Introduction
This chapter discusses the features of Australia's multicultural population. This includes key demographic trends, immigration issues and statistics.
Australia's multicultural population
Australia has a growing multicultural population; 25 per cent of Australians were born overseas and 43 per cent of the national population was either born overseas or have one parent who was born overseas. Planned immigration programs have brought around 6 million people from over 150 countries to Australia since 1945. The selection of migrants has been based on non-discriminatory grounds since the 1970s. No person wishing to migrate to Australia will be refused entry on the basis of ethnicity, race, religion or gender.
Australia's present multicultural population is the direct result of our current multicultural policy. Australia is now a culturally diverse nation, united by the Australian way of life and citizenship. Our multicultural population is also boosted by our humanitarian programme through which refugees (displaced from their countries or victims of human rights abuses, such as torture) are brought permanently to Australia (1998-99 brought 12 000 refugees here).
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Australia's multicultural population has changed in ethnic composition over time. Immediately after World War II, Australia sourced a wave of migrants from the United Kingdom, Greece, Italy and Yugoslavia. Many of these migrants were required for 'nation-building' and work in diverse areas such as the Snowy Mountains (hydro-electricity scheme) and north-east Queensland (a booming sugar cane industry). In 1947, around 81 per cent of migrants were from English-speaking countries. By 1997, this figure had dropped to 39 per cent.
By the 1970s, 46 per cent of new arrivals to Australia were from the United Kingdom. In 2001 the UK- born population was Australia's largest migrant group with 1 036 260 people. Also at this time, Australia's migrant programme and multicultural policy brought religious diversity to Australia, with the arrival of Turkish, Lebanese and Indian migrants. The 1980s increased our cultural diversity and multicultural population again with arrivals from Vietnam, The Philippines, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Cambodia and China. The 1990s featured further migrant increases from Asia, such as the former Yugoslavia, South and North-East Asia, India, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan. The proportion of Asian migrants (out of total or net migration intakes) has risen from 15.2 per cent in 1977 to a peak (high) figure of 50.6 per cent in 1991-92.
Although Australia's official language is English, there are over 200 languages in our communities, including 48 languages of the Indigenous peoples (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples). Around 16 per cent of the population speak a language other than English in the home.
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Throughout the recent decades, there has been an increase in migration to Australia from various Asian countries. In 2001 the Chinese population was the fifth largest ethinic group in Australia and the Vietnamese population was the fourth largest ethnic group. Currently, the Asian ethnic population accounts for nearly 7 per cent of the Australian population.
Large numbers of Chinese migrants arrived in Australia during the 'gold rushes' of the 1850s (38 258 Chinese migrants arrived in 1860). The Immigration Restriction Act (1901), later known as the White Australia Policy, restricted intakes of early migrant groups such as the Chinese thereafter. Since the development of our multicultural nation and the global focus of our economy, immigration is seen as crucial for our social and economic future. Migrant groups such as the Chinese are typically located in urban and suburban areas, like Sydney's Central West and Inner West (Canterbury-Bankstown) and Melbourne's Greater Dandenong City.
