Australian immigration has a checkered history. Immigration to the continent now called Australia began over 50,000 years ago, when the ancestors of Australian Aborigines arrived via Indonesia and New Guinea. Europeans began landing in the 1600's and 1700's, and the country was colonised by Britain in 1788.

A reputation as a tolerant nation with strong humanitarian values is marred by past government policies excluding non-whites, and more recently a succession of scandals resulting in much criticism of Australia’s refugee programs.

Contents

1 History 2 Australian immigration law 3 Current Australian immigration policy 3.1 Migration program 3.2 Humanitarian program 3.3 Illegal migration 4 Reference 5 External link

History

Main article: History of immigration to Australia

Humans first arrived in Australia through Indonesia and New Guinea, either by paddling canoes across the Timor Sea or by crossing a land bridge across what is now Torres Strait, between New Guinea and Australia. Estimates of the date vary considerably: the best current guess is about 53,000 years ago, but much room for debate remains.

On January 26, 1788—a date now both celebrated and mourned as Australia Day)—a landing was made by the British at Sydney Cove. The new colony was formally proclaimed as the Colony of New South Wales on February 7. Thus European settlement began with a troupe of petty criminals, second-rate soldiers, and a crew of sailors.

The Gold rush era, beginning in 1851, led to an enormous expansion in population, including for the first time large numbers of Irish Catholics, Germans and other Europeans, and Chinese. After Federation, the White Australia policy was created to counteract these flows.

After World War II, Australia launched a massive immigration program, believing that having narrowly avoided a Japanese invasion, Australia must "populate or perish." Hundreds of thousands of displaced Europeans, including for the first time large numbers of Jews, migrated to Australia. M

During the 2001 election campaign, immigration and border protection became the hot issue, as a result of incidents such as the Tampa affair, Children overboard affair, and the sinking of the SIEV-X. This was a major factor contributing to the victory of the Coalition, deemed impossible only a few months earlier, and also marked the beginning of the controversial Pacific Solution.

Australian immigration law

Since 1958, immigration has been regulated according to the Migration Act 1958, (long title: An Act relating to the entry into, and presence in, Australia of aliens, and the departure or deportation from Australia of aliens and certain other persons). This Act replaced the numerous Acts of immigration legislation that had been enacted since 1901.

Current Australian immigration policy

The Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) executes governemnt policy on immigration under the Migration Act 1958.

There are currently two immigration programs that allow permanent migration to Australia, they are the migration program and the humanitarian program. Foreigners currently living in Australia under one of a number of temporary visas can apply to be granted permanent residence. Illegal migrants typically fall into categories, unauthorised entrants and those who have violated conditions of, or overstayed their visa.

Migration program

To be accepted into Australia under the migration program a person must be a skilled migrant or sponsored by a family member that already lives in Australia, a third class covers special eligibility migrants which includes Australians returning to Australia that had to give up citizenship to live overseas. DIMIA says that the migration program for 2004-05 has 120,000 places available for migrants, with a strong focus on attracting skilled people and people who agree to live in regional areas of Australia.

Humanitarian program

The humanitarian program is designed for refugees and others in special humanitarian need. A major component of the humanitarian program is the offshore resettlement program, which assists people in humanitarian need overseas for whom resettlement in another country is the only option. The onshore protection component is for those people already in Australia who arrived on temporary visas or in an unauthorised manner, and who claim Australia’s protection. The Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs says that the size of the 2004-05 humanitarian program is 13,000 places

Types of visas under the humanitarian program:

• Protection visa
• Temporary protection visa
• Temporary humanitarian visa
• Return pending visa

Illegal migration

Illegal migrants under Australia's immigration laws are those who

• enter Australia without authority; or
• overstay visas, work without appriproate approval or have their visas cancelled.

Australia's Migration Act 1958 requires that all non Australian citizens who are unlawfully in Australia be detained and, that unless they are given permission to remain in Australia, they must be deported as soon as practical. Australia's immigration detention policy was introduced in 1992, and has been maintained by successive governments.

DIMIA statistics show that the nationalities of detainees since 2000 are: Afghan, Iraqi, Iranian, Chinese, Indonesian, Sri Lankan, Palestinian, Korean, Vietnamese and Bangladeshi.

Reference

• Commonwealth of Australia. Migration Act 1958 (http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/)
• Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs. Fact Sheet 82, Immigration Detention (http://www.immi.gov.au/facts/82detention.htm), 2004

External link

• Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (http://www.immi.gov.au/)