How Did Asian Migration Affect Australia

In a recent article authored by Alice Pung, a first generation Australian of Southeast Asian parents, titled ‘Living with Racism in Australia (Pung 2016), Alice details key points within her (and her families) life revolving around their migration from Cambodia to Australia. Within this she touches on, albeit briefly however still illustrating her point quite clearly, immigration, race/racism, assimilation, ethnic minorities, ethnic conflict and social cohesion.

Integration in Australia has positively affected the development of Australian society and the life and opportunities non-white immigrants had.

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.

The origins of the white Australia policy can be traced back to the 1950’s when white miners showed resentment towards Chinese diggers which ended in violence at Lambing Flat (New South Wales) and Buckland River (Victoria). The governments then blamed the Chinese, and placed restrictions on any Chinese migration. Even before this time,

As a result of the war, 2 million Indochinese citizens became refugees, fleeing from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam for political, religious and economic reasons, due to the rise of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. Nearly 140,000 of them were Vietnamese, who fled their country in the years after 1975, 55 000 of them came as refugees between 1975 and 1982, while 95 000 came through family reunion (an initiative set up by the government to keep families together). The White Australia Policy and the fear of Asian communism, with their discriminatory impacts had been abolished and Australia began to accept Asian migrants and political refugees after realising their vital link to Australia, the enormous trade opportunities and the declining links to Britain. By 1985, Asian–born Australians made up 2% of the population, which by 2005 had increased to nearly 7%. In 1977, multiculturalism became a firm government policy, giving funding and licences to foreign language radio stations and starting language schools for the new immigrants. By the 1980s, newspapers in Australia were being printed in over 100 different languages. The 2011 Census indicated that 185,000 people born in Vietnam were residents in Australia and 219,000 people spoke Vietnamese at home. Australia has also adopted many traditional Asian customs, including celebrating Chinese

The Australian Gold rush days had brought may immigrants from all over the world to Australia. Many of the migrants who joined the goldrush left their families and their homeland behind. This is particularly difficult for the Chinese because they come from a traditional culture that focused greatly on family and their village. Most Chinese men who came to New South Wales were not for individual fortune but came for their family. The Chinese immigration shaped and influenced Australian policy for over a 100 year, which became one of the driving factors for the Australian Federation.

Australia’s history has shown a “White Australia” policy from as early as 1850. It began with competition in the goldfields between immigrant Chinese and the British miners caused a severe amount of tension. Eventually turning into riots (Buckland Riot in 1857 and the Lambing Flat Riots in 1860 and 1861) Victoria and New South Wales put restrictions on Chinese immigration as well as residency taxes. This has been described as the earliest sign of the White Australia policy.

Thus, the creation of the One Nation Party in 1997 clearly demonstrated the continual existence of a White Australia notion. It would seem that Hanson has always had a negative stance toward immigration, especially against ‘Asians’. This is evident in her maiden speech whereby she said “we are in danger of being swamped by Asians … They have their own culture and religion, form ghettos and do not assimilate … I should have the right to have a say in who comes into my country. Hanson also believed her views to be that of a typical Australians.” (Jupp 2002, p.130) This gross generalisation of Asians by Hanson along with One Nation winning a surprising amount of seats in parliament, only further reinforces the notion of White Australia’s continual existence in modern day Australian society. The year

In the nineteenth century the Australian colonies were concerned about the level of non-European immigration to Australia, particularly from China, and many colonies passed restrictive immigration legislation. Following Federation in 1901, one of the first pieces of Commonwealth legislation passed was the Immigration Restriction Act 1901. The immigration restriction act was made in 1901 by the parliament of Australia. This act minimized immigration into Australia and this was also the start of the white Australia policy. This new act prevented various different classes from immigrating into Australia and all illegal immigrants were to be removed. A dictation test was added into the policy, this test required the person entering to take part

Culture is always changing. Beliefs, behaviours and presentation, religion and language all form part of what is an individual’s or community’s culture. (Bowes, Grace, & Hodge, 2012, p.75 & 77). Due to its intrinsic nature, when people migrate to Australia, they bring their culture with them. As migrants come from all over the world, and not the one place, their

Too Much Speculation in Immigration Nation SBS’s newest documentary Immigration Nation presents an unbalanced and sometimes unreliable view on Australia’s immigration history, writes Mary Hutchinson. Commissioned by the SBS and directed by Ben Shakleford, Immigration Nation tells the history of a well contested social issue: immigration. Describing itself as ‘The secret history of us’ it attempts to recount how multicultural Australia was formed against the odds. However, it mostly just rants about why the odds were terrible rather than talking about how said odds were overcame. Shakleford begins telling the tale of the White Australia Policy.

Australian Migration law is complex. It is dynamic and the policies are controversial. I remember how many times the department has changed its name from DIMA (Department of Immigration and Multi Cultural Affairs) to DIAC (Department of Immigration and Citizenship) and to DIBP (Department of Immigration and Border Protection). I consider that on balance the changes in Australian laws and policies are coherent to the demand of times in order to regulate passage, residency and removal of non-citizens from Australia.

As mentioned above, the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 was a key part in changing of attitudes to how refugees were welcomed in Australia. This act, however, had its beginnings as an amendment to the ‘Migration Act’ in 1973, which introduced a non-discriminatory immigration policy. This vastly changed Australia’s immigration policy, as well as changing Australia from a largely white country, to a new multiethnic society. The way that immigrants were selected, to come to Australia, also changed from the 1970s onwards. Stewart West, the Federal Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs, addressed this selection during a speech in 1984; “Our first commitment is to honor responsibilities to those migrants already in Australia, to honor international obligations and to accept that humanitarian considerations apply to both these areas” (Foster, 1988, pp.). One of the new categories introduced, was the skilled migrant. This allowed immigrants with useful and professional skills and trades to have an advantage over other immigrants when being considered to gain visas. Family reunion is another one of these new categories, which gave priority to the relatives of immigrants and refugees who have already relocated to Australia. The family reunion policy also played a large role in the influx of Vietnamese refugees after the war, as those who had escaped the communist regime, now were able to bring their families to safety in Australia as well. Humanitarian migration is another of these categories, which specialised specifically in refugees and providing both offshore and onshore resettlement programs. These new categories of immigrants, as well as pressure from other countries, encouraged Australia to increase the amount of immigrants allowed entry into Australia every

Although migrants came from many different countries and cultures, there was a great emphasis into attracting as many British migrants as possible. This was based on the ideology that since Australia was a British colony, the British would inevitably be the best suited for Australian life. The Australian government was both selective and pragmatic in the sense that they specifically targeted professional skilled workers ready to begin working in Australia straight away. (James Jupp, The Australian People: An Encyclopedia of the Nation, Its People and Their Origins (Cambridge, 2001), p.314 in Hassam,

Migrants moved to Australia for many different reasons such as The Cold War, The Holocaust, new beginnings, work, communism, etc. Albeit Australia was welcoming people with open arms, the people of non-European backgrounds, or ‘Undesirables’ were not wanted in the country. People with non-European backgrounds who wanted to move to Australia had to face the Dictation test, which was a test were a person got told 50 words in a different language from their own, the test giver would not be allowed to pause or slow down. The Dictation test was often given in a language the person didn’t know so that way they were not able to get into