Multiculturalism in Australia

Multicultural Australia: Australia’s Immigration History and Current Political Debate

Ryan Besgrove
Word Count: 1,491

MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY

INTRODUCTION
People have always come to Australia through immigration. Whether it be 45,000 years ago via nomadic boats (Broome, 1994) or through the efforts of the British Empire to expand their Anglican empire (Ferguson, 2003). As a result modern Australia is a composite of many varying cultures and ethnicities. It is often said that Australia is a multicultural society (Peake, 2012) but what exactly does this mean, and how true of a statement is it?
In the literal sense the term multicultural refers to a society relating to or containing several cultural or ethnic groups (Oxford Dictionary Online, 2013). In the context of Australia it is seen as being a term that describes the diverse cultural and ethnic makeup of contemporary Australia (Dept. Immigration and Citizenship, 2013). For the purpose of this paper we will adopt Bowen’s definition (2011) that multiculturalism embraces our shared values and cultural traditions within Australia’s established society, while protecting the rights of Australians to practice their cultural and ethnic traditions and heritage. But that hasn’t always been the way in Australia.

MAIN BODY

WHITE AUSTRALIA AND ASSIMILATION
The first significant cultural issues centred around migration arose in the colonies around the 1850s. The discovery of gold enticed a greater level of immigration from Chinese. Friction between the existing population and the new immigrants soon arose as result of significant linguistic and cultural barriers, as well as the economic threat to the Anglo colonial prospectors (Ngai, 2012). Eventually restrictions were imposed on Chinese immigration by the Victorian and New South Wales colonies (Dept. Immigration and Citizenship, 2013). Similar racial immigration problems were being faced in the Queensland colony. There South Pacific Islanders, known as Kanakas, had been brought in as a slave labour workforce (Philipoom, 2007). Again the economics of the situation formed the basis for the conflict between the immigrant population and the Anglo colonialists
Both of these major incidents would prove influential in the newly formed country’s first act of parliament, the Immigration Restriction Act 1901. Based on legislation passed in the African colony of Natal the Act established a means test for potential immigrants designed to discriminate against what was perceived as ‘undesirable’ (Martens, 2006). Effectively the policy codified discrimination based on immigrants’ ethnicity. For many reasons this “White Australia” policy would later be considered one of Australia’s greatest ever mistakes (Australian Institute of Public Affairs, 2006).

The act was very much centred on Australia’s perspective of assimilation towards immigrants (Zeldenryk and Yalmambirra, 2006). At the time the legislation was justified by the socio-ethnic perspective that “Whites” were inherently superior (Kamp, 2010) and that preservation of the colonialist’s white heritage was paramount to the success of the nation (Kamp, 2010). For that -reason all immigrants were expected to largely abandon their previous ethnic and cultural practices in favour of those held by Australia.

INTEGRATION
Following the conflicts of World War II Australia became aware of their need to “populate or perish”, a term coined by Arthur Calwell (Time, 1952). The realisation was that Australia population disparity compared with their Pacific neighbours left them vulnerable. The policy of assimilation softened to one of integration whereby migrants were encouraged to still maintain their own cultural identity, while adopting the values of Australia (Mann, 2013). Immigration was opened up to allow more Europeans to settle within Australia but there was still an emphasis on maintaining a society with a white homogeneity (Morn, 2005).
The UN’s push to eliminate racial discrimination in all forms during the 60’s made the White Australia policy no longer tenable (Haines, 2001). In 1966 Australia’s minister for immigration announced policy changes that would see immigrants accepted based on their qualifications and usefulness to Australia, not their ethnicity (Dept. Of Immigration & Citizenship, 2009). The landmark Australian Referendum in 1967 (Moran, 2005) established Indigenous and Aboriginal peoples place within the nation and was a major sign of change. The Whitlam Government would work further to completely abolish the “White Australia” policy and pave the way for a better multicultural Australia (Henry, 2012).
AUSTRALIA’S CURRENT BORDER PROTECTION DEBATE
Present day Australia is one that has benefitted from over 100 years of social progress. Statistically speaking almost one in three Australians is born overseas (ABS, 2011) with 60% of annual growth coming from migration (ABS, 2012). Australia is a country that has embraced migration and its multicultural make-up (Smits, 2011). But despite this progress there are still issues surrounding migration. Chief among these is the debate over protecting our physical borders from “unauthorised arrivals” (Kelly, 2009).
Australia’s unique geo-political position makes it a target for persons seeking asylum (Every and Augoustinos, 2008). These same geo-political factors also provide Australia with the agency to exercise choice over who enters the country. Fatally it is this power to choose that first gave credence to the “White Australia” policy in 1901 (Kamp, 2010). This power is now one of the causes for such vehement debate over border protection.
The decision for Australia to “populate or perish” was one made more out of necessity rather than compassion. It identified that in the years following WWII Australia was vulnerable (Time, 1952). The leaders of the day supported the notion for immigration not as an altruistic measure, but as an economic and survivalist imperative (Kelly, 2009). From that point forward the politics of the situation had dictated that immigration was justifiable so long as it were in the interest of the nation. This utilitarian concept continued to form the basis of ascertaining immigrant’s suitability beyond the 1950’s (Dept. Of Immigration & Citizenship, 2009). Today political debate centres on the value of taking on refugees and asylum seekers arriving by boat (Bourke, 2012).

The argument for acceptance lies in the humanitarian motivations of helping people in need. Australia prides itself on being egalitarian and providing ‘a fair go’ (Gittins ,2010). It would in the national interest to help people in need. The political counterpoint often raised to this point argues that the practice of acceptance and encouragement creates a greater humanitarian problem through stimulating black market operations in people smuggling (Every and Augoustinos, 2008). Those looking to assume the moral high ground with this argument only help to support the need for greater selfless aid by Australia within the region rather than fortifying our border and expecting the issue to fade.
From a federal political view the ‘value’ in helping these people seems debatable. While public opinion appeared to support the Howard Government’s protectionist policies against “boat people” and asylum seekers, the Tampa incident proved to be game changer when it came to public support. The Howard government’s strong stance on illegal immigrants is believed to have encouraged the party to a further term in office (Williams, 2002). But the revelations of what truly went on in the years following would leave no doubt in the minds of the public that the issue was being utilised as a political point scoring tool (Williams, 2002) (Manne, 2002).
In the current political setting the issue of “border protection” is used by the liberal party primarily to continue to discredit the effectiveness of the Gillard government (AAP, 2013). Continued insistence that the government has “failed” to protect the borders of Australia now plays into the narrative of failure by the Gillard government that the opposition is trying to tell (Alberici, 2013) (Maiden, 2013) (Schliebs, 2013). Their aim is to enhance the Liberal party’s position an favourability at the expense of Gillard government (Haigh, 2013). While the government tries to score points by playing the humanitarian card (Wilson, 2013), they’re message is drowned out with constant criticism of their governance by the opposition (Alberici, 2013).
CONCLUSION
Arguably Australia’s issues with immigration began with what you could define as the 2nd wave of immigrants in 1788: the First Fleet (Malouf, 2004). The Indigenous peoples’ culture and presence in the country would ultimately be eroded by the aggressive European colonialism of the British (Ferguson, 2004). Perhaps, on a subconscious level, this subversion of the Indigenous peoples psychologically scared the social consciousness of the colonists, underpinning their insecurity towards immigration. Empirically this remains to be seen.
What can be said is that Australia’s status as a multicultural society is growing, and in the right direction. Census statistics are showing that Australia is becoming increasingly diverse in terms of its population demographics (ABS, 2012). The contribution of immigration to Australia continues to grow (ABS, 2013) (ABC News, 2013). The ruling bodies continue to foster multicultural relations, not only at the Federal and State levels, but at the grass roots in the local councils. Significant policies and effective strategies are being implemented (Dunn et. al, 2001). Australian society continues to positively reflect progressive change in both the religious constitution of the population (Bourna, 1995), and in the people’s attitudes towards cultural and ethnic diversity (Forrest and Dunn, 2010). While there are emergent issues that remain to be resolved (Jakubowicz, 2011) the future prospects for continuing multicultural solidarity look bright.
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