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Immigration to Australia began at least 40,000 years ago, when the ancestors of Australian Aborigines arrived on the continent via the islands of the Malay Archipelago and New Guinea. Europeans began landing in the 1600s and 1700s, and the continent was colonised by Great Britain in 1788.

The overall level of immigration has grown substantially during the last decade. Net overseas migration increased from 30,000 in 1993 to 118,000 in 2003-04. The largest components of immigration are the skilled migration and family re-union programs. In recent years the mandatory detention of unauthorised arrivals by boat has generated great levels of controversy.

During the 2004-05, total 123,424 people immigrated to Australia. Of them, 17,736 were from Africa, 54,804 from Asia, 21,131 from Oceania, 18,220 from United Kingdom, 1,506 from South America, and 2,369 from Eastern Europe.

131,000 people migrated to Australia in 2005-06 and migration target for 2006-07 was 144,000.

History

Main article: Migratory history of Australia

Human migration to the Australian continent was first achieved during the closing stages of the Pleistocene epoch, when sea levels were typically much lower than they are today. It is theorised that these ancestral peoples arrived via the nearest islands of the Malay Archipelago, crossing over the intervening straits (which were then narrower) to reach the single landmass which then existed. Known as Sahul, this landmass connected Australia with New Guinea via a land bridge which emerged when prevailing glacial conditions lowered sea levels by some 100-150 m. Australia's coastline also extended much further out into the Timor Sea than at present, affording another possible route by which these first peoples reached the continent. Estimates of the timing of these migrations vary considerably: the most widely-accepted conservative evidential view places this somewhere between 40,000 to 45,000 years ago, with earlier cited (but not universally accepted) dates of up to 60,000 years or more also proposed; the debate continues within the academic community.

On January 26, 1788, a date now celebrated as Australia Day, a landing was made by the British at Sydney Cove for the purposes of establishing a colony. The new colony was formally proclaimed as the Colony of New South Wales on February 7.

The Gold rush era, beginning in 1851, led to an enormous expansion in population, including large numbers of British and Irish settlers, followed by smaller numbers of Germans and other Europeans, and Chinese. This latter group were subject to increasing restrictions and discrimination, making it impossible for many to remain in the country. With the Federation of the Australian colonies into a single nation, one of the first acts of the new Commonwealth Government was the Immigration Restriction Act 1901, otherwise known as the White Australia policy, which was a strengthening and unification of disparate colonial policies designed to restrict non-White settlement.

After World War II, Australia launched a massive immigration programme, believing that having narrowly avoided a Japanese invasion, Australia must "populate or perish." Hundreds of thousands of displaced Europeans migrated to Australia and over 1,000,000 British Citizens immigrated under the Assisted Migration Scheme, colloquially becoming known as Ten Pound Poms.

During the 2001 election campaign, immigration and border protection became the hot issue, as a result of incidents such as the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Tampa affair, Children overboard affair, and the sinking of the SIEV-X. This incident marked the beginning of the controversial Pacific Solution.


Environmental, economic and social impacts

There are a wide range of views in the Australian community on the composition and level of immigration, and on the possible effects of varying the level of immigration and population growth, some of which are based on empirical data, others more speculative in nature. In 2002, a CSIRO population study entitled "Future Dilemmas", commissioned by DIMA, outlined six potential dilemmas associated with immigration-driven population growth. These dilemmas included the absolute numbers of aged continuing to rise despite high immigration off-setting ageing and declining birth-rates in a proportional sense, a worsening of Australia's trade balance due to more imports and higher consumption of domestic production, increased green house gas emissions, overuse of agricultural soils, marine fisheries and domestic supplies of oil and gas, and a decline in urban air quality, river quality and biodiversity.


Environment

Some members of the Australian environmental movement, notably the organisation Sustainable Population Australia, believe that as the driest inhabited continent, Australia cannot continue to sustain its current rate of population growth without becoming overpopulated. SPA also argues that climate change will lead to a deterioration of natural ecosystems through increased temperatures, extreme weather events and less rainfall in the southern part of the continent, thus reducing its capacity to sustain a large population even further. The UK-based Optimum Population Trust supports the view that Australia is overpopulated, and believes that to maintain the current standard of living in Australia, the optimum population is 10 million, or 21 million with a reduced standard of living. Other members of the environment movement point out that Australians are, per capita, the highest users of water on the planet and the worst emitters of greenhouse gases, so any consideration of changes to standard of living needs to consider a broader context regarding appropriate use of resources independently of population.

Housing

Some claim that Australia's recent level of immigration has (along with natural population growth and other economic factors) contributed to a widespread shortage of affordable housing, particularly in the major cities. A number of economists, such as Macquarie Bank analyst Rory Robertson, assert that high immigration and the propensity of new arrivals to cluster in the capital cities is exacerbating the nation's housing affordability problem. According to Robertson, Federal Government policies that fuel demand for housing, such as the currently high levels of immigration but also capital gains tax discounts, have had a greater impact on housing affordability than land release on urban fringes. However, the Productivity Commission does not accept "population pressures" as a major driver of strong increases in house prices, stating that "increased demand for better quality and better located dwellings, rather than for more dwellings, has been the primary driver".. Furthermore, demographer Wendell Cox has argued that Australian cities are among the least affordable in the world due to government policies of urban consolidation.

Employment

According to one researcher, there are thousands of low-cost IT workers entering Australia who are undermining the job prospects of new computer science graduates and reducing salaries in the IT industry. However, other research sponsored by DIAC has found that Australia’s structured labour market along with the larger number of immigrants with higher education levels has tended to raise employment levels for Australians who are relatively unskilled.

Australian trade unions have sometimes exposed attempts by employers to introduce foreign workers into the country in order to avoid paying local workers higher wages. The government's policy of mandatory detention, especially regarding the impact upon children, has come under criticism from a range of religious, community and political groups including the National Council of Churches, Amnesty International, Australian Democrats, Australian Greens and Rural Australians for Refugees.

Economy

The Federal Treasurer, Peter Costello considers that Australia is underpopulated due to a low birth rate, and claims that negative population growth will have adverse long-term effects on the economy as the population ages and the labour market becomes less competitive. To avoid this outcome the government has increased immigration to fill gaps in labour markets and introduced a subsidy to encourage families to have more children. However, opponents of population growth such as Sustainable Population Australia do not accept that population growth will decline and reverse, based on current immigration and fertility projections. In terms of using immigration to offset an aging workforce, a 1999 parliamentary research paper entitled "Population Futures for Australia: the Policy Alternatives" concluded: "It is demographic nonsense to believe that immigration can help to keep our population young."

Ross Gittins claims that the Liberal Party's focus on skilled migration has reduced the average age of migrants. "More than half are aged 15 to 34, compared with 28 per cent of our population. Only 2 per cent of permanent immigrants are 65 or older, compared with 13 per cent of our population." Because of these statistics, Gittens claims that immigration is slowing the ageing of the Australian population. He also claims that the emphasis on skilled migration also means that the "net benefit to the economy is a lot more clear-cut." Even though Gittens suggests that skilled workers add more to the economy, there are those who acknowledge the importance of unskilled migrants. Treasurer Eric Ripper claims that in Australia "several major capital works projects had to be put on hold because there were not enough skilled and unskilled workers."

Chapman and Cobb-Clark believe that "immigrant spending from past savings will increase the demand for labour and create job vacancies". However, immigration also increases the supply of labour and the number of people applying for job vacancies.

Using regression analysis, Addison and Worswick found that “there is no evidence that immigration has negatively impacted on the wages of young or low-skilled natives.” Furthermore, Addison's study found that immigration did not increase unemployment among native workers. Rather, immigration decreased unemployment. The evidence from the Economic Record runs counter to the common view that immigration adds only to labour supply and reduces wages. Economic empirical data show that immigrants not only add to labour supply but also to labour demand. Whether labour demand increase is greater than labor supply increase after immigration is an empirical issue. When the magnitude of change in aggregate labour supply is much greater than the magnitude of change in aggregate labour demand as a result of increased immigration then immigration can cause wages to decrease. Analysis by Garnaut shows this.

In July 2005 the Productivity Commission launched a commissioned study entitled "Economic Impacts of Migration and Population Growth", and released an initial position paper on 17 January 2006 which states that the increase of income per capita provided by higher migration (50% more than the base model) by the 2024-2025 financial year would be $335 (0.6%), an amount described as "very small". The paper also found that Australians would on average work 1.3% longer hours, about twice the proportional increase in income..

In a study in the Australian Economic Review, Junankar finds that during the 1980s the Hawke Government’s decision not to decrease immigration lowered the unemployment rate.

Gittens claims there is considerable opposition to immigration to Australia by "battlers" because of the belief that immigrants will steal jobs. Gittens claims though that "it's true that immigrants add to the supply of labour. But it's equally true that, by consuming and bringing families who consume, they also add to the demand for labour - usually by more."

Infrastructure

Individuals and interest groups such as Sustainable Population Australia filed submissions in response to the Productivity Commission's position paper, arguing amongst other things that immigration causes a decline in wealth per capita and leads to environmental degradation and overburdened infrastructure, the latter creating a costly demand for new infrastructure. However, the Productivity Commission's final research report found that it was not possible to reliably assess the impact of environmental limitations upon productivity and economic growth, nor to reliably attribute the contribution of immigration to any such impact.

Australia is a relatively high-immigration country like Canada (the country with the highest per capita immigration rate in the world, see Immigration to Canada) and the United States, and while other economically developed countries like Japan have historically had negligible immigration, the issue of population decline is forcing a rethink of such policies.

Immigration and Australian politics

Both major Australian political parties favour a relatively high level of immigration. When John Howard became Prime Minister, net migration was rising, and the upward trend in the number of immigrants has increased over the decade since he took office. According to Banham, Australian political leaders who support higher immigration include Amanda Vanstone, John Howard, Peter Costello, Kim Beazley, and Steve Bracks, with vocal opposition to immigration coming from former New South Wales premier Bob Carr who cites environmental reasons for his opposition. Peter Costello believes that high population growth in Australia is important for economic growth.

An anti-immigration party, the One Nation Party, was formed by Pauline Hanson in the late 1990s. The party enjoyed significant electoral success for a while, most notably in its home state of Queensland, but is now electorally marginalized. One Nation argued for a zero net immigration policy, asserting that "environmentally Australia is near her carrying capacity, economically immigration is unsustainable and socially, if continued as is, will lead to an ethnically divided Australia."

Commentators such as Ross Gittens, a columnist at The Age accuse John Howard of deception, by appearing "tough" on illegal immigration to win support from the working class while simultaneously winning support from employers with high legal immigration.

In 2006, the Labor Party under Kim Beazley took a stance against the importation of increasingly large numbers of temporary migrant workers ("foreign workers") by employers, arguing that this is simply a way for employers to drive down wages.. At the same time, it is estimated that a million Australians are employed outside Australia.

Ross Gittens claims that "a central element in John Howard's outstanding political success has been his ability to attract the votes of people in modest circumstances whom you'd normally expect to be Labor voters - Howard's battlers." However, issues of industrial relations and Work Choices before the 2007 election are being blamed for the Liberal Party's slump in opinion polls.

ACNielsen polling in March 2007 showed 53% of respondents preferred Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister compared to John Howard on 39%, and Labor on 61% of the two party preferred vote to the Coalition's 39%. Rudd's personal approval rating of 67% makes him the most popular opposition leader in the poll's 35 year history, with Newspoll two party preferred polling the highest in its history.

Some political commentators believe the Liberal Party's slump in the polls is due to environmental issues (Roy Morgon Research claims that 71% of Australians believe the Government should act immediately to address the consequences of global warming). Gittens points to issues of immigration and industrial relations, claiming that "Howard is under considerable pressure to make changes that advantage business and high-income earners but disadvantage ordinary workers."

Migration Agents

It is possible to employ migration agents or lawyers to assist with a visa application to Australia. Such persons who provide immigration assistance are regulated by a governing Authority called the Migration Agents Registration Authority. There is a significant difference in education and training between migration agents and lawyers. Migration agents, unlike lawyers, are not practically trained or supervised, and have not completed full-time legal education.

Migration and settlement services

There are a variety of community-based services that cater to the needs of newly-arrived migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, some of which receive funding from the Commonwealth Government, such as Migrant Resource Centres. Asylum seekers, however, are denied access to such services and there are only a very small number of specific asylum seeker services catering to their needs.

See also

References

  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics, International migration
  2. Australian Bureau of Statistics, 3101.0 Australian Demographic Statistics
  3. Inflow of foreign-born population by country of birth, by year
  4. Settler numbers on the rise
  5. Australian Immigration Fact Sheet 20. Migration Program Planning Levels
  6. Foran, B., and F. Poldy, (2002), Future Dilemmas: Options to 2050 for Australia's population, Technology, Resources and Environment, CSIRO Resource Futures, Canberra.
  7. People & Place Volume 11, Issue 3 (2003), Migration and the Housing Affordability Crisis, Birrell, B. and Healy, E
  8. Klan, A. (March 17, 2007) Locked out
  9. Wade, M. (September 9, 2006) PM told he's wrong on house prices
  10. Productivity Commission, First Home Ownership Inquiry Report, p.63 (final par.) & p.68
  11. http://www.demographia.com/dhi-ix2005q3.pdf
  12. Australian Financial Review 7/7/04, “Immigrants taking local IT jobs: report”
  13. ^ DIMA research publications (Garnaut), Migration to Australia and Comparisons with the United States: Who Benefits?, p.21
  14. LaborNET Foreign Labour Used to Lower Wages
  15. http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/costello-hatches-censustime-challenge-procreate-and-cherish/2006/07/24/1153593272565.html
  16. Goldie, J. (23 February 2006) "Time to stop all this growth" (retrieved 30 October 2006)
  17. McDonald, P., Kippen, R. (1999) Population Futures for Australia: the Policy Alternatives
  18. http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/backscratching-at-a-national-level/2007/06/12/1181414298095.html
  19. http://theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21709159-12332,00.html?from=public_rss
  20. Chapman, B. and Cobb-Clark, D. (1999). A comparative static model of the relationship between immigration and the short-run job prospects of unemployed residents. Economic Record, Vol. 75, pp. 358-368.
  21. Addison, T. and Worswick, C. (2002). The impact of immigration on the earnings of natives: Evidence from Australian micro data. Economic Record, Vol. 78, pp. 68-78.
  22. http://www.pc.gov.au/study/migrationandpopulation/index.html
  23. Productivity Commission, Economic Impacts of Migration and Population Growth (Position Paper), p.73
  24. Productivity Commission, Economic Impacts of Migration and Population Growth Key Points
  25. Junankar, P., Pope, D. and Withers, G. (1998). Immigration and the Australian macroeconomy: Perspective and prospective. Australian Economic Review, Vol. 31, pp. 435-444.
  26. http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/backscratching-at-a-national-level/2007/06/12/1181414298095.html
  27. Claus, E (2005) Submission to the Productivity Commission on Population and Migration (submission 12 to the Productivity Commission's position paper on Economic Impacts of Migration and Population Growth).
  28. Nilsson (2005) Negative Economic Impacts of Immigration and Population Growth (submission 9 to the Productivity Commission's position paper on Economic Impacts of Migration and Population Growth).
  29. Productivity Commission, Economic Impacts of Migration and Population Growth (Research Report), p.119
  30. http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110008892
  31. Banham, C. (2004, April 2). Door opens to 6000 more immigrants. Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved October 2 from http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/01/1080544631282.html
  32. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2006/07/24/1153593271730.html?from=top5
  33. One Nation's Immigration, Population and Social Cohesion Policy 1998
  34. Gittens, R. (2003, August 20). Honest John's migrant twostep. The Age. Retrieved October 2 from http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/19/1061261148920.html
  35. “Workers of the World”, Background Briefing, Radio National Sunday 18 June 2006
  36. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/backgroundbriefing/stories/2006/1662023.htm#transcript “Workers of the World”], Background Briefing, Radio National Sunday 18 June 2006
  37. http://www.theage.com.au/news/Ross-Gittins/Howards-battlers-may-not-be-that-loyal/2005/03/08/1110160824800.html
  38. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/jun2007/sep-j22.shtml
  39. http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/its-going-to-be-a-ruddslide/2007/03/11/1173548022964.html
  40. http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2006/4013/
  41. http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/backscratching-at-a-national-level/2007/06/12/1181414298095.html

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