Migration

Introduction

International migration is the movement of people across international borders. Australia is considered to be a nation built on international migration, with nearly half a million people continuing to arrive on Australian shores annually. Approximate arrivals from the following countries are:

Britain and New Zealand 13%
China 7%
India 6%
South Africa 5%

The arrival of these and other migrants has played an important role in Australia's population levels and reinforced Australia's links to the world. Migrants have brought many cultural traits with them and today Australia is regarded as a multicultural society with 25% of its 19.9 million people being born overseas. This chapter discusses Australia's historical and current trends in migration in a global context. It also looks at the various types of immigration and the overall economic, demographic and population impact.

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Migrant Australians and historical trends

Migrants have sought entry into Australia for many reasons. More than 40 000 years ago, the first Aboriginal people crossing into Australia sought food, water, and better climate conditions, settling in resource-rich areas along rivers and coastlines. Migrants from Europe also settled along rivers and coastlines seeking better living conditions due to flood, drought, disease, starvation or war occurring in their homelands. Even some of the early British convicts saw Australian life as an improvement over the poverty of London. Other migrants into Australia sought, and continue to seek, an escape from religious and political persecution, and better employment opportunities. Since the 1970s, the latter have included larger numbers of non-Europeans in its Asian refugees, relatives of refugees and skilled migrants.

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Changing migration patterns

It is argued that Australia has always been a land of migrants. From 1788, the first of approximately 160 000 convicts were transported to the Australian colonies and, from the early 1790s, were joined by free immigrants along with the officials of the penal system. More migrants arrived during Australia's gold-rush era (1851-1870) when many British, American and Chinese migrants sought the opportunity for wealth. Soon the number of new arrivals exceeded the number of convicts who had previously arrived, and the population increased from roughly 430 000 in the 1850s to 1.7 million in the 1870s. However, from 1901 up until recent decades, an acceptable migrant had to be white in conformity with the White Australia Policy, preferably British, Irish, or from an English-speaking country in the British Empire. Following the First World War, Australia sought to increase its immigration in response to needing more workers to fill its manufacturing industries, a bigger consumer market, and the development of Australia's open spaces. The belief was that Australia must 'populate or perish'. With the Second World War, defence became an issue, as it was felt that a larger population made it easier to defend the country from a possible future invasion.

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The end of the war saw Australia facing a humanitarian crisis, with millions of refugees in Europe that included inmates freed from concentration camps and Eastern Europeans fleeing communism. It was in this climate that for the first time Australia actively sought non-British migrants in the form of refugees from an expanding number of other European countries. This was done through agreements with Britain, some European countries and with the International Refugee Organisation (IRO) to encourage such migration from war-torn Europe. Alongside Eastern European migrants were those from the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Greece and the Middle East. The intention had still been to keep Australia white, with ten migrants from Britain for every other migrant, but by the late 1960s the White Australia Policy had been abandoned. Between 1945 and 1965 Australia's population had also significantly grown from seven million to eleven million. In that time, the impact of post-war immigration could be seen in the gradual ending of the long-accepted policy of assimilation. This was followed by the acceptance of the policy of integration, where migrant groups were allowed to maintain their national identity while still becoming part of the larger community.

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In the 1970s, the policy of integration was expanded into the policy of multiculturalism and, with the increased size of Australia's population, and the changes brought into Australian social and cultural life, this resulted in the attraction of Australia to more numbers of migrants born outside Europe. Until this time, Britain and Ireland had been Australia's main source of migration. By the turn of the twenty-first century, however, this group represented only 11 per cent of migrants to Australia. Increasing numbers of migrants have come from countries in South-East Asia, North-East Asia and South Asia. New Zealand, however, remains the largest source of migrants to Australia.

Current Immigration Policy

Australia is distinct amongst western countries in the influence its government agencies have over immigration policy. Its immigration department was centrally involved in organising the huge intake of post-war immigrants, and the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA), as it is today known, has considerable independence in the development of policy under the Migration Act (1958). It currently has immigration programmes that allow people to live permanently in Australia on various grounds. These include the Migration Programme and Humanitarian Programme. Overseas visitors living in Australia under one of a number of temporary visas can also apply for permanent residence. Those who enter Australia without authority or overstay their visa fall into the category of illegal migrants.

Migration Programme

The Migration Programme with its business and general skilled migrant entry as well as family member and special eligibility entry, aims at attracting people who have skills in particular professions or trades deemed to benefit Australia. It has required high levels of English and recent work experience, or completed Australian qualifications as the result of study in Australia. Migrants with family or children who are Australians have also been accepted. Migrants given special eligibility are those who have close ties with Australia or are former residents returning to Australia.

In 2002-2003, 93 000 migrants settled in Australia, the majority of whom (71%) arrived as part of the Migration Programme, with most arriving under the skilled migration category (41%) and 30% arriving under the family migration category. Australia recently accepted another 20 000 skilled migrants to occupy its labour force and announced a future target of about 97 500 skilled migrant entrants.

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Humanitarian Programme

The Humanitarian Programme targets refugees and others who have faced serious human rights abuses. It implements an offshore resettlement programme which assists those in humanitarian need for whom resettlement in another country is the only option. It also applies an onshore protection programme for those already in Australia who arrived on temporary visas or illegally and who seek asylum. Australia recently accepted roughly 16 000 refugees through its resettlement programme and continues to take 19% of refugees assisted by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). About 10% of migrants in 2002-2003 arrived as part of the Humanitarian Programme.

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Policy on illegal migrants

Illegal migrants under the Migration Act are those who enter or work in Australia without authority or who overstay their visas. The Act requires that unlawful migrants be subject to mandatory immigration detention and to deportation unless given permission to stay in Australia. There is presently an estimated 50 000 people in Australia who have overstayed visas, the majority of whom are British nationals. The majority of detainees are recent Middle Eastern and South-East Asian asylum seekers who have illegally landed in Australia, often under the guidance of people smugglers. The increased number of these has resulted in policy changes regarding refugees to deter future arrivals. Those arriving by boat or other means without official classification as refugees are no longer granted refugee status on arrival. Many of these asylum seekers are turned away due to the excision of some parts of Australia from the official migration zone.

Migrant populations and their impact

There are currently many countries in the world and region in which the current generation of migrants have been born. The top ten birthplaces for these migrants include:

Australia: 13 600,000 persons, 71.84% of total population
United Kingdom: 1 035 000 persons, 5.46% of total population
New Zealand: 350 000 persons, 1.88% of total population
Italy: 220 000 persons, 1.15% of total population
Vietnam: 155 000 persons, 0.82% of total population
China: 140 000 persons, 0.75% of total population
Greece: 115 000 persons, 0.61% of total population
Germany: 110 000 persons, 0.57% of total population
Philippines: 100 000 persons, 0.55% of total population
India: 95 000 persons, 0.50% of total population

The increasing shift in the overseas sources of migrants from countries in Europe to those in Australia's region of the globe has brought with it many cultural, economic and geopolitical impacts on Australia. Positive impacts include the increase of demand for infrastructure through the spending by migrants on food and housing, the expansion of regional business and investment links and additions to labour and skills levels brought by migrants. A concern by lobby groups for an ecologically sustainable population has highlighted some of the possible negative impacts. Other concerns have been over the association made between the concentrations of migrants in particular suburbs, such as in Sydney's Cabramatta and Fairfield, and higher levels of poverty, unemployment and crime. Arguably the most visible impact has been the overall increase in the range of Australia's cultural backgrounds, with an overseas-born population of 140 recognised ethnic groups that speak more than 90 languages and practise about 80 religions.

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