By Damon Rowston
Immigration is a large part of Australia's history. In 1788, British settlement began, sparking an influx of immigration. Before then, 400 thousand Indigenous Australian's built the population. Gold in Bathurst attracted immigrants from China, Continental Europe, the US, New Zealand and the South Pacific. Since then, Australia has become one of the most successful multicultural nations.
In the last three decades, Australia has welcomed 8 million immigrants.
According to the UN "people move in search of work or economic opportunities, to join family, or to study", they also detail negative reasons for migration, such as, "to escape conflict, persecution, terrorism, or human rights violations", as well as environmental factors like "climate change and natural disasters". Looking at these reasons for migration, we can explain increases in immigration.
Immigrants come from 221 countries/regions listed by the UNHRC. The top nine origins of immigrants to Australia; the UK, New Zealand, the USA, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, India, Japan and Singapore account for about 60% of all immigration in the past three decades.
In the last three decades, most immigrants came from the UK. From 2002 to 2008, 15% of global emigrants from the UK immigrated to Australia. An historical connection between the countries that dates back to colonisation has contributed to this.
In 1945, the Assisted Passage Migration Scheme was formed in Australia. The scheme allowed adults from the UK to travel to Australia for 10 pounds. During the scheme, over 1.5 million people immigrated. Today, migrating to Australia from the UK only requires a parent to have had Australian citizenship at your birth. Easy passage to Australia and immigration for family reunification plays a large role in the large immigration number.
From 2000 to 2008, immigration from India and China increased significantly. India rose by 48 thousand and China by about 38 thousand. Many reasons are contributing to this growth, the most prominent are; education, business and quality of life. The rise in China and India's population has sparked a surge in immigration. Australia has well regarded higher education. Many come to Australia on student visas in hopes of receiving a permanent residency. In India, education from Australia is looked highly upon.
Australia is full of cultural diversity and its regarded as "one of the most multicultural societies on earth" said Esther Rajadurai, an economist at the Mckell Institute. Despite Australia's historically racist immigration policy, contemporary anti-immigration rhetoric is suppressed and "most Australians still welcome multiculturalism" said Ms Rajadurai.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 has muzzled Immigration to Australia, on top of this, the Chinese government has warned its citizens of travelling to Australia after foreign affair disagreements. Modern-day Australia was built on immigration and is highly reliant on the income that is generated by it.