Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced her new cabinet, with Chris Bowen promoted to one of the toughest jobs in government - Minister for Immigration and Citizenship.

In his previous posting as Minister for Human Services, Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law, Chris Bowen established a reputation as an effective regulator with a strong reformist agenda, implementing tougher penalties for tax agents and those not qualified to give financial advice as well as outlawing commissions in the financial services industry from 2012.

While this may be welcome news for Australian Immigration applicants trying to distinguish between the qualifications of Australian immigration lawyers and those who are migration agents, it is difficult to say what this means for Australian immigration and visa regulation and policies.

Chris Bowen faces a range of challenges neglected by the previous Minister and it is hoped that he can start to address some of the most pressing requirements facing Australian immigration applicants and the system in general:

• Establishment of an onshore processing system for all asylum-seeker applications
• Restoring border control to preserve the integrity of Australian immigration processes
• Faster processing times for general skilled migration
• Strategy to unblock the skilled visa processing pipeline
• Collaboration with industry bodies and employers to support overseas workers on temporary and permanent employer sponsorships
• Returning the migration merits review system to one of common law natural justice and remove codified procedures
• Abolish the “privative clause” system of judicial review made defunct by the High Court to return Australian immigration-related decisions to the field of general administrative law
• Make better use of the tremendous revenue generated for the Department by Australian visa application fees to streamline the process for Australian visa applicants
• Implement reforms to ensure Australian immigration consumers are clearly advised of the different qualification levels and regulations governing Australian Immigration lawyers, migration agents and agents located outside Australia