1995 Global Cultural Diversity Conference Proceedings, Sydney
Public Policy and Diversity - Migration Patterns and Policy
Selection and Rejection - Twenty Years of Australian Immigration
Dr James Jupp
Director, Centre for Immigration and Multicultural Studies, Australian National University
The White Australia Policy finally came to an end during the Whitlam Labor government. It had been significantly amended under the Liberal predecessors in 1966. The first major intake of Asian immigrants began in the first year of the Fraser Liberal/National government. For twenty years Australia has had a universal immigration policy, because national origin, race, religion or culture are not officially taken into account when selecting migrants (Jupp 1991; Lack and Templeton 1995). It has also had a substantially tightened policy.
The previous advantages enjoyed by British immigrants were progressively reduced and finally ended by 1983. From that time all intending settlers, other than those from New Zealand, must be visaed under a series of criteria. Australia is also one of the few developed countries which requires visas for short-term visitors, again with an exception for New Zealanders. This latter requirement is currently under review and contrasts with the reduction of visa requirements in Europe and North America in recent years and the British practice of deciding on admission at the entry barrier.
Thus Australian policy has both broadened and narrowed the gateway over the past twenty years. It is no longer necessary for settlers to be "of substantial European appearance" as it was as recently as thirty years ago. But it is no longer possible simply to show a United Kingdom passport to gain admission or even the right to re-enter for those who have lived in Australia for many years without taking out Australian citizenship. Only Australian citizens have a right to enter. Even New Zealanders may be rejected, although this is very uncommon.
While Australia has a growing tourist and student intake and many temporary residents, the stated object of immigration control is still to determine the character of permanent settlers who will remain and become Australian citizens. With this in mind about half the settler intake consists of relatives of those already in Australia. Even the humanitarian intake gives preference to those with substantial Australian connections or previous residence (Jupp and Kabab 1993).
To be selected as a permanent resident of Australia, it is necessary to fulfill certain criteria. Applicants' qualifications will normally be scrutinised at an overseas post over a period of time and they will be subject to an interview and a medical. The only significant number avoiding these procedures are those who have already obtained a non-resident visa, such as students or tourists, and who overstay illegally. Currently there are about 70,000 such overstayers in Australia.
An exception has been made for those wishing to change their status after admission on the grounds of changed circumstances, such as marriage to a permanent resident or changed political conditions at home, creating a claim to refugee asylum. These "on-shore" applicants have been progressively discouraged by tightened regulations over the past five years. Illegal cross-border entry, so common in the United States, is negligible in Australia which has less than twenty legal points of entry to control and no land borders.
Ideally, immigrants to Australia have been selected overseas because they are in occupations which need their skills; or are related to those already permanently resident; or are admitted for humanitarian reasons; or fall into some relatively small special categories. Others are allowed to remain temporarily because of political conditions in their homeland. Those caught remaining illegally are now the subject of mandatory deportation.
Compared with most other developed societies, Australia has a well regulated and controlled immigration program (Freeman and Jupp 1992; Adelman et al. 1994). As a society traditionally based on immigration, it allows in larger numbers or proportions than societies such as Japan which pride themselves on their homogeneity. Yet Japan acknowledges that it is host to a large number of illegal workers from its region who have no civil rights but who are, nevertheless, immigrants.
Britain has made it very difficult for former British Commonwealth immigrants (including Australians) but must admit citizens of the European Union. It still admits close relatives of established settlers from Commonwealth states such as Bangladesh and India. Germany has over 7 million non-German residents and has been a major target for refugee asylum seekers until regulations were tightened in 1993. Such previous sources of emigrants as Italy or Greece, now receive many immigrants from Africa, the Middle East and eastern Europe. Thus the often repeated claims that Australia is almost "unique" in admitting a steady quota of immigrants is quite untrue and, indeed, mischievous. What is true is that Australia maintains a controlled immigration program, as it has in varying respects for 150 years since assisted passages for the British were begun in 1831.
Selection
The frequent accusation that the migration program has "got out of hand" is true only in limited senses. The persistence of high and long-term unemployment over the past two decades means that new arrivals can no longer automatically be guaranteed a job, as was the case between 1947 and 1970 (ABS 1990; ABS (Qld) 1994). Like school leavers, new arrivals are at a disadvantage.
Many employers insist on "Australian experience" as a covert and quite legal way of discriminating against immigrants. Although qualifications are now assessed overseas as likely to be accepted in Australia, this is only relevant where appropriate jobs exist or where the state or professional registering agencies agree. Despite the transfer of qualification assessment to the Department of Employment, Education and Training from the Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs in 1989, it is still quite common for overseas qualifications to be unrecognised, especially if they are not from English-using institutions.
The migration program is thus "out of hand" because it cannot guarantee that unemployed migrants will not become a "public charge" an expectation which goes back 150 years to the early days of assisted passages for the British. The burden falls most heavily on those with inadequate English and especially on those from disturbed political situations, such as in Indochina or the Middle East.
One frequently canvassed solution is to limit eligibility to those competent in English. But this contradicts the principle of universality and would weigh most heavily on those seeking political refuge, as few of these are English-speakers. The alternative has been to offer and require a set level of 510 hours of tuition through the Adult Migrant English program.
The program is certainly not "out of control" in terms of numbers. The last two years have seen the lowest net settlement levels in the past two decades and the second lowest for nearly fifty years. The grossly exaggerated fears aroused by the "boat people" episode at the end of 1994, obscured the reality that almost nobody enters Australia illegally, though many stay on illegally, a figure also currently reducing. Over the past century migrant intake has followed a "roller-coaster" pattern, rising in times of prosperity and falling with depressions. This continues to be the case.
Even in the 1980s, when high intake ran alongside high unemployment, the "paper boom" led many to believe that the effective demand for labour was higher than proved to be the case. Otherwise the normal pattern holds immigration is encouraged when the demand for labour is buoyant and discouraged when it is not. This is sustained by the measurable fact that numbers seeking admission also drop off when the Australian labour market is tight. This has been especially true for the uncontrolled New Zealand component.
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