ETHNICITY AND MIGRATION IN AUSTRALIA

Ethnicity and Migration in Australia

Ethnicity and Migration in Australia

Introduction

Australia had been a land of immigrants since the beginning of British colonization in 1788. The early colonial period was marked by genocide, dispossession, and racism against the Aboriginal population, while, at the same time the colonies were integrating into the British Empire as suppliers of raw materials. Britain took an active role in providing workers through convict labour, assisted passages, and the encouragement of free settlement. In the mid-nineteenth century, Australian employers sought cheap labour in China, India, and the South Pacific Islands. Hostility from the Australian labour movement toward Chinese and other workers led to the White Australia Policy established by the Immigration Restriction Act—one of the first laws passed by the new Federal Parliament in 1901. Between 1901 and 1945, poor economic conditions led to low levels of immigration. Most immigrants came from Britain, but smaller groups came from Italy, Spain, and other European countries. During this period. there emerged a distinctive sense of Australian nationhood as an outpost of British culture. (Jakubowicz & Andrew, 2008, pp. 114-115)

A family gets information about immigration to Australia from an official at the Department of Immigration at Australia House, the Australian High Commission in London.

After World War II, domestic industrial expansion was an urgent priority. The Labour government pursued a policy of developing secondary industries in order to reduce Australia's need for imports and to eliminate too heavy a reliance on primary product exports. Australian industry was compelled to rely on dramatic increases in immigrant labour, mostly semiskilled and unskilled. The policy was to draw on permanent, family immigration, since both workers and consumers were needed. Another motive behind the race to increase the Australian population was the fear of invasion from Asia, which gave rise to the popular slogan “Populate or perish.”

From the 1950s to the early 1970s, Australia experienced sustained economic growth, close to full employment, and price stability. Migrant labour was directed into infrastructure projects or heavy industry, with southern European workers highly concentrated in manual manufacturing jobs. Asian workers were considered unsuitable by a broad spectrum of Australian society, and even when the policy white Australian disposed of in the mid of 1960's. Asian migration was at first restricted to a small number of middle-class people. In order to help migrants settle, a policy of assimilation was pursued. Multiculturalism was introduced in the early 1970s when it became evident that migrants were not assimilating as planned. In the mid- to late 1970s, Asian immigration began to increase, starting with the arrival of boat people from Indochina.

From the mid of 1970's- 1980's, there was a compromise between political forces on balanced immigration and multicultural policies for ethnic communities. In 1980's, the labour party of Australia (ALP) put more emphasis on recognizing cultural diversity. In the subsequent period, anti immigration and anti minority sentiments began to raise the reason behind was the fear of unemployment and the rise in Asian ...