Do you understand the risks your business is facing in meeting its global mobility needs?
As at 30 June 2022, the Home Affairs Portfolio consisted of the Department of Home Affairs, the Australian Border Force, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission -including the Australian Institute of Criminology, the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, and the Office of the Special Investigator.
The Home Affairs Portfolio integrated Australia’s national security and intelligence community, to include functions related to federal law enforcement, national and transport security, criminal justice, emergency management, multicultural affairs, immigration, and border management.
The Department of Home Affairs and Australian Border Force, an operationally independent enforcement arm, have significant powers and reach.
The Portfolio has enabled a robust national security posture with enhanced operational capabilities, including improved information and intelligence sharing and coordination of strategic policy and planning.
Australia relies on the Migration Program and the employer sponsored temporary and permanent entry visas as an economic tool, to address Australia’s skilled workforce shortages.
The employer sponsored temporary and permanent entry visas require employers to comply with the complex interface which includes visa, employment and tax and other laws, to ensure regulatory compliance.
Companies recruiting overseas skilled workers to meet workforce needs must navigate a complex regulatory framework in an era of data matching and a whole of government approach to regulatory compliance
This whole of government approach includes the operations of the Fair Work Ombudsman’s robust powers to ensure compliance and to protect vulnerable workers, and visa holders’ employment and related entitlements.
Businesses that are subject to compliance and sanction because of visa and related breaches can face significant civil and criminal pecuniary penalties (and even jail). Such breaches undermine confidence in the business operations and result in damage to both reputation and brand.
Risk, governance and compliance is now a broader enterprise risk management system which should be embedded into the strategic, business planning, human resource and decision-making processes of the whole organisation.
This requires a review of the current operational risk management and regulatory compliance. The aim is to avoid breaches at a time of increased emphasis on the role that directors and boards must play in corporate culture and corporate governance.
Increasingly Human Resources operations must be part of the broader enterprise risk management approach where talent strategies are aligned with regulatory compliance.
Establishing and maintaining appropriate risk management policies and procedures are essential to support the business’s strategic plans and objectives, mitigate risk and implement the risk management framework by having clear accountabilities and responsibilities for managing risk.
The Board and senior management as the accountable authority must endorse and oversight the broader enterprise risk management system across the organisation as a whole.
Boards must have a thorough understanding of their risks, and how to mitigate against these so that these have the same level of importance as they would manage “traditional” risk such as cyber risk, occupational health and safety and reputational risks.