Populating Australia Sara Cousins

CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIA 8. Populating Australia Sara Cousins

From the Monash University National Centre for Australian Studies course, developed with Open Learning Australia

In the eighth week of the course, Sara Cousins examines the unique composition of the Australian people: migration, multiculturalism and harmonious diversity. The Pauline Hanson phenomenon, refugees, Indigenous issues and growing Asian migration. The issue of population growth: ‘Populate or perish’!

Sara Cousins is a research fellow with the National Centre for Australian Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.

8.1 The Australian people 8.2 Multiculturalism and diversity 8.3 Population policy 8.4 Religion 8.5 Future population 8.6 Further reading

8.1 The Australian people

Who are the Australian people? How have arrivals of new migrants and long-term visitors shaped Australian society? How many of us are there and how is this likely to change over the next few decades? What are our religious and spiritual beliefs?

Australia’s Indigenous population today celebrates the survival and strength of its culture. The number of people identifying in the national Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) census as being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin is increasing every year. The total population of Australia is estimated at just over 20 million – 427,094 are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders. If the current rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander growth continues, their population is projected to grow to 649,000 by 2006. Rather than ageing, the Indigenous population is getting progressively younger. This is due mainly to high fertility rates, but also high mortality rates. Indigenous people continue to suffer poorer health and have a lower life expectancy than other Australians.

Australia is argued to be one of the most multicultural societies in the world, due largely to its migration program. This was not always the case. In the last thirty years, the composition of the Australian population has changed dramatically. By 2000, overseas born Australians were 24% of the population that is nearly one in four Australians were born overseas. More than half of these migrants were born in non-English speaking countries. In 1999-2000, about a third of all settler arrivals were born in Asia. The largest growth area in Australia’s population in recent times has come from long-term visitors, mainly overseas students from Asia.

8.2 Multiculturalism and diversity

Before the gold rushes of the 1850s, migration to Australia was overwhelmingly British, Irish, Scottish and Welsh. At the time of federation in 1901, people born in the United Kingdom still made up 58% of all Australians who were born overseas. The Irish made up about a further 21% of these migrants. This lack of diversity was a product of the Immigration Restriction Act 1901, which enshrined the government’s ‘White Australia Policy’. The ‘White Australia Policy’ discriminated against migrants from non-English speaking countries by imposing a dictation test in a European language of the official’s choice.

Following World War II, policy makers began to call for increases in immigration using the catch-cry that Australia must ‘populate or perish’. Migrants arrived from countries like Poland, Hungary, Germany, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia, Turkey and other non-European countries. Gradually, the discriminatory immigration policy was dismantled. The final remaining vestiges were removed by the Whitlam Government in the early 1970s, and the overall size of the migration program increased significantly. Overview of migration and population history of Australia in the 20th century.

8.3 Population policy

Some minor party politicians like Pauline Hanson campaign against continued migration, arguing that Australia can no longer support more people in terms of providing them with jobs and if necessary welfare payments. Both major political groupings, the Labor Party and the Coalition, have however had a long-term commitment to Multicultural Australia and a strong migration program. The Federal Government’s current migration program contains two streams – one for skilled and family stream migrants and the other for those with humanitarian needs like refugees. The Government’s priority is to target skilled migrants who will be able to contribute to the Australian economy, particularly in regional parts of Australia.

Recent debate in Australia has focused on the Government’s humanitarian program for refugees, its policies relating to asylum seekers and its ‘border protection’ measures. Often these refugees are termed ‘boat people’ and arrive in Australia via illegal shipping vessels. While some commentators see this as a national emergency, others point out that most of Australia’s illegal population have entered the country legally and overstay their visas. Read Australian Parliamentary Library 'Current Issues Brief'.

8.4 Religion

Migration has changed the religious profile of Australia significantly. Freedom of religion is enshrined in section 116 of the Australian Constitution enacted in 1901. At that time, Australian society was grouped largely into Christian denominations (Anglican, Catholic etc). Now, Australia’s religious diversity encompasses Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Lutheran, Orthodox and many more - although about a quarter of all Australians have no stated religious affiliation.

8.5 Future population

What is Australia’s population likely to look like in the future? Whilst the fertility rate is high amongst the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, overall the fertility rate is falling and society is ageing significantly.

Australian women are delaying having children until, on average, they are in their late twenties. They are also having smaller families, with the average size dropping from a peak of 3.5 babies per woman in 1961 to 1.75 babies in 1999. Fertility decline is occurring in other parts of the world, including many Asian countries such as Vietnam, China and Singapore. The Middle East and African countries on the other hand have relatively high fertility rates. The decline in natural growth of the population is prompting the government to consider ways of encouraging women to have children. Some of the questions being raised include whether or not Australia should introduce universal paid maternity leave, and what impact the increase in women’s participation in the workforce has on the fertility rate.

At the same time as the number of babies born is decreasing, society is ageing with the percentage of the population aged 65 and above rising from 4% in 1901 to 12% in 2001. Population projections estimate that the median age of 35 years today will increase to around 40 years in 2021 and 46 years in 2050. This has led policy makers to focus on strategies to deal with the increasing health costs of a larger older population. The older the population becomes, the less Australians are actively participating in the workforce.

Therefore, some research analysts argue that Australia should increase its net migration to cope with declining fertility and ageing of the population – in other words, Australian needs a population policy in order to avoid a slow population decline over the next fifty years.

8.6 Further reading

Population resources

Australian Bureau of Statistics Commonwealth Department http://www.abs.gov.au

Population Australian Indigenous Health Info Net http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/

Demography and Population Studies – The Internet Guide Australian National University, Canberra http://demography.anu.edu.au/VirtualLibrary/

Australian Centre for Population Research http://www.acpr.edu.au/

Search for ‘Horizons’ exhibition, peopling of Australia since 1788 National Museum of Australia http://www.nma.gov.au

Migration

Immigration Museum Victoria http://immigration.museum.vic.gov.au/

The Australian Immigration Portal Commonwealth Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs http://immigrationportal.gov.au

Public Forum on Immigration Public Journalism Project, Queensland University of Technology www.publicjournalism.qut.edu.au/public/immig/immig.html

The Curious Ambivalence of Australia’s Immigration Policy by Marion Le Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Radio National Deakin Lectures http://www.abc.net.au/rn/deakin/content/session_5.html

Neville Roach address Monash University, Leading Ideas Forum http://www.monash.edu.au/alumni/events/leading_ideas/roach_transcript.html

Asylum seekers

Refugee Law – Recent Legislative Developments Australian Parliament, Library Current Issues Brief http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/CIB/2001-02/02cib05.htm

Humanitarian Program and Border Protection Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/humanitarian http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/borders

Search for speech, ‘Hard Choices, The Asylum Seeker Challenge’ Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/speeches/20020422_london.htm

Refugees (Part 1 and 2) ABC Radio National, Law Report http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/lawrpt/stories/s308184.htm http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/lawrpt/stories/s311468.htm

The population debate

Setting the Limits: Australia’s Population Debate ABC News Online Forum http://www2b.abc.net.au/news/forum/forum58/default.htm

Population ABC Radio National Big Ideas: Australia Forums http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bigidea/stories/s596388.htm