Government creates Australian immigration advisory committee

Ministers have approved a plan to form an Australian immigration committee designed to inform and advise the Australian government on multi-cultural and other immigration matters.

The advisory committee will be made up of 12 members of Australia's growing Spanish-speaking community and will meet at least twice a year with Australian Immigration Minister Chris Bowen Minister for Multicultural Affairs Kate Lundy to discuss pertinent matters.

Alexis Esposto, economics professor at Swinburne University in Melbourne who will be a member of the panel, says the committee will 'air the problems, worries and ideas about the future and its challenges'.

In an effort to embrace its growing multicultural identity, Australia has recently set up advisory committees intended to converse with different minority groups. The Spanish-speaking committee headed by Professor Esposto comes in the wake of similar committees for Italian, Filipino and Chinese minorities.

The 2006 Australian Census showed there were almost 90,000 Spanish speaking people in Australia and with Australia's economic success, high quality of life and need for foreign skilled workers, it is likely that the number of almost every minority group in Australia has increased since the last census.

The Australian Visa Bureau is an independent migration consultancy specialising in helping people lodge applications with the Australian Embassy.