Australia ponders 'profiling' for tourist visas

International tourism is a big earner for the Australian economy

CANBERRA, Australia (CNN) -- Visitors to Australia from "high-risk" countries may in the future need to produce financial and employment records before they are given tourist visas, according to suggestions in an Immigration Department discussion paper.

Countries on the high-risk list include Afghanistan, China, Fiji, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Iran, Iraq, Israel and Yugoslavia.

An Immigration Department spokeswoman told CNN Monday that the paper was a proposal only and was aimed at improving the current system of issuing visas and was not targeting any particular nationalities.

She said the "non-return" rate of visitors to Australia was steadily declining and now was an appropriate time to review what countries, if any, should be added to or removed from the "risk factor" list.

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International tourism is a huge money-spinner for Australia with more than 3.5 million people visiting the country in 2000-01 and annual growth rates of over 6 percent predicted up until 2010.

The discussion paper says changes to the current visa system are needed because of the sharp growth of visitors to Australia and the rapidly changing global environment.

Evidence

PM John Howard says Australia is friendly to anybody with a legal visa

The key to the changes would be to smooth the process for visitors from rapidly growing tourist markets, such as India, while requiring visitors from high-risk countries to "provide a higher degree of evidence" to prove they were "genuine" visitors.

This would include providing proof -- employment and financial statements -- that they had sufficient financial inducement to return to their home countries at the end of their visit.

The system would also be refined to "profile" certain ages and genders of potential visitors seen to be most likely to not return to their home countries.

The discussion paper, and submissions to it, will form the basis of a report to the Minister for Immigration, Philip Ruddock.

But the paper has already drawn sharp criticism from some quarters.

Dr Tony Pun of the Ethnic Communities Council of New South Wales told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio Monday that the paper sent out the wrong message to other countries in the Asia Pacific region.

He said the paper gave the impression that Australia was targeting visitors from non-European countries as the main culprits in visa offences.

And the chief executive of Australia's tourism taskforce, Christopher Brown, said the government was giving mixed messages to countries that Australia is increasingly reliant on for tourism dollars.

He said the government had to be careful not to project an image of "Fortress Australia" in its bid to protect the nation's strategic borders.

'Absurd'

Australian Prime Minister John Howard defended the proposals Monday saying the reaction was "ridiculous".

"All we're saying is if you overstay a visa then you're liable to be asked to go home. There's nothing wrong with that," he told radio listeners in Cairns in northern Queensland.

"And we're not picking on anybody, " he said.

Rather, the Immigration Department was simply keeping in mind certain groups "who are more likely than others to overstay their visas".

"There's some suggestion that, you know, we're going to be more friendly to Caucasians than to Asians. I mean that is absurd," Howard said.

"We're the last country in the world that is going to be unfriendly to visitors from Asia, we're friendly to everybody who comes to this country in a lawful fashion."