Australia’s Immigration Policy and its Attempts toKeep out Refugees
Info about Australia
- 7 states; Western Australia is as big as Western Europe
- 20 times larger than Germany
- A quarter of Germany’s population
- annual economical growth of 4 % since 1990
- GDP has been rising 3.4% on average since 1998
- >6 mio immigrants from 200 countries in the last 60 years
History of Australia
1770s - White Settlers <->Aborigines-> about 300,000 - 1,000,000 Aborigines
1778 - Sydney was founded-> first prison settlement
1850s - Gold Rush
1911 - Canberra became the captial city
White Australia Policy ( Background)
1780s - American Revolution ended
Convicts were shipped to Australia
1850s - Gold Rush
Europeans and Chinese settled
Economic Boom
Increasing foreign population
1901 - common immigration policy
White Australia Policy ( 1880s-1950s)
Immigration Restriction Act 1901
- limit immigration to Australia
- enable deportation of illegals
- Dictation Test
- any non-European citizen
- 50 word long dictation
Abolition of the Policy
- reluctant acceptance of black US troops
- Colombo Plan
Current Immigration Policy
- based on Migration Act of 1958
-> to change international image of the “White Australia Policy“
- any applicant must satisfy health and character requirements
2 ways to get a permanent visa
- migration program
- humanitarian program
Current Immigration Policy
Migration Program
- skill migration stream
-> workers with particular skills
- family stream-> partner, child, parent, other family
- special eligibility stream-> distinguished talents (sportsmen or scientists)
Current Immigration Policy
Humanitarian Program
Offshore resettlement program
- from overseas
Onshore protection- temporary visa has expired or arrived illegally- about 50.000 a year- “queue jumpers“
Citizenship No. granted
Iran 106
China, People's Republic of 77
Iraq 53
Afghanistan 41
Russian Federation 36
Colombia 32
Bangladesh 30
Sri Lanka 30
Zimbabwe 27
Other 356
Total 788
Citizenship No. applications
China, People's Republic of 728
India 403
Malaysia 208
Indonesia 193
Iraq 144
Fiji 125
Korea, Republic of 118
Sri Lanka 118
Bangladesh 107
Vietnam 99
Other 1405
Total 3648
Onshore aplicants + grants by origin
Settler Arrivals, by Eligibility
Uninviting Immigration Policy for Refugees
About 20 mio refugees worldwide
-> Australia hosts 13.000
“Queue Jumpers”
-> fear being exposed to capture if applying trough official channels
-> UN International Refugee Convention acknowledges that anyone fearing persecution is entitled to seek refuge, even without documents
Detention Centers
- for illegal immigrants
- investigation of applicant’s status
- human rights groups + government’s own advisory body has expressed concern
Detention Centers in Australia
New Arrangements to Strengthen Border Control
- external territories excised
- terms of imprisonment for people smugglers
- class actions in migration processes prohibited
- ...
-> Prime Minister (John Howard) wants to hold on to its policy
The End