Australia news LIVE: Colleges told to stop recruiting fake overseas students; RBA holds rates steady

The parents of two Australian brothers shot dead in Mexico have spoken publicly for the first time, saying from the US it’s time to bring their sons home.

Debra and Martin Robinson have urged people to hold their loved ones closer, following the tragic murder of their sons Callum, 33, and Jake, 30.

Debra and Martin Robinson’s sons Jake and Callum were murdered in Mexico.Credit: Nine News

The Robinson brothers were on a surfing trip with American friend Carter Rhoad, 30, when they were allegedly killed by Mexican nationals attempting to steal parts of their ute.

Debra and Martin Robinson travelled from Western Australia to Mexico on Friday, where they identified the bodies of their two sons this week.

“Now it’s time to bring them home to families and friends and the ocean waves in Australia,” Debra said.

“Please live bigger, shine brighter and love harder.”

Here’s the latest on this tragic news.

Building workers will be promised a $90.6 million package in next week’s federal budget to boost the labour supply in the construction sector, in another federal move to reach an ambitious target to build more homes.

The federal government will put the funds towards more fee-free TAFE courses and a bigger apprenticeship program to start in January, saying this will help it achieve its goal of adding 1.2 million homes over the next five years.

Skills Minister Brendan O’Connor and Housing Minister Julie Collins will announce the funding this morning, in the latest policy to be “dropped” to the media ahead of the budget next week.

Minister for Skills and Training Brendan O’Connor.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

One part of the plan offers $62.4 million to deliver 15,000 places at TAFE colleges over two years from January without charging student fees.

A second part commits $26.4 million to fund 5,000 places in pre-apprenticeship programs over the same two years. A third element puts $1.8 million toward skills assessments for 1,900 potential migrants to work in construction and housing.

“This is a great opportunity for people to gain a trade whilst accessing government incentives and reduce cost of living pressures through more affordable housing,” O’Connor says in a statement.

Collins says the policy will make more skilled workers available to build more homes.

The fee-free TAFE policy, a big Labor commitment at the last election, has supported about 355,000 student enrolments to the end of last year.

This included 24,000 construction course enrolments, of which 3,000 were from women. The new spending in the budget is expected to add to that total.

The Coalition is demanding the government rein in the toughest conditions of its deportation bill by beefing up safeguards for families visiting from certain nations and foreigners resisting deportation.

In a Senate inquiry report on the deportation bill that Labor attempted to rush through the last parliamentary sittings, the opposition criticised the government’s “flagrant disregard” for legal groups and Iranian, South Sudanese and Zimbabwean communities who condemned the bill.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles is facing a laundry list of recommended changes to the controversial bill.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“The concerns of multicultural communities need to be heard,” Coalition senator and inquiry committee member Paul Scarr said. “Diaspora groups were blindsided by this bill.”

The opposition’s humanitarian push to soften the deportation laws comes as its frontbench accuses the government of failing to protect the community from criminals released into the community after the High Court decision last November outlawed indefinite immigration detention.

More on the issue here.

Pressure on Treasurer Jim Chalmers to deliver cost-of-living relief in next week’s budget without driving up inflation has increased after the Reserve Bank revealed it expects price pressures to grow through the rest of the year.

The bank, which held the official cash rate at 4.35 per cent following its meeting, sharply raised its inflation forecasts and downgraded its outlook for the economy. Inflation, now at 3.6 per cent, is expected to lift to 3.8 per cent and remain at that level until the end of the year.

RBA governor Michele Bullock says she hopes the bank doesn’t have to raise interest rates again but “if we think we have to, we will”.Credit: Louie Douvis

RBA governor Michele Bullock said the board believed interest rates were in the right place to get inflation back within its target range of 2-3 per cent next year, but warned they could go up if price pressures failed to abate.

“I hope that we don’t have to raise interest rates again. Having said that, if we think we have to, we will,” she said.

Catch up on the full story here.

Returning to Australia, private training colleges are being sent federal orders to stop recruiting fake overseas students and cease their exploitation of the visa system, in a new move to tighten the rules and cut the nation’s migration intake.

The official warnings identify the most concerning conduct by colleges that bring thousands of students into the country each year, telling the owners they will lose their licences within six months if they do not improve their operations.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The sanctions follow other federal actions that have cut offshore student visa grants to 223,000 since July, putting the program on track to fall from the intake of 370,000 last financial year.

The government believes the student intake passed a key point in March when the numbers fell below the level seen before the pandemic, with 68,540 visa grants in the first quarter of this year compared with 68,960 in the same period in 2019.

Here’s the full story.

Two of the three men charged with killing Canadian Sikh separatist leader Singh Nijjar made a brief first court appearance.

The killing of the prominent activist became the centre of a diplomatic spat after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in September that there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement.

Nijjar – an Indian-born citizen of Canada – was a plumber and a leader in what remains of a once-strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland in India, known as Khalistan, for which he had heavily campaigned. The separatist leader was called a human rights activist by Sikh organisations and a criminal by India’s government.

A photo of Hardeep Singh Nijjar is seen during a news conference providing an update from the Sikh community about Nijjar’s death.Credit: AP

Canadian police said they arrested the three Indian nationals in Edmonton, Alberta, for shooting and killing the 45-year-old in his pick-up truck after he left the Sikh temple over which he presided in the city of Surrey.

Kamalpreet Singh, 22, Karan Brar, 22, and Karanpreet Singh, 28, have been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

Brar and Karanpreet appeared in court via a video link and agreed to a trial in English. They were ordered to appear in British Columbia Provincial Court again on May 21.

Kamalpreet didn’t attend the court session as he waited to speak to a lawyer.

Richard Fowler, the defence lawyer representing Brar, said the case would eventually be moved from the British Columbia Provincial Court to the Supreme Court and combined into one case.

About 100 people gathered outside the courthouse waving yellow flags and holding photos of Indian government officials whom they accuse of being involved in Nijjar’s killing.

Canadian police say the three suspects had been living in Canada as non-permanent residents.

AP

Good morning, and thanks for your company.

It’s Wednesday, May 8. I’m Caroline Schelle and I’ll be steering our live coverage for the first half of the day.

Here’s what’s making news this morning:

The opposition is demanding the government dramatically rein in its deportation bill with 17 recommended changes up for negotiation.The peak body for Australian banks says changing how student debts are considered in home-loan applications could play a part in helping young people break into the housing market.Private training colleges are being sent federal orders to stop recruiting fake overseas students and cease their exploitation of the visa system, in a move to cut the nation’s migration intake.In Victoria, more than 100 projects will be delayed as the state government tries to protect its bottom line from rising costs by pushing back completion dates on schools, health and water infrastructure.NSW is facing a chronic shortage of caseworkers, including child protection workers, leaving vulnerable children and women facing more harm.Overseas, the Russian leader of one the world’s most prolific cyber crime gangs has been unmasked and sanctioned by Australia, Britain and the United States, following an international disruption campaign.