Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of acronyms and abbreviations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Creating an immigrant society, 1788–1972
- Chapter 2 From assimilation to a multicultural society, 1972–2002
- Chapter 3 The Fraser, Hawke and Keating governments, 1975–1996
- Chapter 4 Policy instruments and institutions
- Chapter 5 Multicultural policy
- Chapter 6 The attack on multiculturalism
- Chapter 7 The impact of One Nation
- Chapter 8 Economic rationalism
- Chapter 9 Sustainability and population policy
- Chapter 10 Refugees and asylum seekers
- Chapter 11 A past, present and future success?
- Appendix I Chronology: 1972–2002
- Appendix II Ministers of immigration, departmental secretaries and gross annual settler intake, 1973–2002
- References
- Index
Chapter 9 - Sustainability and population policy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of acronyms and abbreviations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Creating an immigrant society, 1788–1972
- Chapter 2 From assimilation to a multicultural society, 1972–2002
- Chapter 3 The Fraser, Hawke and Keating governments, 1975–1996
- Chapter 4 Policy instruments and institutions
- Chapter 5 Multicultural policy
- Chapter 6 The attack on multiculturalism
- Chapter 7 The impact of One Nation
- Chapter 8 Economic rationalism
- Chapter 9 Sustainability and population policy
- Chapter 10 Refugees and asylum seekers
- Chapter 11 A past, present and future success?
- Appendix I Chronology: 1972–2002
- Appendix II Ministers of immigration, departmental secretaries and gross annual settler intake, 1973–2002
- References
- Index
Summary
For more than a century immigration policy has been concerned with two major issues: assimilability and employability. Would immigrants fit into existing society without friction and would they be gainfully employed for their own and society's benefit? These two concerns were obviously related. If suitable employment were not available, then immigrants could not fit into society. If immigrants took away jobs from the native-born or lowered wages and standards, then they would not be readily accepted. Racial features could prevent non-Europeans from being tolerated, as might their differing cultures and languages. But economic viability was also essential.
It was rarely argued that there was no further room in Australia for an increased population. The often quoted national anthem theme from the 1870s was that ‘for those who come across the seas we've boundless plains to share’. The Millions movement of the 1920s enthusiastically looked to fill the empty spaces. Maps showing Australia divided into habitable regions optimistically included the Nullarbor Plain and the Simpson Desert. Agricultural improvement through organisations like the CSIRO, and irrigation through State water boards, were seen as solving the problem that much of Australia was arid and uninhabitable. This optimism collapsed along with the world economy in 1929 and the drift to the cities became an avalanche. But optimism revived during the Second World War. Its lasting monument was the Snowy Mountains scheme, built largely with immigrant labour from the late 1940s.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- From White Australia to WoomeraThe Story of Australian Immigration, pp. 162 - 179Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2002