This success is due to increasingly effective field operations by compliance officers and an increase in the number of unlawful non-citizens voluntarily approaching the department.

This has been helped by a number of new initiatives, including Employer Awareness information sessions, an employers' work rights checking line and facilities for employers to check the work rights of prospective employees. These initiatives make it increasingly difficult for non-citizens with no authority to work in Australia to get jobs to which they are not entitled.

People who approach DIMIA voluntarily to minimise the consequences of their unlawful stay now account for about fifty-seven percent of unlawfuls located. The increase in voluntary approaches is a clear sign that DIMIA's messages and the public information strategy are working well.

The Australian community should not have to tolerate people working or living illegally in Australia. Every day the department receives information from community sources regarding the location of unlawful non-citizens and of people with no work rights working unlawfully and taking jobs away from the unemployed.