The Government feels that it has gone as far as it could reasonably go ... in granting … permits to persons of these classes on purely humanitarian grounds … It is intended that in future the approval of applications will depend more on the intending migrants’ ability to contribute to Australia’s economic welfare.
One might be tempted to think these words were spoken last week somewhere in Canberra. They were in fact the words of Arthur Calwell, the immigration minister, announcing a change of policy towards Australia’s post-war admittance of Jewish refugees.
There is a stark similarity between these and Kevin Andrews' words spoken last week in explanation of the recent cut in acceptance of refugees from Sudan. Both place national interest criteria at the heart of the decision — in the Africans' case, the ability of refugees to integrate into the community. Unfortunately both have deep historical precedent and point to a question around Australia’s refugee resettlement program: what and who is the program for?
Australia is generally considered to run the third most generous program of humanitarian resettlement anywhere, after the United States and Canada. Our program grew during the post war years as a subset of post war immigration and under the influence of the twin imperatives to accept people displaced by the war and those fleeing the rise of the communist bloc.
The key drivers however were the need to increase the country’s overall population while making it younger and providing workers for the growing manufacturing industry.
Up until 1975 some 3.5 million people made their way here. Of these, just under 10 per cent — or 350,000 people — were refugees. The arrivals were not exactly free: they participated in government directed labour schemes for the first two years of their stay as a condition of their entry. Nor were they randomly selected: preference was given to the young, healthy and European looking. There were also various schemes to ensure the integration of new arrivals.
The first arrival of a boatload of Vietnamese in 1976 ushered in a new era of humanitarian arrivals. No longer were economic and demographic motives the main drivers. Rather Australia’s desire to be a good East Asian citizen, coupled with a sense of pragmatism that recognised the inevitability of new arrivals, combined to push the Fraser government to negotiate the Comprehensive Plan of Action with East Asian governments. This