Temporary visa holders and all internationals living in Australia, face up to receiving no hardship; despite having lost their jobs due to a global crisis.
Hey Kiwis, hey little foreign students, thanks for your time (and money), but we can’t have you anymore.
This is the stance of the Australian government during this current crisis. If you are a Kiwi who does not have permanent residency/citizenship, or neither a part-time/full-time job; you can hop on it.
That would mean anyone who is Kiwi and unemployed, and in fact, that would go for anyone who is not Australian and unemployed. Therefore, if you do happen to find yourself in the very likely situation of being foreign, losing your job due to Covid 19, and living in Australia, you might need to re-think again and perhaps book a flight home. Wait a minute..there are no flights. Oh, what a foreign national is to do.
This is quite truly the worst PR for Scott Morrison’s government, who have just ostracised over a million temporary visa holders-not entitled to the Jobseeker payment (apparently), that so many Australians will be claiming.
As The Guardian article explains (@lukehgomes): the jobseeker payment acts as a benefits package-with $1100 scheduled to be paid every two weeks; and will see Australians through the worst of this crisis. Which is far from being over, as the winter approaches.
And as winter approaches, and the need for manually skilled employment increases, Australia just might find itself having cut off a vast majority of its’ workforce, which could have been at the forefront of the salvation. Many temporary visa holders: international students and migrating Kiwis alike will have made up a huge number of service and hospitality jobs (John Ross, Times Higher Education), not to mention, farm work; that the country’s economy relies upon. And yet, despite paying tax; they are being left out.
I was an international student living in Australia not long ago, and if I had not decided to come home when I did; I would have been jobless and destitute. However, not only did I pay the country $2200 every 10 weeks of study for a school that I very doubt is offering relief packages, unlike the mighty university giants of Victoria; I also provided tax.
Do not forget, tax is 15% for working holidaymakers (working tourists) for the 1/2 years they stay, as soon as they earn-not receiving the tax-free threshold residents do. So preceding receiving my school fees, they also received 15% of anything I earned, with the tax office also receiving 65% of my superannuation (pension), despite contributing like anyone else; purely because I was a working holidaymaker.
And yet, they are left with nothing.
It was actually Scott Morrison who made the changes to the tax threshold for working holidaymakers when he was treasurer: getting rid of the right to earn up to $18,200 free of tax. Figures. This person does not seem to have much respect for foreign nationals. Recently, in a question related to temporary residents, he said:
“make your way home” and “ensure that you can receive the supports that are available…in your home countries”.
How educated of him. Obviously, there are no planes out of Australia, and that could mean an issue, and perhaps people may have their lives-in Australia.
When I signed my visa agreement, I signed an invitation into the country as a ‘temporary migrant’. That meant I had actually migrated there and was living under its’ roof, perhaps not long term, but for that time. I think the government is responsible for all those they invite into the country. They cannot have their cake and eat it. They would have not invited us if they did not have a need for it; after all, they have the third-highest international student population in the world.
https://cisa.edu.au/student-rights/
Australia’s population is only in the low twenties, and over a million are temporary migrants. We prop up their economy; not forgetting the fact that we are all largely young and all very able to work. Not least with the education and training that is paving the way for the current and next generation. We are adding to the economy. Many international students go on to stay permanently in Australia.
I was expected to make the same contributions like everyone else, and therefore anyone in my not so long ago situation, deserves the help, just as much as Australians, and yet all the government say is:
“It’s time to go home and they should make arrangements as quickly as possible.”
(Acting immigration minister Alan Tudge on 4th April, Times Higher Education, April 6th, 2020)
This is all a far cry from how governments are treating Australians themselves, in Canada and New Zealand-with hardship available.
(John Ross, Times Higher Education)
Yet, even if internationals did make their way home, they would not necessarily be entitled to anything. In the UK, benefits can take up to five weeks to process and are subject to a residency test: whereby your likelihood of residing in the country long term is scrutinised. I doubt a bunch of students, having been discarded by Australia will feel too welcome in the British welfare system. There is nothing to say they would not return to Australia to finish their studies if they even want to at this point.
For who even knows when study and the congregation of souls will ever be able to return, and most certainly; when it does-will internationals even want to reside in a country, that is not prepared to offer a hand. This is something Scott Morrison should think about very clearly-will they even have a higher education system by the end of this? Perhaps not so with the redundancy of those who line their pockets.
And it begs the question: should internationals pay any tax at all if this is how they are treated?
When it questions their human rights and those that choose to abolish them.
United States President Joe Biden has revealed that the US killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda, in an Afghani drone operation over the weekend. The operation killed him on Sunday during a CIA counterterrorism operation in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. He was one of the most wanted terrorists in America and collaborated with Osama Bin Laden in the planning of the 9/11 attacks. The United States confirmed that it was a CIA drone that attacked and killed Zawahiri. The US claims that his death is the biggest blow to al-Qaeda since it killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.
Zawahiri was rumored to be hiding in the tribal region of Pakistan or within Afghanistan prior to his killing. A senior administration official told reporters that Zawahiri had been hiding for years. He confirmed that the operation to find and kill him was the result of “careful patient and persistent” work by the counter-terrorism and intelligence community.
Justice Has Been Delivered- Claims US President Joe Bidden
Bidden who was isolated by a recurrence of covid-19 was aware of the attack on Zawahiri. He spoke outdoors on Monday from the Blue room Balcony at the White House. He said that he had given the final approval for the “precision strike” after months of planning. This strike comes a year after Biden gave the order to remove US forces from Afghanistan. It was immediately afterward that the Taliban captured power there.
Talking about the withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan, Bidden made the following statement. ” I made the decision that after 20 years of war. The United States no longer needed thousands of boots on the ground in Afghanistan to protect America from terrorists who seek to do us harm. And I made a promise to the American people, that we continue to conduct effective counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan and beyond. We’ve done just that.”
“Our intelligence community located Zawahiri earlier this year — he moved to downtown Kabul to reunite with members of his immediate family,” he continued.
Biden further stated that “For decades, he was the mastermind of attacks against Americans.”
“Now, justice has been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more. People around the world no longer need to fear the vicious and determined killer,” Bidden said.
Ayman al-Zawahiri After The Killing Of Osama Bin Laden
Zawahiri, who turned 71 this year, had continued to be a prominent international face of the organization. This happened during the11 years after the US killed Osama bin Laden. He had served as bin Laden’s personal physician, political partner, and right-hand guy at one point. Al-Zawahiri had occupied the official page of the FBI under the “Most Wanted” title. The FBI page informs from the color of his eyes to his various aliases. Under his name the page mentions “Murder of U.S. Nationals Outside the United States; Conspiracy to Murder U.S. Nationals Outside the United States; Attack on a Federal Facility Resulting in Death”. It also mentioned that the United States Department of State offered a reward of up to $25 million for ‘information leading directly to the apprehension or conviction of Ayman Al-Zawahiri’. On Monday the FBI updated its Most Wanted Terrorist poster with Zawahiri’s status as“Deceased.”
Zawahiri was born in Egypt in 1951 and raised in Maadi, several miles from the capital Cairo. As a student, Syed Qutb’s work greatly influenced him. Qutb was an Egyptian writer who was one of the foremost figures in modern Sunni Islamic revivalism. Zawahiri became a highly educated professional and trained in one of the country’s leading universities. He went on to become a doctor and an eye surgeon to the successor of Osama bin Laden.
When he was fifteen years old, he organized his first movement in an effort to overthrow the then Egyptian government. He made headlines for himself for the first time in a courtroom cage. It was following the 1981 assassination of the then Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat. The court apprehended Al-Zawahiri for his involvement in the assassination as a member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Al-Zawahiri rose to prominence as a veteran of the Egyptian Islamist jihad. The government detained him along with a large number of other Islamists.
Merger with Al-Qaeda
Al-Zawahri fled Egypt shortly after Sadat’s murder and he made his way to Peshawar, where he joined Osama bin Laden. The Gulf war and the entry of the American troops into Saudi Arabia impacted Zawahiri’s ideology. It was due to these reasons he believed that Sadat had betrayed the Islamist cause. Soon Osama bin Laden completely shared his thoughts and made a similar opinion about the House of Saud. However, at one point al-Zawahiri advocated for striking the ‘distant enemy’ (the United States) first. He believed it would be better to topple the ‘close enemy’ (the Arab governments) later.
After bin Laden’s death, Ayman al-Zawahiri formally became the new leader of Al-Qaeda Central. Instead of a natural leader, his role in Al-Qaeda had always been that of a strategist and master planner. However, Zawahiri held the organization together. Under his leadership, Al Qaeda and its affiliates grew from an estimated 400 members on 9/11 to possibly 40.000 now.
How The World Reacted to The Killing Of Ayman Al-Zawahiri
Saudi Arabia
A statement from the foreign ministry of Saudi Arabia on Tuesday hailed the US declaration of Zawahiri’s killing. “Thousands of innocent people of different nationalities and religions, including Saudi citizens, were killed,” it stated. “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia welcomed the announcement by US President Joe Biden of the targeting and killing of the terrorist leader of Al-Qaeda Ayman Al-Zawahiri,” it said.
Canada
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took to Twitter after the news of al-Zawahiri’s killing came out.
“The death of Ayman al-Zawahiri is a step toward a safer world. Canada will keep working with our global partners to counter terrorist threats, promote peace and security, and keep people here at home and around the world safe.” he tweeted.
Australia
Australian PM Anthony Albanese spoke in Parliament and sent his prayers to the family of the victims that died.
“For two decades, this man fled the consequences of his crimes. Our thoughts today are with the loved ones of all of his victims.
“So many lives have been lost and so much blood has been spilled since, including all those Australians who served, sacrificed, and gave their lives in Afghanistan,” said Albanese.
Taliban
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on Monday confirmed an airstrike conducted by a drone in Kabul. He said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan views that as a clear violation of international principles.
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