From ‘White Australia’ to ‘Part of Asia’: Recent Shifts in Australian Immigration Policy towards the Region

Abstract

This article examines the impact on Australia of population movements in the Asia-Pacific region since 1945, with special reference to the period since 1975 that marked the termination of the restrictive ‘White Australia Policy.’ That policy, which had its origins in racist theories popular at the end of the nineteenth century, isolated Australia from its immediate region and kept it tied to its European and, more specifically, British origins.

The impact of population, trade and capital movements in the region has been such as to make Australia ‘part of Asia.’ Nevertheless, public opinion has yet to accept these changes fully, especially when they involve changing the ethnic character of the resident population. It is concluded that the generation which has grown up since 1945 and which is now starting to dominate politics and intellectual life will find it easier to reorient Australia than did the previous generation, despite continuing ambivalence in public attitudes. The presence in Australia of large numbers of permanent residents and citizens of Asian origin is a necessary factor in expediting change.