Australia Emigration

Since World War 2 and the Vietnam War, Australia has become a multicultural country. Before the Vietnam War, though, the Australian government tried their best to keep Australia ‘white’. After the fear of communism from Vietnam, the government thought it would be in the country’s best interest to try and build up the population in Australia, but only allowing ‘white’ Europeans and British people to come. What is included in this report, is to discover how and why the migrants from non-European countries manage to change the face of modern Australia.

Naturally many Hungarians fled during the revolution and so 200 000 fled to Western Europe to escape persecution. Australia, along with more than ten other countries, reached out to the Hungarian refugees and offered settlement assistance to approximately 14 000 refugees (History Learning Site, n.d). Another factor that influenced Hungarian refugees’ immigrationt to Australia was that Australia was the furthest country away from the Soviet Union that were able to escape to because of their desperation.

Most migrants that came to Australia to grab a share of the gold rush, left behind family and home. In traditional Chinese culture this was particularly difficult for them to come from a parent’s heavy focused family system, to an alien country to live.

With the already little population of 5 million Australian people and the loss of 300,000 men, this should have been a dark time, but to make up on that loss Australia received 300,000 migrants. These Migrants came from Britain. As there was a large amount of unemployment the British government encouraged the people of britain to migrate to Australia. Also the

Despite being granted a visa to enter Australia as a refugee visa (visa subclass 200) refugees must then satisfy other numerous criteria even more challenging. An example of this is apart from meeting national security requirements and health screening the minister of Australian immigration considers applicants must have a "compelling reason for giving special consideration to granting the visa”. Their connection with Australia, the capacity of the Australian community and the degree of severity of persecution they are faced with

However when communist forces captured Saigon and the Vietnam war ended, prompting the mass immigration to Australia. In 1976 the first boat (Fishing Boat KG4435) arrived in Australia with the first Vietnamese refugees on board. Those refugees aboard were accepted on humanitarian grounds, by 1981 a total of 56 boats would arrive with over 2100 illegal Vietnamese refugees. By 1981 a total of 43,400 Vietnamese had arrived in Australia (95% Legally, 5% via boat). In 1990 the Vietnamese Government relaxed departure restrictions creating a jump in migration arrival numbers to Australia. By 1991 there were 124,800 Vietnamese born residents in Australia. In the 2011 the census indicated that there were 185,000 Vietnam born Australian Residents. These numbers show us that Australia was definitely the number 1 choice for immigration.

For many years Asian Migrants were restricted from entering Australia and found it difficult to migrate due to discriminatory political policies. The main policies were the ‘dictation test’, the policy of ‘Assimilation’ and the ‘White Australia’ policy. The main Asian Migration wave occurred in 1976 after the Vietnam War forced many people to leave there homes and come here to Australia. These Asian Migrants arrived in Australia by boat which was usually very over crowded. The cause of

Australia in terms of immigration, has had a poor history of dealing with people travelling into the country, shown in the beginning of hand picking the majority of Australia 's population. However as the decades have rolled on, whether it be forced or by choice, Australia has become looser and more free in access and treatment within the country and importantly, less discriminatory. In order to see these improvements, the start must be shown, in which is generally summarised by the White Australia Policy.

1901 marked Federation of Australia and the Immigration Restriction Act which encompassed the White Australia policy which required all migrants to pass a dictation test before they could enter Australia. These laws were in place until 1958.

It was in 1945 following the end of WWII that thee Chifley Labour Government established the Department of Immigration with Arthur Calwell at its head. The department used the slogan ‘Populate or Perish’ to promote the idea of increase Australia’s population to the people. The surrounding events such as the recent war and vulnerability to border security breech by the Japanese on top of the small population, convinced the then prime minister Ben Chifley and the Australian public that immigration was vital to the nation’s survival.

Immigration has always been a controversial topic in Australian society; who the government should and should not let into the country. Over the years Australia’s immigration policy has evolved and changed with the changing of attitudes and beliefs in society. The current immigration policy for Australia is a lot less discriminatory than past policies like the “White Australia policy” and the “Populate or Perish policy”. After federation in 1901 the Australian government created the Immigration Restriction Act.

A “White Australia” policy was introduced in the early 1900’s, significantly influencing views of immigration. The common belief of society was that only people from Europe, and preferably Britain and Ireland, were considered to be ‘good enough’ for immigration to Australia. People from all other nations, particularly Asian countries, were forced to undergo the incredibly difficult challenges to move permanently to Australia. If in

After the initial intake of refugees in the late 1970s, there was a second immigration peak in 1983–84, most likely a result of the 1982 agreement between the Australian and Vietnamese governments (the Orderly Departure Program) which allowed relatives of Vietnamese Australians to leave Vietnam and migrate to Australia. A third immigration peak in the late 1980s seems to have been mainly due to Australia's family reunion scheme. Over 90,000 refugees were processed, and entered Australia during this time. – relevant

Australia’s population is culturally and ethnically diverse. As at June 2010, there were 22.3 million residents in Australia, around one-quarter of the population was born overseas and many residents who were born in Australia have a parent who was born in another country. Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders represent 2.3% of the population

3. Phillips, Janet and Spinks, Harriet. 2012 "Skilled migration: temporary and permanent flows to Australia" Social Policy Section, Parliamentary Library.