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The Commonwealth of Australia is established and the White Australia Policy begins with the introduction of the Immigration Restriction Act. Its aim was to keep Australia white, It kept out ‘undesirables’ by using the dictation test
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The Lyons Government agrees to accept 15, 000 Jewish refugees from Nazism (only 7,500 reach Australia before war breaks out).
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WWII ends and the Curtin Government begins a campaign to boost migration led by Immigration Minister Calwell’s slogan “Populate or Perish”. People who came to Australia at this time were expected to assimilate.The Assisted Passage Migration Scheme begins to encourage Brits to come to Australia, the scheme is nicknamed “Ten Pound Poms”
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Calwell signs an agreement with the International Refugee Organization (IRO) to accept 12000 refugees from Europe per year.
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The Colombo Plan saw a number of Asian students studying in Australia receiving degrees etc.
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Australia signs the UN Refugee Convention; this defines what a refugee is an obliges Australia to not send them back to a situation in which they may be persecuted and to not punish them for entering the country illegally.
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For the first time, non-European residents could apply for citizenship. However they had to be residents for 15 years (Europeans only had to be residents for 5 years).
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The Revised Migration Act is introduced which abolished the dictation test
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The Holt Government announces that applications for migration were to be considered on the basis of their skills and qualifications not race.
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The White Australia Policy was formally dismantled by the Whitlam government
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The Racial Discrimination Act was passed: this made it illegal to treat someone unfairly based on their race, colour, descent, ethnic origin or immigrant status.
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The first wave of ‘boat people’ arrive from Vietnam
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Multiculturalism becomes the official policy of the Fraser Government.
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Second wave of ‘boat people’ arrive from mostly Cambodia, Vietnam and southern china
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The Migration Reform Act is introduced by the Keating Government, it means you will be locked up in mandatory detention until a plan has been sorted out for those who enter Australia ‘illegally.’
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One Nation is founded by Pauline Hanson: this political party gained support by being highly critical of multiculturalism and immigration
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Third wave of ‘boat people’ arrive from the middle east
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The Howard Government refuses to allow the Norwegian boat ‘Tampa’ to enter Australia’s waters after rescuing afghan refugees.This leads to the “pacific Solution” where outlying parts of Australia are excised from the migration zone: refugee boats who reach this zone would now be returned to Indonesia or sent to offshore processing centers on Manus Island (Papua New Guinea) and Pacific island of Nauru
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Cronulla Riots erupt in Sydney after tension between Middle Eastern and White Australia
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The Rudd Government abandons the ‘Pacific Solution’ and closes offshore asylum centers on Manus Island and Nauru, instead ‘boat people’ are to be processed on Christmas Island
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The Gillard Government reopens asylum seeker processing centres at Manus Island in PNG and Nauru after a surge in asylum seekers from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka arrive.
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The Rudd Government announced the ‘PNG solution,’ people who arrive in Australia via boat are now no longer able to enter the country and were sent to Papua new guinea
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The Abbott Government announced ‘Operation Sovereign Boarders’ to turn back asylum boats.
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