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The Department of Immigration was
originally created in 1945 and over the years had a number of
name changes to include Local Government, Ethnic Affairs and
Multicultural Affairs. There was also a Department of
Aboriginal Affairs from 1972 until 1990 (when the Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander Commission was established) and a
Department of Reconciliation and Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Affairs during 2001.
On 26 November 2001 the new Coalition
Government announced the combination of the two previous
Departments as the Department for Immigration and
Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA).
The Migration Act 1958 and the Migration
Regulations set out in detail the immigration laws, which the
Minister administers. The Migration Act can be amended only if
both Houses of Parliament pass the changes.
The Migration Regulations, which set out
the detailed requirements for the grant of visas, can be
amended by the Governor General, on the recommendation of the
Minister, without the prior approval of Federal Parliament.
However, the changes have to be tabled in the Parliament and
can be rejected by either House.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Commission Act 1989 establishes most of the Indigenous
statutory agencies in the portfolio, sets out the electoral
arrangements for ATSIC and the TSRA, and specifies the
Minister's powers in relation to ATSIC. The Aboriginal
Councils and Associations Act 1976 establishes the statutory
office of the Registrar of Aboriginal Corporations,
establishes an incorporation regime for Aboriginal
corporations, and provides for investigations into and the
appointment of administrators to Aboriginal corporations.
Other legislation administered by the
Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous
Affairs includes the Australian Citizenship Act 1948, the
Immigration Guardianship of Children Act 1946 and the
Immigration (Education) Act 1971, the Aboriginal Land Rights
(Northern Territory) Act 1976, the Native Title Act 1993,
(Division 6 of Part 2 and Part 11 only), and the Australian
Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Act
1989.
The main Australia immigration
program is made up of:
A skill immigration stream, which has a
number of categories for people who have particular occupation
skills, outstanding talents or business skills;
A family immigration stream, where people can be sponsored by
a relative who is an Australian citizen or permanent resident;
Special eligibility migrants, who are former citizens or
residents wanting to return to Australia, or certain New
Zealanders.
The immigration program for 2003-04 has
100,000 to 110,000 places available for migrants, plus a
parent contingency reserve of 6,500 places for a full year.
Australia is the smallest continent, but
combines a wide variety of landscapes. These include deserts
in its interior, hills and mountains, tropical rainforests,
and heavily populated coastal strips with long beaches and
coral reefs off the shoreline.
Most potential immigrants harbour a
particular image of Australia, such as the Opera House or
blood-red Uluru (Ayers Rock). Yet these famous icons do scant
justice to the richness of Australia's natural treasures and
its cultural diversity. Australia offers a wealth of travel
experiences, from the vastness and drama of the outback, to
the spectacle of the Great Barrier Reef and its islands, the
cosmopolitanism of Sydney and arguably some of the best
beaches in the world. Visitors expecting to see an opera in
Sydney one night and meet Crocodile Dundee the next will have
to re-think their grasp of geography in this huge country. It
is this sheer vastness, and the friction between the ancient
land steeped in Aboriginal lore and the New World cultures
being heaped upon it, which gives Australia much of its
character.
Modern-day Australia is made up of six
states and two territories: New South Wales, Queensland, South
Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, the Northern
Territory, and the Australian Capital Territory, where the
capital city of Canberra is located. The government of the
country is democratic, led by the governor-general. The Queen
of England holds symbolic executive power. Because of this
close cultural tie to Great Britain, Australia has been
involved in many events along with England, including both
world wars. Presently, the country enjoys healthy relations
with Japan, many nations of Southeast Asia and Europe, the
United States, and neighboring New Zealand.
Since Europeans first came to Australia, in
1788, immigration has been essential to the country's
development. The world's smallest continent and the
sixth-largest country, Australia has a culture similar to that
of the United States. Most Australians live in the temperate
southern and eastern parts of the continent; much of the rest
is semi-arid to arid. Most Australians are Caucasian, with
Asians and Aboriginal people making up the majority of the
rest of the population. Sydney is Australia's largest city,
home to one fifth of the country's 19.2 million people, but
Canberra is the capital.
Today, Australia is a culturally diverse
nation. After World War II, immigrants from Greece, Turkey,
and Italy poured into the country. Later waves of immigrants
followed from Asia in the early 1970s. Though many Australians
are of British and Irish ancestry, by 1988 almost 4 percent of
the entire population was of Asian descent. There are still
approximately 230,000 Aborigines in Australia today. The
diversity of the population leads to a unique fusion of
different interests that make up Australian culture. Art,
music, and education are important to Australians, and sports
such as cricket, rugby, football, and yachting are popular
pastimes for many.
The focus of Australia's foreign policy has
shifted in the past 20 years or so from Europe and the US to
its near-neighbors. It has acted as a broker between warring
groups in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
Australia's economy is also geared to Asia.
It is a foremost member of Apec, the Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation forum. Its three top export partners are Japan,
South Korea and New Zealand. The Australian economy enjoyed
its ninth consecutive year of growth in 2000, recording a 1.6
percent annual increase in its GDP. A strong domestic demand
helped the country survive the Asian economic downturn,
although certain sectors, such as mining, were shaken and are
slow to recover. An even better inflationary outlook
accompanies this economic growth scenario, but prospects for
the unemployed are uncertain, with unemployment rates
lingering around the 8 percent mark. Both price and wage
inflation are currently well within (or below) official
targets, despite the loosening of monetary policy in 1996.
Recently, there was an increase of 17,900 job vacancies in
Australia, with Victoria and Queensland in particular seeing
job growth. Only Western Australia, Tasmania, and the Northern
Territory recorded decreases.
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