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