Australia’s Policy on Illegal Migrants

Australia’s Policy on Illegal Migrants

Australian immigration has a long history, which began over 50,000

years ago when the ancestors of Australian Aborigines arrived via

Indonesia and New Guinea. Britain colonized the country in 1788,

before that, Europeans began landing the continent in the 1600’s and

1700’s. In recent decades Australia has faced the serious problem of

large-scale illegal migration, which has occurred residents

instability and unrest. In this essay, Australia’s immigration policy

would be evaluated, especially on illegal migrants’ aspect. Some

details will be given by questions that who illegal migrants are,

where they come from and why they choose to become the illegal

migrants and so on. Moreover, some examples will be given to show how

strict that Australia’s policy is to these illegal migrants, how its

policy influence the human rights and what changes Australia’s

government has made in these years.

Since 1958, immigration has been regulated according to the Migration

Act 1958[1](Commonwealth Consolidated Acts, 2005) which took the place

of the numerous Acts of immigration legislation which were authorized

in 1901, and the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and

Indigenous Affairs[2] executes government policy on immigration under

the Migration Act 1958.

In Australia, its immigration policy asserts that “Australia has a

non-discriminatory immigration policy, which means that anyone from

any country can apply to migrate, regardless of their religion and

ethnic origin, their gender, colour or any other physical appearance.”

(DIMIA, 2002) Nowadays there are two immigration programs that allow

...

... middle of paper ...

...Reporter: Tony Jones, TV PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT, Broadcast:

23/03/2005,

URL:

² Mercer, Phil, 2005, Australia Decides to Free Some Immigration

Detainees, Voice of America,http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-03-23-voa30.cfm

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[1] Australia immigration law--Migration Act 1958, long title: An Act

relating to the entry into, and presence in, Australia of aliens, and

the departure or deportation from Australia of aliens and certain

other persons

[2] Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous

Affairs’ short form is DIMIA.

[3] The Uniting Church in Australia, Asylum Seeker and Refugee Policy

Paper, 2001, p. 7

[4] DIMIA, 2004, http://www.immi.gov.au/facts/08abolition.htm