Yang Berbahagia Dato’ Aloyah Mamat, Deputy Director General (Management) of the Department of Immigration,
Mr Mike Swan, Assistant Director (Removal Units) of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, the Victorian Office,
Distinguished Guests,
Members of the Media,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
It is a great pleasure for me to welcome all of you here at the Consulate General of Malaysia, Melbourne, in conjunction with the official opening of its first Immigration Attaché Office. I am also extremely pleased today to introduce the first polycarbonate Malaysian Passport in
I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to Dato Aloyah, who came here all the way from Malaysia to observe the successful setting up of the Immigration Attaché Office.
I also wish to extend my gratitude to officials from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection Victorian Office for coming to today’s event. Your presence here highlights the importance of continued cooperation between both of our government’s agencies as well as reinforcing people-to-people links, further aiding in the strengthening of bilateral relations between Malaysia and Australia, in particular Victoria.
Distinguished Guests,
It has been two and a half years since the establishment of the Consulate General of Malaysia in Melbourne in May 2011, a welcomed initiative announced by the Prime Minister of Malaysia on his official visit to Melbourne in March of that year (2-4 March 2011).
According to the data provided by the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection, at the end of June 2011 there were 137,690 Malaysians living in Australia (29% more than in 2006, with growth projections of about 6% every year). This makes Malaysians the ninth largest migrant community in
From those figures mentioned earlier, 34% are residing currently in Victoria numbering about 46,814. If we include the 9,000 students at that period of time, this made the total in 2011 alone for Malaysians residing in Victoria around 55,814. This did not include those non-registered or temporary entrant visitors (staying more than 3 months) which was estimated between10, 000-15,000 in that year alone.
Apart from those studying in local institutions and those contributing to the workforce, there are also around 5,500 to 5,700 Malaysians who were permanent additions to the Australian resident population in 2011-2012. Although they are now no longer citizens of Malaysia having renounced their Malaysian citizenships for Australian ones, yet they are still Malaysians at heart and will always visit us here at the Consulate General for many other consular matters, for example to obtain attestation of documents.
As evidenced in the report by the Department of Immigration, in 2011 Victoria was the most preferred state of residence for Malaysian born residents, and Malaysian students also showed preference for Victoria with more than 40% enrolled in academic institutions based in Victoria.
Distinguished Guests,
This Office where all of you are standing now was officially launched by our Honorable Dato’ Sri Anifah Aman, Foreign Minister of Malaysia together with His Excellency Alex Chernov, Governor of Victoria on 7 November 2012 (We actually moved from our temporary office at Malaysian Hall on 28 December 2011).
We were indeed glad to hear earlier on in November 2012, that the Immigration Office in Canberra would relocate its Passport Processing Office as well as its main Immigration Desk from Canberra to Melbourne, as a result of the establishment of official representation of Malaysia here in the state of Victoria.
The original intention was to set up the Immigration Attaché Office here in the first quarter of 2013. Although slightly delayed due to unforeseeable circumstances, we are proud today that we have achieved this.
We can now announce, to the relief of many I am sure, that Malaysian Passports, Visas, and Emergency Certificates can now be processed and issued from this Office on the same day, unlike before where it would take at least two weeks to do so. Now neither Maniam, Ali nor Ah Chong can complain to me over the phone after hours before I retire for the day:- ‘’Kenapa Saya Punya Paspot Sampai Sekarang Tak Siap.
For your kind information, the passports issued in Melbourne effective today will be the same passport used throughout Malaysia using the newest and latest polycarbonate technology. What does it mean? We need experts like Dato Aloyah to explain!
Distinguished Guests,
Ever since this Office was established in May 2011, there have been many investments by Malaysian companies in Victoria. The accumulated business investments from the period of 2008 till 2011 were in the figures of USD2.5 billion, and it is on the increase with more trade and investments linkages between Malaysia and Victoria.
Tourism between
Last year alone Australia contributed about half a million visitors to Malaysia, making it our eighth top tourist generating market i.e. generating Malaysia’s income from tourism amounting to AUD20.2 billion (RM60.6 billion). Out of that figure, tourists from the State of Victoria to Malaysia numbered second (2nd) after New South Wales. As it is projected that in 2016 the most populated state in Australia will be Victoria, the current figure of 5.6 million people will explode further to 7-8 million, and that will also entail more overseas visitors from Victoria, what more to Malaysia!
All of the above factors such as the highest number of Malaysians residing in Victoria; the highest number of Malaysian students in Victorian universities such as RMIT, La Trobe, Deakin, Monash, and Melbourne University, just to name a few; an explosion of investments and trading between Malaysia and Victoria; one of the highest recorded incoming tourist numbers from Victoria to Malaysia; and the projection of high density population in Victoria, makes it more evident the need for the Immigration Attaché Office to be relocated here!
I like to relay the fact that the numbers of people visiting this Office has tripled from that of 2011 and 2012. This indicates that more Australians and Malaysians from other states in Australia like Tasmania, South Australia and New South Wales prefer to travel to Melbourne for their consular issues!
Distinguished Guests,
The establishment of the Malaysian Immigration Office under the umbrella of the Consulate General of Malaysia in Melbourne reflects the will of the present Malaysian Government to always improve its services to Malaysians wherever and whoever they are, and also to clients of Malaysia like tourists from Victoria and Australia as a whole. This reflects a Government that actually walks the talk, and also in tandem with its “One (1) Malaysia. People First. Performance Now” Concept.
We will work together as a team here in Melbourne with greater cooperation and full of integrity to ensure the delivery of quality services to our clients. The fact that the Immigration Attaché Office is set up within the Consulate General’s Office is a testament of value innovation. It creates ample opportunity for both teams for greater benefits. Instead of rivaling each other, the symbiosis creates a cooperative synergy that supplements each team in its areas of expertise.
The symbiosis reflects clearly that we are in togetherness to ensure that Malaysia will continue to progress and perform so as to realize its vision to become a high income developed nation by 2020.
TQ
