that they have “terminated the Request for Tender”.
This is an enormous win for the 2000 workers whose jobs were at risk – and for the integrity of our visa processing system. This win would not have happened without you.’
Anthony Galloway, foreign affairs and national security correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age wrote ‘Government bins $1 billion visa outsourcing plan’ on 20 March …
‘A $1 billion plan to outsource Australia’s visa processing system has been canned by the Morrison government after already costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.
Acting immigration minister Alan Tudge on Friday afternoon announced the government will not go ahead with the controversial tender, with the Department of Home Affairs to instead undergo a wider overhaul of its services extending to citizenship applications, security clearances and customs.
The decision comes after taxpayers have already forked out at least $87 million on the tender, according to latest figures released from the government. Both bidders have already been paid at least $1 million to participate in the co-design phase of the procurement.
The move comes after a decision on the politically sensitive tender process to choose the successful bidder was last year delayed amid political conflicts of interest within cabinet.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Immigration Minister David Coleman recused themselves from cabinet discussions on the issue because of their long personal and professional relationships with Scott Briggs, who was previously leading one of the bids.‘
Was it because of ongoing scrutiny of the costly tender and the long personal and professional relationships by unions, economists and even cabinet members that it became too uncomfortable forcing Mr Briggs to quit heading the bid by Australian Visa Processing?
The other bid was a joint proposal between Australia Post and Accenture.
IT appears there is to be no let-up … yet to backdoor immigration … because the department is to conduct a market consultation process over some months for a vision to deliver “large-scale workflow processing capability” for visa and citizenship applications, as well as customs and personnel security clearances.
‘Opponents of the scheme said the changes would have damaged the integrity of Australia’s visa and citizenship system and increase the costs to applicants.
Melissa Donnelly, national secretary of the public sector union CPSU, said the plan to hand over some of the processing to private companies was always misguided, but the outbreak of the coronavirus had further exposed its flaws.
“When our nation is facing great uncertainty, Australians expect the Government to back local jobs and the integrity of vital public services, not flog off essential services to political donors’ multi-national companies. This is a win for the security and health of the Australian community,” she said.’
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