Impact On Immigration In Australia After World War II

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Impact on Immigration
Immigration is the movement of people from one country into another, primarily to become a resident for reasons including economic, social or personal factors. In the decade of 1940 during the end of World War II, the Prime Minister at the time, Ben Chifley established the federal department of immigration. The prime objection to the department was to administer the introduction of large scale immigration programs. 1945 Arthur Calwell, the first appointed minister for immigration promoted mass immigration, encouraging a 1 percent increase a year. In Australia's history we understand that immigration at the time were based on both political and economic objectives as there was raised concerns relating to the vulnerability …show more content…

The launched of the immigration program had the goal to increase the population of Australia with the slogan ‘populate or perish’ to encourage immigration. September 1945, there was an accumulated death rate of around 50 to 80 million people worldwide which was a traumatic event in our world history. The reconstruction task faced by Europe and parts of Asia was enormous. Australia, by contrast, suffered little physical damage yet thousands of Australians had died, and the country had come very close to invasion showing how vulnerable Australia could be. The post-war period saw a substantial number of displaced persons from Eastern Europe, followed by waves from the Middle East, Germany, Netherland, Italy and Greece. During this time period immigration saw for the first time an influx of immigrants from outside the United Kingdom. At the end of World War II, the population of Australia was over seven million which was considerably small for the amount of land with potential prosperity. A massive immigration program took place, drawing no longer on just Britain but on much of Europe, as it begun to build a population and economy capable of defending itself in future

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