WA Migration Conference Presenters

Alice Chen
Director | Legal Practitioner LPN 5510978 | Global Immigration | People Advisory Services

Alice brings a wealth of experience to Chairing this WA DAMA session with over 18 years in immigration law, currently leading the Global Immigration team at EY in Perth. She played a pivotal role in launching WA's first DAMA in the Goldfields back in 2019, and since then, as we know, we've seen three additional DAMAs take shape across WA.

Alice continues to be a driving force in the DAMA space, offering her expertise to employers to help them navigate the program's intricacies. She's also sharing her insights on the MIA Regional Migration Advisory Panel, contributing to the MIA’s recommendations to the government on regional migration policies.

 

Lester Ong
Munro Doig Lawyers

Lester Ong is a Director at Munro Doig Lawyers in Perth. He is a highly regarded migration lawyer with in-depth knowledge and understanding of Australian visa processes across a broad range of visas. Lester has consistently provided strategic immigration advice to companies and individuals, including in relation to appeals, compliance and complex issues.

He has been recognised by Doyle’s Guide as a Leading Immigration Lawyer in Western Australia. Lester has been a committee member of the Migration Institute of Australia and chair of its Continuing Professional Education subcommittee. In 2013, Lester was awarded the Migration Institute’s Henry Giblett Award for Outstanding Contribution to Education and Continuing Professional Development.

 

Kristi Carlile
WA Department of Training and Workforce Development

Currently manager of the Department of Training and Workforce Development’s, WA Migration Services unit, Kristi Carlile has served in the Western Australian public sector for over 16 years, holding leadership roles within the Department for over 12 years. Kristi has a reputation for thinking outside the box to transition concepts and deliver sustainable solutions.

Highly skilled and experienced at developing, leading and implementing programs aligned with government objectives and community needs, Kristi established the State’s first settlement services program for skilled migrants, and developed and successfully led the Ageing and Disability Job Ready Program, the first of its kind in WA. Kristi specialises in migration, settlement services and skills recognition and as a result has been invited to represent the Department at public events, Q&A panels, forums and conferences both locally and internationally.

Kristi is also a graduate of the Public Sector Management Program and CEDA’s Copland Leadership program.

 

Adam Walker
WA Department of Training and Workforce Development

Adam Walker is the Director of Service Delivery Operations at the WA Department of Training and Workforce Development, and brings to this role over 15 years of expertise in public policy and intergovernmental relations.

His extensive experience in strategic support and guidance spans various Government Departments, including the Department of the Premier and Cabinet of WA where he was Principal Advisor to the Deputy Premier, Minister for Police, and Minister for Health. Most recently, Adam has played a pivotal role in the design and roll out of the nation-leading Construction Visa Subsidy Program (CVSP) and the WA-based Construction Migration Office (CMO)

 

Helen Duncan LMMIA
CEO, MIA

Helen has been a registered migration agent since 2000 and most recently was Immigration Director at Newland Chase, based in Brisbane. Prior to becoming an agent Helen spent 10 years working in the Department of Immigration including three years as Senior Migration Officer in Los Angeles. Helen previously taught at ANU in the Graduate Certificate of Migration Law and is a Life Member of the MIA

 

Reuben Saul
National President & WA State President, MIA

Reuben Saul is a Partner at Estrin Saul Migration Specialists, Western Australia's largest immigration law firm. With an impressive track record in Australian immigration law, Reuben brings substantial expertise across a diverse range of migration matters from securing work visas and labour agreements for businesses, to assisting individuals with family reunion and refugee applications.

He regularly represents clients in review tribunals and the Federal Courts and has an exceptional understanding of government processes and document procurement. Reuben currently serves as the WA President of the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) and often delivers training sessions on complex migration matters to Registered Migration Agents and lawyers.

 

Sarah Frankel
Estrin Saul Lawyers

Sarah is an experienced immigration lawyer who leads Estrin Saul Lawyers’ skilled migration practice. Her comprehensive understanding of the field has allowed Sarah to successfully assist people with a diverse range of complex matters including navigating skilled migration pathways, responses to accusations of false and misleading information, merits review in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and appearances at the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.

She has recently had exceptional success with complex cases including multiple positive AAT outcomes for nominations under the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (subclass 187) and a section 109 visa cancellation matter decided on the papers.

 

Sarah Pettit
Associate Director, Mapien

Having migrated to Australia from Ireland, she has experienced the immigration process first hand and has always wanted to help people change their lives and give them incredible opportunities.

Sarah’s background in corporate migration, management and recruitment have allowed her strong insight into the need for business to bring in skilled workers from overseas and the benefit they bring to Australia through knowledge sharing. Sarah helps clients focus on regulatory compliance, while also striving to ensure clients are provided with a pragmatic and commercially sensible immigration solution. With extensive experience and specialisation in corporate migration, Sarah has worked with some of Australia’s largest corporations across multiple industries including Oil & Gas and Resources, Finance, Information Technology, Health, Banking and Education.

 

Dr Abul Rizvi

Abul Rizvi is an economics, accounting and public policy graduate from the ANU and holds a PhD in immigration and population policy from Melbourne University.

From 1998, Rizvi managed major growth in overseas students, skilled temporary migration, visitors and working holiday makers, including development of pathways to permanent migration.

Between 1996 and 2006, Rizvi was Chair of the Commonwealth/State Working Party on State-Specific and Regional Migration that gave state/territory governments a much greater role in immigration to their jurisdictions.

He was responsible for commissioning research on the demographic, economic and budgetary impact of immigration that was extensively used in development of the 2002 and 2007 Intergenerational Reports.

He was Deputy Secretary responsible for all aspects of immigration, humanitarian, citizenship and settlement policy from 2005.

Rizvi was awarded the Public Service Medal and the Centenary Medal for services to the development and implementation of Australian immigration policy.

Rizvi is a frequent media commentator on population, immigration and its impact on Australia’s economic and budget directions.

He was invited to participate in the 2022 Jobs and Skill Summit and recently published a book in the ‘In the National Interest’ series titled ‘Population Shock’.

Rizvi recently presented on immigration policy in a televised address to the National Press Club.

 

Philip Duncan

Philip Duncan LLB B.Econ teaches migration law at the Australian Catholic University, where he was Discipline Leader for the Graduate Diploma of Migration Law and Practice from 2019 to 2023. He is an experienced educator in the field, having taught at the Australian National University before ACU. He has mentored many RMAs and is a regular presenter of CPD to migration agents and lawyers. He has extensive experience in corporate migration, consulting to large corporates on their migration programs, labour agreements, and compliance issues. He is joint Editor of the LexisNexis Immigration Review. He was a Registered Migration Agent and MIA member for 20 years.

 

Emily Winch
Senior Director, Office of the Migration Agents Authority (OMARA)

Emily Winch has over 16 years’ experience working in a regulatory, legal, compliance and law enforcement context in the Commonwealth Public Service.

Emily was appointed as the Senior Director of the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority in June 2022. In this role, Emily is responsible for delivering the Government’s priority to protect consumers of migration advice services. Emily has implemented core strategic initiatives and driven a change agenda to position the OMARA as an effective Commonwealth regulator.

Prior to this, Emily managed the Department of Home Affairs’ integrity functions in order prevent, detect and respond to internal fraud and corruption risks. Emily has extensive experience in leading teams to conduct criminal and administrative investigations.

Emily has several years of practising experience as a senior legal advisor within the Commonwealth. Emily has a proven ability in researching, interpreting and implementing legislative frameworks and providing complex advice on various areas of law including criminal, employment, information and administrative law.

Emily has been awarded a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters of Law and Legal Practice.

 

Dr Jan Gothard
Health And Disability Specialist, Registered Migration Agent

Dr Jan Gothard is a registered migration agent and one of Australia’s leading visa health and disability specialists.

Jan has researched and published extensively in the area of migration and disability and has been an advocate in a number of high profile disability cases over the past decade on behalf of the Down Syndrome Association of Australia. She currently advises clients of the WA AIDS Council, Down Syndrome Australia and the Humanitarian Group on health or disability-related migration matters

Jan has been a leading voice and advocate for migration reform in the health and disability space and has appeared before various Senate committees, including the Joint Standing Committee on Migration in relation to the 2010 Inquiry into the Migration Treatment of Disability. In 2001 she was awarded a Centenary medal for services to literature and society.

 

Sheila Woods
Managing Director

• Registered Migration Agent since 2005
• Migrated from Ireland in 1988
• Speaks English and studied Irish and Mandarin

Sheila is an established business leader and Registered Migration Agent with over 15 years of Australian immigration experience. She first began her career in the migration industry in the not-for-profit sector before assisting Western Australian firms and large multinationals in a diverse range of industries, including oil and gas, mining services and hospitality.

Sheila advises corporate clients on migration business strategy, sponsorship audit assessments and compliance matters. Throughout her career, she has managed large-scale corporate migration projects, complex legal case work and labour agreement negotiations.

 

Cherie Wright
Partner, Vialto Partners LLP

Cherie is an Accredited Immigration Law Specialist and has focused on immigration exclusively since 2000. She has extensive experience in corporate migration across a range of industry sectors as well as private client matters, including complex health and character issues. Cherie provides immigration guidance on a wide range of scenarios. This includes advising start-ups, small and medium enterprises, government agencies and international and major corporations regarding appropriate visa management strategies on work verification processes, immigration process compliance strategies and internal policy reviews. Additionally, Cherie provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary support with topics related to immigration, such as family, entertainment, banking and finance, corporate and employment matters.

Cherie regularly leads workforce migration training workshops for human resources professionals and is a frequent presenter of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) sessions for Australian migration advisors with a variety of organisations, including the Immigration Advice & Rights Centre, Migration Institute of Australia, Law Society of New South Wales, Queensland Law Society and LegalWise. Cherie is co-chair of the Law Society of New South Wales’ Immigration Law Specialist Accreditation Committee.

 

Pankaj Pathak
Managing Director, Phoenix Academy

Pankaj is the Managing Director of Phoenix Academy and the current Chair of WAPETIA. He has over 15 years of experience in the International Education sector having worked in a range of capacities including schools, ELICOS, VET, and Higher Education. Pankaj represents the ELICOS and VET sector in a number of government groups.

 

Steve Lanyi
WA Business Industry and Regional Outreach Officer (BIRO)

Steve Lanyi is the Assistant Director of the Business, Industry and Regional Outreach (BIRO) team for the Department of Home Affairs. Steve has over 20 years’ experience working across the Home Affairs and Immigration Programs portfolio, including several sworn officer roles with the Australian Border Force (ABF). Steve is based in Perth office of Home Affairs managing a team of Business, Industry and Regional Outreach (BIRO) officers who work closely with Government, regions, industry and businesses to provide information on Skilled Migration programs and visa options to address key workforce needs and skill shortages across Australia.

Steve is a regular presenter at major conferences in his industry engagement role including AOG Energy 2024, MEDON23, CyberWest, the Mid-West Economic Summit, Kimberley Economic Forum (KEF) and the Regional Development Australia (RDA) State Forum. Steve’s WA based team specialise in several industry sectors including Resources, Minerals, Energy and Renewables, Education and Early Childhood Care and the Defence and Space sectors to support Australia’s skilled workforce needs and economic development.

 

Shayne Roscoe
Assistant Director, Migration Reform Taskforce, Immigration Policy and Planning Branch

Shayne Roscoe is the Assistant Director of the Migration Reform Taskforce within the Immigration Policy and Planning Branch based in Canberra who will be speaking about the specifics of the Migration Strategy reforms and regional migration consultations being held across all States and Territories.

 

Daniel Fondacaro
WA Temporary Visa Branch Director

Daniel Fondacaro is the Director of the WA Temporary Visa Branch in Perth. He has been with the Australian Public Service for 24 years, spending 12 years with Services Australia before crossing to Home Affairs in 2013. During my time with Home Affairs and prior to joining WA Temporary Visa, I have worked in the Citizenship Program and Family Visas.