Eight million Australians urged to turn off lights

BBC – 04 July 2022

Australia's energy minister has urged households in New South Wales - a state that includes the country's biggest city Sydney - to switch off their lights in the face of an energy crisis.

Chris Bowen says people should not use electricity for two hours every evening if they "have a choice".

However, he added he was "confident" that blackouts could be avoided.

It comes after Australia's main wholesale electricity market was suspended because of a surge in prices.

Mr Bowen asked people living in New South Wales to conserve as much power as possible.

"If you have a choice about when to run certain items, don't run them from 6 to 8 [in the evening]," he said during a televised media conference in Canberra.

Why is there a crisis?

Australia is one of the world's biggest exporters of coal and liquefied natural gas but has been struggling with a power crisis since last month. Three quarters of the country's electricity is still generated using coal. It has long been accused of not doing enough to cut its emissions by investing in renewables.

In recent weeks, Australia has felt the impact of disruptions to coal supplies, outages at several coal-fired power plants and soaring global energy prices.

Flooding earlier this year hit some coal mines in New South Wales and Queensland, while technical issues have cut production at two mines that supply the market's biggest coal-fired station in New South Wales.

Around a quarter of Australia's coal-fired electricity generating capacity is currently out of service due to unexpected outages and scheduled maintenance.

Some electricity producers have seen their costs soar as global coal and gas prices have jumped due to sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, demand for energy has jumped amid a cold snap and as Australia's economy opens up after Covid-19 restrictions were eased.

All of this has helped drive up power prices on the wholesale market to above the A$300 (£173; $210) per megawatt hour price cap set by the market's regulator, the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo).

However, that cap was below the cost of production for several generators, who decided to withhold capacity.

On Wednesday, Aemo took the unprecedented step of suspending the market and said it would set prices directly and compensate generators for the shortfall.

It also asked consumers in New South Wales to "temporarily reduce their energy usage".

What happens next?

Aemo has not given a timeline on when the suspension would be lifted. It said in a statement, "The price cap will remain until cumulative wholesale electricity prices fall below the cumulative price threshold."

"Aemo, as the national power system operator, will continue to monitor the situation and provide further updates should conditions change," it added.

On Thursday, Australia's biggest electricity producer AGL Energy said it expected to be able to supply more power to businesses and consumers in the coming days.

It has three units that have been out of service at its coal-fired plant in Bayswater, New South Wales.

They are among several planned and unplanned outages that have helped cause the power crisis.

AGL said that one of the units should return to service on Thursday, while another will come back online by Saturday.

Meanwhile, Australia's new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the crisis would be raised at a meeting with state premiers which starts on Thursday.

Lynne Chester, an energy expert from the University of Sydney, told the BBC that policymakers have been aware of the risks of ageing generators for decades.

"The sector's regulators and policy makers have ignored the escalating capacity constraints of aging generation assets, fired by fossil fuels, that dominate the sector," Prof Chester said

www.samigration.com

 

Illegal and Fraudulent documents - Unannounced immigration inspections conducted in South Africa

 

SA Migration – 04/07/2022

 

 

Sa Migration  recently sent out a news alert. The purpose of the alert? To share the news that The Department of Home Affairs are carrying out immigration raids on businesses, in search of employers who are violating immigration laws.

 

What happened?

 

According to Sa Migration , many foreign workers were arrested and a restaurant / factory managers , owners of businesses who employed foreigners illegally will be charged with violating the South African Immigration Act.

How did the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) know about these violations happening?

The DHA confirmed to Sa Migration  that the raids took place in response to complaints received from members of the public regarding suspected illegal working. The DHA also said it expects more arrests to follow as the investigation continues.

The moral of the story

The DHA’s promise to pay random, unannounced visits to businesses are not idle threats. The Department could visit your office or worksite at any time and you’ll be found in contravention of South Africa’s Immigration Act if the DHA find that you are illegally employing foreign workers.

Instead of being caught off-guard, ensure that your foreign employees hold valid visas at all times. Also, that you only employ foreigners with valid and correct visas.

If you need help determining whether your foreign workers are employed legally, you can ask us for a free employee audit. Our team will come to you, do the audit and then report back plus advise on any necessary steps to take.

 

Getting an audit done demands no effort or risk from your side. However, you do risk jail time or hefty fines if you don’t know the legal status of your employees.

Prefer the former over the latter? Then call us today on +27 (0) 82 373 8415 and ascertain the legal status of your foreign employees.

How can we help you , please email us to info@samigration.com whatsapp me on:

 +27 82 373 8415, where are you now? check our website : www.samigration.com

 

Please rate us by clinking on this links :

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https://g.page/SAMigration?gm

Alternatively , please contact us on :

Whatsapp  Tel No : +27 (0) 82 373 8415

 

Tel No office : +27 (0) 82 373 8415 ( Whatsapp )

Tel No admin : +27 (0) 64 126 3073

Tel No sales : +27 (0) 74 0366127

Fax No : 086 579 0155

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Welcome to SA: The country is back in business for global tourism

Daily Maverick  - 03 July 2022

Everybody has an opinion but not everyone has the knowledge and the experience to contribute meaningfully to a discussion. That’s what we want from our members. Help us learn with your expertise and insights on articles that we publish. We encourage different, respectful viewpoints to further our understanding of the world

Mass tourism is not a good thing: ask Venice and Amsterdam. Air BnB has pushed locals out of central Paris. Villages in southwest England are overrun in summer and dead in winter. Holiday flats that stand empty for most of the year do not add much to the local economy, but they do push up house prices. The tsunami that killed thousands was so deadly partly because protectice mangrove forests had been destroyed to create resorts for tourists. All tnose tourists to Thailand and yet most people are quite poor: so not a clear correlation at all.

Something to ponder in the context of promoting the use of “tourist” facilities.

We live in the winelands. Yesterday my wife, son and I tried to access Kirstenbosch Gardens in Cape Town. Because we intended walking on the mountain in addition to visiting the gardens we were not carrying anything of value. As we did not have our South African IDs we were told that we would have to pay the ridiculous sum of R210 each, as foreigners, rather than the (still expensive) R90 charged to locals. There was no way that I was paying R630 to walk in Kirstenbosch so we went elsewhere for coffee and cake after our intended (but failed) walk.

Consider that anyone wishing to visit the eateries in the gardens must pay these ridiculous entry prices in addition to the high and recently increased cost of their food. What a great pity that the people making these decisions cannot see the destructive effects of their thinking.

Needless to say, the less well off members of our community are effectively barred from using a public space that should be reasonably accessible to all. The gardens are not the “property” of some exclusive group and the City should be speaking up

www.samigration.com

Huge blow to foreigners – No second chance for Asylum seekers as government tightens laws 

Pretoria News -  – 03 July 2022

Foreign nationals whose applications for asylum in South Africa were rejected do not automatically have the right in law to reapply.

If they do, this will allow for a never-ending cycle of asylum applications, according to a judgment by the Western Cape High Court.

This followed an application by three Burundian nationals who applied for asylum in South Africa.

Their applications were rejected as being manifestly unfounded in terms of the Refugees Act.

The refusal was automatically reviewed by the Standing Committee for Refugee Affairs, which confirmed the finding.

The women subsequently turned to court to obtain an order directing Home Affairs and its various arms dealing with asylum issues, to accept a second asylum seeker application made by each of them.

Their main objective to remain in South Africa was because they wanted to study and work here, while one of the women said she came here “to find her husband”.

According to them, the act makes provision for foreign nationals to reapply for refugee status after their first application has been turned down.

Each of them earlier applied for asylum status in South Africa, but their applications were turned down, as their reasons for wanting to stay in South Africa were said to be unfounded.

In terms of the Refugee Act, a person qualifies for refugee status if it is proven that their lives would be in danger if they were to be sent back to their country of origin.

But in this case, home affairs officials noted that peaceful elections were held in Burundi in 2020 and many Burundian refugees had voluntarily returned home, so the women were not in danger if they went back.

The women accepted the rejection of their first asylum applications and did not take it on review. But they said that they were entitled, in terms of the law, to reapply.

Judge Hayley Slingers said the women were told to leave the country when their asylum applications were turned down in 2014, yet they chose to remain illegally in the country.

They now wanted the court to force Home Affairs to accept their second application.

They want to base the second application on allegations that their lives would indeed be in danger if they were forced to return to Burundi due to the government there.

According to them, the act is “an open system designed for vulnerable people to apply for asylum”.

They also argued that their interpretation of the act is that it does not matter how any times someone applied for asylum status after being refused, and that while the application is pending, they may not be kicked out of the country.

But Judge Slingers said this interpretation is problematic, as it would mean an asylum seeker could keep on submitting applications if the previous ones were refused, while remaining in South Africa all the time.

“There would then be no need to be granted asylum as the asylum seeker need only continuously apply for asylum, to be granted the right to stay in the RSA.”

The judge turned down their application and said the act did not automatically give asylum seekers the right to reapply.

She said when their asylum applications were refused and this was confirmed by the committee, they reverted to the status of being illegally in the country.

 

 

South Africa is set for visa changes as demand for International travel increases

ECR 03 July 2022

Heavy visa restrictions are now a thing of the past. 

South Africa has seen many of it's Covid-19 restrictions eased, opening up many tight restrictions that were previously already put in place.  

According to BusinessTech, the opening of international borders, the resumption of international flights and a high vaccination rate has contributed to the increase in outbound travel for South Africans. 

VFS Global, the world’s largest visa outsourcing and technology service specialist, has reported an increase in visa applications from South Africa over the last six months. 

Travel destinations like Australia, Canada and Schengen regions are all seeing a positive incline in applications for international travel. 

Some countries accept visa applications up to 90 days before the date of travel. 

 International flight well underway for SA citizens.

So be sure to book your Visa way in advance to avoid any complications or long queues. 

You will need your identification card as well as several other documents when applying for a visa.

www.samigration.com