The White Australia Policy: The Role Of Immigrants In Australia

British migrants were unlike other migrant groups that made the sea voyage to Australia within the postwar period. Unlike other migrant groups, British migrants were privy to a variety of benefits and privileges including subsidised fares, better experiences and conditions on boats, prolonged hostel accommodation, job preferences and the ability to vote in Australian federal elections, despite not being an Australian citizen.

So what does “multiculturalism” mean? In simple terms multiculturalism is the coexistence, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures in a singular geographic or democratic jurisdiction. Multiculturalism has been a huge part of this study as Australia as a nation is diversified into a various cultural aspects. The concept of multiculturalism has become a widely accepted and embraced fact around the world as more and more countries have adopted to the global policies of acceptance which not only helps the nation economically but also contributes towards the growth of various cultural boundaries and also helps develop knowledge about wide spread variety of customs and culture groups around the world. Ultimately the essence of multiculturalism in any society is to eradicate the feeling of an outsider and accept ethnic and racial groups as their our and build the concept of unity in

Asian Immigrants have gone from having a continuous restriction year to year then to becoming a major part of Australian society. However, since the policy of Integration in 1970 and the abolishment of the dictation test in 1958 Asians has had the opportunity to migrate to Australia. This has been continuous since that major change with more and more arriving every year. The changes in these policies were made as Australia was becoming a more multicultural society and the Asian Migration wave has altered Australia today by making Australia richer and more culturally diverse. Asian immigrants have also contributed to the change in the Australian Political Policies which has allowed Migrants to become more accepted into Australia. Because of this no changes should be made to these political

After WW2, the Labour Prime Minister, Ben Chifley, launched Australia’s largest immigration program ever. Along with the program, the catchphrase ‘Populate or Perish’ was widely used to imply that more immigrants, preferably white, were necessary to fight of the steady stream of Asian immigration. As part of Immigration policy, these immigrants were expected to assimilate – meaning that they had to give up their preceding culture and embody Australian customs. This was simple for those who come from Britain but was very much a difficult task for those few immigrants who were not of British descent.

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.

Before the 1900s, there was no Australia, just 6 colonies. New south wales, South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania (the island colony). The colonies eventually joined up. Referendums were put to the people and on the 23rd of December 1901, Edmund Barton put forward and idea called the immigration act.The immigration restriction act is an act, led by the Australian parliament to limit immigration in Australia. This act formed the basis of the white Australian policy which disallowed all non-Europeans from Australia. This act was introduced on the 23rd of December 1901 by Edmund Barton.The law allowed all immigration officers a wide amount of responsibility to stop individuals from entering the country. The ACT

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.

After The Immigration Restriction Act 1901 was one of the first Acts passed by the Australian Parliament after Federation in 1901. The new law provided strict control over who could migrate to Australia. The White Australian Policy was not a single government proclamation but in fact

Today Australia is known as a multicultural country who allows people from all over the world to migrate to Australia. People are definitely not allowed to our country only because of what religion or language they speak, and definitely not based on skin color. Well this was not the case 45 years ago. 45 years ago was when the government stopped the non European immigration policy, which better known as the White Australia Policy. It started in 1901 and ended in 1975. The policy lasted for 75 years. The White Australia policy was not a single government directive, but a series of acts with a common goal, to achieve and maintain a white, British national character. When the policy ended it was a very big turning point in the country because

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.

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.

In the last few decades, the number of immigrants has increased in Australia. The department of immigration started in 1945 and about 7000,000 immigrants have moved to Australia. The recent data showed that almost 23.9% of Australian residents were born aboard according to Department of Immigration and Citizenship (2008). Nearly 43 percent of residents were born aboard (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2012). In addition, 2.8% of the world's immigrants lived in Australia, while only 0.3% of the world's population lived in Australia (UNDESA, 2013). Because of the huge number of immigrants’ Australian government set programmes to control the increase, which are integrating immigrants into its society and focusing on skilled migrants. This essay will examine how immigration is an advantage to Australia in terms of the integration program of immigrants in Australian society and the economic benefits for skilled immigrants.

Australia is a diverse country with many minority groups and foreign-born citizens. However, looking into Australia’s past we can see the multiple cases of anti-immigration based on racism and not xenophobia. The majority of Australians are of European descent, and they were the first immigrants to Australia. The first major immigration after the British settlements in the late eighteenth century was the Chinese immigrants during the gold rush. The White Australia Policy was later implemented from 1901 to 1966. The policy was rooted from the immigration wave during the gold rush. It is true that immigrants were scared of foreigners coming to take over their jobs, but it is hard to give an answer to why the Australians were not fearful of the

Immigration can be defined as the action of individuals coming to live permanently or for a period in another country. With a forecasted population of 40 million by 2050 in Australia, the population growth in Australia remains at a steady rate of 1.6%. According to the Bureau of Statistics, each year, Australia's population increases about 350,000 where 190,000 of them are immigrants.

The rush of new people introduced Australia to diverse cultures, religions and languages. Australia went from being devoted to the idea of becoming the White Australia to a multicultural country whom now shares multiple economics and politics of the Asian-Pacific regions (Neville Meaney, 1995). Currently Australia's migration policy gives any country the opportunity to migrate to Australia, regardless of their culture, race, religion or language (Spinks, 2010). Australian have slowly changed their attitudes towards foreigners. As a variety of cultures have been exposed Australians have developed an understand of other cultures and religions. Although many Australians have accepted the country's new role as a multicultural nation, there is still a large strong unlaying of racism in