Jim SpearsImmigration Restriction Act
October 6th 2008 13:38
There is no more controversial Australian than Immigration Restriction Act 1901and interviews are rarely given. I was recently lucky enough to receive an invitation to sit down with this infamous Australian icon to discuss its history.
Early Years
Born in 1901 I.R. Act controlled immigration until 1973ish. “Well in the early years immigration was erratic and controlled by each colony separately. After federation I was introduced to bring cohesion and efficiency to immigration. At the time everyone wanted to encourage European immigration, right down to the man on the street. The people loved me.”
“I didn’t act alone you know…There was a whole group, reeeeaal tough guys and if you wanted to be taken seriously you had to be tough. Commonwealth Nationalisation Act 1903 was the real bastard; excluding anyone of non-European race even if they had been in Australia before federation. It wasn't just racial, but the diseased as well, idiots, the insane, and any one who helped ‘em…No-one talks about that though.” (Speaker’s own pauses)
Although I.R. Act likes to defer blame on to others a public policy conspiracy was required in order to keep immigration appropriately restrictive: “Oh yeah the Dictation Test. An officer could walk up and say ‘Fifty words in a European language NOW!’ [I.R. Act smacks hands on the table for emphasis] Of course it could be any European language not necessarily the immigrants preferred language. At the time there were good, Western, Europeans and bad, Eastern and Mediterranean, Europeans; like good and bad Alaskans today. But look at the figures between 1905 and WWI approx 390,000 new settlers and population grew from 4-5 million. Is that success? Is it?”
The Fifties
Isolated facts sound impressive but constant calls for immigration to increase, the famous propaganda campaign “Populate or perish” after the war, suggests that I.R. Act had been a limited success “I changed…over time I adapted and people on the street should know that. In ’47 non-Euros who’d been in country over 15 years didn’t have to extend their permits anymore. In the fifties the Colombo Plan 1951 started which invited Asian students to study in Australia. But it was Revised Migration Act 1958 that changed everything. Entry permits were made easier and we had to let Dictation Test, a controversy magnet by now, go.”
The Sixties
“One word: sh*tfight. In ’66 the review into non-European migration decided migration would be based on skills and ability to integrate; non-Euros could become citizens after 5 years! Same as everyone else. Looking back I was blind; it was all over for me, even though the people grew worried about immigration, they turned to Revised Migration Act 1958.”
The Seventies
“I was barely recognisible by the 70s; economics dictated immigration and then humanitarian concerns made me redundant."
Between ’76 and ’77 Australia accepted refugees from forty countries including Viet Nam, Lebanon and Indo-Chinese refugees from Thailand. and I.R Act settled in to retirement near Cronulla Beach in NSW.
Early Years
Hey true blue
“I didn’t act alone you know…There was a whole group, reeeeaal tough guys and if you wanted to be taken seriously you had to be tough. Commonwealth Nationalisation Act 1903 was the real bastard; excluding anyone of non-European race even if they had been in Australia before federation. It wasn't just racial, but the diseased as well, idiots, the insane, and any one who helped ‘em…No-one talks about that though.” (Speaker’s own pauses)
Although I.R. Act likes to defer blame on to others a public policy conspiracy was required in order to keep immigration appropriately restrictive: “Oh yeah the Dictation Test. An officer could walk up and say ‘Fifty words in a European language NOW!’ [I.R. Act smacks hands on the table for emphasis] Of course it could be any European language not necessarily the immigrants preferred language. At the time there were good, Western, Europeans and bad, Eastern and Mediterranean, Europeans; like good and bad Alaskans today. But look at the figures between 1905 and WWI approx 390,000 new settlers and population grew from 4-5 million. Is that success? Is it?”
The Fifties
Is it me or you
Isolated facts sound impressive but constant calls for immigration to increase, the famous propaganda campaign “Populate or perish” after the war, suggests that I.R. Act had been a limited success “I changed…over time I adapted and people on the street should know that. In ’47 non-Euros who’d been in country over 15 years didn’t have to extend their permits anymore. In the fifties the Colombo Plan 1951 started which invited Asian students to study in Australia. But it was Revised Migration Act 1958 that changed everything. Entry permits were made easier and we had to let Dictation Test, a controversy magnet by now, go.”
The Sixties
“One word: sh*tfight. In ’66 the review into non-European migration decided migration would be based on skills and ability to integrate; non-Euros could become citizens after 5 years! Same as everyone else. Looking back I was blind; it was all over for me, even though the people grew worried about immigration, they turned to Revised Migration Act 1958.”
The Seventies
“I was barely recognisible by the 70s; economics dictated immigration and then humanitarian concerns made me redundant."
Between ’76 and ’77 Australia accepted refugees from forty countries including Viet Nam, Lebanon and Indo-Chinese refugees from Thailand. and I.R Act settled in to retirement near Cronulla Beach in NSW.
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