Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Monday, November 5, 2012
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Boat People
The current immigration debate deals with boat people, the illegal immigrants arriving in Australia's northern coast in unsafe boats. Much of Australia's population is unsure where they stand on the issue, but feel as though there is a problem. Those that have opinions disagree on what to do. In 2011, 35% said they believed the boats should be sent back to sea and not allowed to disembark in Australia or detaining or deporting the people on the boats. 22% thought that boat people should be eligible for permanent settlement. However, 60% believe the government is "too soft" in dealing with these people.
Often these people are refugees. There are relatively few boat people entering Australia per year. Australia is the least desirable developed country for refugees. The most favorable trait Australia has is its warm climate. If I were to be a refugee, I would prefer to go to the US, Canada or Europe before Australia due to the internment I would have to face when I arrived in Australia.
(source: http://www.migrationinformation.org/regions/Oceania.cfm)
Often these people are refugees. There are relatively few boat people entering Australia per year. Australia is the least desirable developed country for refugees. The most favorable trait Australia has is its warm climate. If I were to be a refugee, I would prefer to go to the US, Canada or Europe before Australia due to the internment I would have to face when I arrived in Australia.
(source: http://www.migrationinformation.org/regions/Oceania.cfm)
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
History of Australian Immigration
Until the late 1700s Australia was populated by indigenous people called the Aboriginals. In 1788 England began establishing settlements. These were primarily penal colonies comprised of criminals sent along with soldiers to act as guards. This continued until 1851, when gold was discovered spurring a rush of immigration. The majority of these people were from Great Britain and its colonies as well as Europe. Fewer numbers came from China and New Zealand.
When Australian became an independent country in 1901, the Immigration Restriction act was passed shortly after. Often referred to as "White Australia" these immigration policies gave absolute priority to people from Great Britain while still favoring other eastern Europe and America and made it nearly impossible for non white people to immigrate.
With WWI, immigration nearly ceased. Restrictions on formerly accepted countries were passed. Immigrants from Germany, Austrio-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey were now labeled "enemy aliens". At the end of the war, the US was limiting the immigration of southern Europeans, so they went to Australia where there was no such restrictions.
The end of World War II saw a very different story. Instead of limiting immigration, a loosening of restrictions was seen. Because they were nearly over run by their neighbor Japan, the need to have a sizable population made itself known. The then Prime Minister Ben Chifley stated "We must populate Australia as rapidly as we can before someone else decides to populate it for us." He saw the power in numbers that was being limited due to the strict policies employed at the time. It was decided that Australia should have an annual population growth of 2%. This would require 70,000 immigrants a year. Yet the White Australia policies still held sway. The most desired immigrants were white Anglo-Saxons from Great Britain. However, Great Britain, devastated from the war, was unable to send the volume of immigrants desired. Meanwhile, thousands of displaced Poles, Yogoslavians and Hungarians had no home. Therefore, built into the new immigration reforms was room for 12,000 refugees.
In the seven years after the war, Australia was the second only to Israel in the proportion of immigrants taken in to native born people. This greatly decreased the "British-ness" of Australia. It was expected for immigrants to assimilate to the British Anglo-Saxon culture of Australia. Instead, people continued their different cultures by creating clubs, sporting events and growing traditional foods.
Since most immigrants came by boat, they arrived in major port cities like Sydney and Melbourne. From there they were taken to "migration hostels" in rural areas. These were often old military barracks. It was intended for immigrants to spend 4-6 weeks in these relatively primitive hostels while they found work, however, some found work so hard to come by they spent years there.
In the 1950s, the White Australia began its decent. By 1956, non-Europeans were allowed to apply for citizenship. In 1972 Al Grassby radically changed Australian immigration. The quota system was replaced by "structured selection". Immigrants were chosen based on what they could contribute to Australian instead of their race or ethnicity.
In 1975, refugees began coming to Australia. Most recently they are coming from the Middle East. All of these people seeking asylum are interned while their refugee status is processed. This has continued despite criticism from the UN.
1996 was the first time Great Britain was not the number one country immigrants came from. If fell to second after New Zealand.
Not many new immigration policies have been introduced in the past decade. Immigration is still vital to Australia's population growth. With the fairly recent decline of the "White Australia" policies, Australia is becoming increasingly more diverse. Nearly 25% of the population was born outside Australia.
(source: http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/belongings-home/about-belongings/australias-migration-history/)
When Australian became an independent country in 1901, the Immigration Restriction act was passed shortly after. Often referred to as "White Australia" these immigration policies gave absolute priority to people from Great Britain while still favoring other eastern Europe and America and made it nearly impossible for non white people to immigrate.
With WWI, immigration nearly ceased. Restrictions on formerly accepted countries were passed. Immigrants from Germany, Austrio-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey were now labeled "enemy aliens". At the end of the war, the US was limiting the immigration of southern Europeans, so they went to Australia where there was no such restrictions.
The end of World War II saw a very different story. Instead of limiting immigration, a loosening of restrictions was seen. Because they were nearly over run by their neighbor Japan, the need to have a sizable population made itself known. The then Prime Minister Ben Chifley stated "We must populate Australia as rapidly as we can before someone else decides to populate it for us." He saw the power in numbers that was being limited due to the strict policies employed at the time. It was decided that Australia should have an annual population growth of 2%. This would require 70,000 immigrants a year. Yet the White Australia policies still held sway. The most desired immigrants were white Anglo-Saxons from Great Britain. However, Great Britain, devastated from the war, was unable to send the volume of immigrants desired. Meanwhile, thousands of displaced Poles, Yogoslavians and Hungarians had no home. Therefore, built into the new immigration reforms was room for 12,000 refugees.
In the seven years after the war, Australia was the second only to Israel in the proportion of immigrants taken in to native born people. This greatly decreased the "British-ness" of Australia. It was expected for immigrants to assimilate to the British Anglo-Saxon culture of Australia. Instead, people continued their different cultures by creating clubs, sporting events and growing traditional foods.
Since most immigrants came by boat, they arrived in major port cities like Sydney and Melbourne. From there they were taken to "migration hostels" in rural areas. These were often old military barracks. It was intended for immigrants to spend 4-6 weeks in these relatively primitive hostels while they found work, however, some found work so hard to come by they spent years there.
In the 1950s, the White Australia began its decent. By 1956, non-Europeans were allowed to apply for citizenship. In 1972 Al Grassby radically changed Australian immigration. The quota system was replaced by "structured selection". Immigrants were chosen based on what they could contribute to Australian instead of their race or ethnicity.
In 1975, refugees began coming to Australia. Most recently they are coming from the Middle East. All of these people seeking asylum are interned while their refugee status is processed. This has continued despite criticism from the UN.
1996 was the first time Great Britain was not the number one country immigrants came from. If fell to second after New Zealand.
Not many new immigration policies have been introduced in the past decade. Immigration is still vital to Australia's population growth. With the fairly recent decline of the "White Australia" policies, Australia is becoming increasingly more diverse. Nearly 25% of the population was born outside Australia.
(source: http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/belongings-home/about-belongings/australias-migration-history/)
Objects and people: Piles of paper, recycling truck, two workers
Symbols: Piles of paper represent all the policies created to keep Australia British, the Recycling truck represents the new policies the reverse the actions of "White Australia", the two people represent the people putting these new policies in place and enacting them.
Action taking place: the people are are reacting to the large piles of paper
Words: WHITE AUSTRALIAN POLICY, "it'll take years to get rid of this" this helps show the reactions of the people to how much work they have to do.
Message: Due to the years and number of policies that were put in place the keep Australia white, it will take a very long time to retract those policies, create new ones, and then stop feeling the repercussions of these policies. Because different people have different ways of thinking and opinions, there can be different ways of interpreting this cartoon. However, this was the most obvious way to interpret it.
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