Active Thinking Topic 81  - For & Against Migration

27 & 30 April 2024

Recommended Viewing: ABC News In-depth (January 2024) "How the nature of Australia's migration will change over the next decade". ABC @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlUwUfLTZ5Q  [8 minutes]

Also see Active Thinkers topic, "Migration is Destiny" (13 September 2022) for more talking points & links @ http://thormay.net/unwiseideas/DiscussionTopics/QESUB-QUESTIONS/Migration-is-destiny.htm

Any replies to the organizer - thormay@yahoo.com

Venue: Zoom online


Talking Points

1. What makes Australia an attractive destination for various kinds of migrants? From your experience, how realistic are their expectations?

2. How do you think the sources of immigrants and their expectations have changed over time from 1788 to 2024?

3. "UNHCR most recently estimated that, by the middle of 2023, for the first time in recorded history, the number of people forcibly displaced is now over 110 million, with over 36.4 million refugees". How many of these people should Australia admit, and how should they be chosen?

4. Australia is now home to over 300 ethnic groups from almost every other country. What are some pluses and minuses of this diversity.

5. What level of resistance or acceptance is there amongst Australia's anglo-saxon ethnic majority to the massive influx of foreigners within one lifetime? How have attitudes changed? In 1945 (when Thor was born) Australia had about 8 million people. They were 97% of English or Irish ancestry."In the 2021 census, the most commonly nominated individual ancestries as a proportion of the total population were: English (33%) Australian (29.9%) Irish (9.5%)" = 72.4%. That proportion is falling fast in the present population of about 26.6 million.

6. Australia at present has a housing crisis, both in the very high cost of renting, and the very high price of housing. "Only one in 10 potential first-home buyers could achieve home ownership after decades of soaring property prices". This is causing a lot of political tension. The housing price reasons are complex. However the public sees immigration as a big part of the problem. How do you see the issues here? What is the fix?

7. Australia's immigration boom from the end of World War II (1945) did not select for skills. Present immigration policy is dominated by selecting skilled immigrants. What are some pluses and minuses with the emphasis on skilled migration?

8. Countries with long established populations also have well established cultural patterns e.g. of marriage. The huge mix of cultures in Australia has shown that some ethnic groups intermarry and blend with the majority fairly quickly. Other groups, for various reasons (e.g.religion) tend NOT to mix in with the majority easily. Should Australia select immigrants according to their general ability to blend with other Australians?

9. English is Australia's national language. Since 1947 Australia has had adult migrant English programs to help new immigrants to learn English. What level of English fluency should Australia expect immigrants to achieve before they are granted permanent residency or citizenship?

10. How big should Australia's population be allowed to become? At the moment, births are fewer than deaths. Therefore, population growth depends upon immigration. In 1945 Australia contained about 8 million rather worried people. They had almost been invaded by Japan.The government slogan in 1945 was "populate or perish". In 2024 Australia has about 26 million people. .. one policy projection now is for Australia to have 35 million people by 2050



Extra Viewing & Reading

ABC News In-depth (January 2024) "How the nature of Australia's migration will change over the next decade". ABC @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlUwUfLTZ5Q  [8 minutes]

Clare O'Neil MP, Minister for Home Affairs (22 February 2023) "How Australia broke its migration system, and what we can do to fix it." Australian Federal Government @ https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/ClareONeil/Pages/how-australia-broke-its-migration-system.aspx 

Thor May (2014) "How Can We Treat Refugees Humanely? , @ file:///F:/Chinese_language/@-Q&A-Lx-Exchange/Weekly%20Diary/31-January-2024-Rent.htm 

Thor May (1984) "The Price of Freedom ..the true story of a Vietnamese military officer's escape from Vietnam, and its aftermath". Australian Society Vol.3, No.10 , Oct 1984; online PDF @ https://www.academia.edu/2430900/The_Price_of_Freedom_the_true_story_of_a_Vietnamese_military_officers_ escape_from_Vietnam_and_its_aftermath OR html @ http://thormay.net/literature/story4.html 

Active Thinkers topic, "Migration is Destiny" (13 September 2022) for more talking points & links @ http://thormay.net/unwiseideas/DiscussionTopics/QESUB-QUESTIONS/Migration-is-destiny.htm

Thor May (1997) "The De-Skilling of 100,000 Skilled Tradesmen + Seven Years Later - see the linked attachment (2004)". The Passionate Skeptic website @ http://thormay.net/unwiseideas/politics/trades2.html  [Thor, comment: As of now, 2024, Australia has a large deficit of skilled workers. Bluntly, that is by deliberate design built into the past political policies of state and federal governments, particularly that of prime minister John Howard at the time of this letter. Briefly, it was/is considered expensive by the Australian business community to train local talent, and smart to import already skilled immigrants as a substitute. Conservative political forces at the time also considered trades workers to be natural allies of the Australian Labor Party, and hence potential political 'enemies'. In the following years TAFE institutions were gutted of resources. ... This document was sent to the following Australian political leaders: The Hon. John Howard, Prime Minister ( reply from A. Greer, 1st Asst. Secretary, VET Division, DEETYA 3/10/97); The Hon. Kim Beazley, Leader of the Opposition (reply from Kim Beazley 29/8/97 & reply from Martin Ferguson 29/9/97); The Hon. Jeffrey Kennett, Premier of Victoria (reply from Phil Honeywood 18/9/97 - Victorian Minister for Tertiary Education & Training); The Hon. John Brumby, Leader of the Victorian State Opposition (reply from John Brumby 18/8/97); The Hon. Cheryl Kernot, Leader of the Australian Democrats Party ]

Wikipedia (2024) "Big Australia" @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Australia [ .. one policy projection is for Australia to have 35 million people by 2050

Rachel Clun (16 April 2024) "Bondi hero dubbed Bollard Man offered permanent visa: Prime Minister." The Age @ https://www.theage.com.au/national/nsw/sydney-stabbings-live-updates-wakeley-church-leader-worshippers-stabbed-just-days-after-bondi-junction-tragedy-20240415-p5fk2p.html  [Quote: "... the stabbing attack in Bondi Junction in which six people were killed by Queensland man Joel Cauchi. The prime minister this morning has made an extraordinary offer to one of the heroes of the tragedy. Incredible video emerged following Saturday’s attack of a man trying to stop Cauchi with a bollard on an escalator. He was dubbed Bollard Man for his efforts. That man turned out to be a French citizen, Damien Guerot, who has had visa issues. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he would make sure those issues were dealt with quickly. “I say this to Damien Guerot, who is dealing with his visa applications, that you are welcome here. You’re welcome to stay for as long as you like.”]

Sally Rawsthorne (17 April 2024) "More than 50 police cars damaged in Monday’s riot" . The Age @ https://www.theage.com.au/national/australia-news-live-defence-spending-plan-released-today-australian-house-prices-soar-on-global-debt-scale-20240417-p5fkdw.html  [Thor, comment: On Monday 15 April 2024 in southwest Sydney a 16 year old Muslim boy entered a Nestorian Christian church and stabbed a bishop who was livestreaming a sermon. Almost immediately a violent mob of 500 people gathered outside the church and began rioting. The boy was apparently radicalized by extremist online websites. Nestorian-Muslim persecution stems from hatreds going back 1000 years. This is one of Australia's immigration dilemmas. We don't want to import trouble ... ]

Palki Sharma (12 Dec 2023) "Australia to Tighten Immigration Rules. Will This Affect You?" Firstpost @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE6kHeZw_C4  [5 minutes] [Indian broadcast program]

Four Corners (2020) "Cash Cows: Australian universities making billions out of international students - Four Corners investigates how Australia's higher education system is being undermined by a growing reliance on foreign fee-paying students.". ABC News In-depth @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm6lWJc8KmE
[46 minutes]

Geoffrey Blainey (April 25, 2024) "Anzac Day: Lessons of war now forgotten on the home front". The Australian @ https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/anzac-day-lessons-of-war-now-forgotten-on-the-home-front/news-story/e28b67d61c50eccedb50697aa4faabd0?amp  [Quote: "On December 8, 1941, the Japanese forces began one of the most brilliant campaigns in the history of warfare. Their aircraft carriers surprised the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, and at exactly the same hour – on the far side of the Pacific – they landed troops in Thailand and British Malaya. Within a few days their dive bombers sank the two great British warships near Singapore, and in a sudden attack on the American base in The Philippines they destroyed American air power in the region. In Southeast Asia in the space of 10 weeks Japan had gained almost total command of sea and air. Hong Kong, French Indo-China, British Burma, the Dutch East Indies (being the present Indonesia), Portuguese Timor and portions of Australia’s New Guinea had been largely taken over by the Japanese. Singapore fell on February 15, 1942. Four days later Darwin was bombed, twice in the same day, and on dozens of later days. The shock felt across Australia was acute. ... In May, the Battle of the Coral Sea ended in a draw but it saved Torres Strait and Port Moresby from falling into Japanese hands. Here was an early turning point in Australia’s war. ... The first American convoy was already here, a week before Christmas 1941. Its commander was initially on a voyage to The Philippines but the surrounding seas and air space were already controlled by the victorious Japanese, and he changed course to Brisbane. ... At the end of the war, Australian politicians of all parties knew their country had achieved a narrow escape. They learned from the experience. Sure that their nation in the next war could not defend itself without a much larger population and a strong industrial base, they conducted in the quarter century from 1945 to 1970 ambitious forms of nation-building".
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Emigration from England to Australia by one of Thor's ancestors in 1883:

Sailing Ship Allanshaw - passenger load : about 500; passage time Plymouth to Sydney : about 2 months

Tonnage 1674 tons; Length 262.8 feet [80 metres]; Breadth 40.2 feet [12.25 metres]; Depth 23 feet [7 metres]

Carried Henry William May (age 36) & Julia Pyrke (pregnant) + 4 young children (3 boys, 1 girl) from Plymouth, U.K. to Sydney, Australia as assisted immigrants, arriving 2 May 1883. Rodney May (Thor's grandfather) was born in Sydney, 1883. The total population of the Australian colonies then was about 2.3 million people. Sydney had about 225,000 people

Allanshaw3.jpg



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For & Against Migration (c) Thor May 2024

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