Social Inequality in Australia - Essay Example

?Word count: 2711 Order # 541235 d 1st June Social inequality in Australia Discussion on the ways in which the Immigration Restriction act of 1901 impacted on some aspect of inequality historically, and the ways in which its legacy continues to be felt today in public policy and perception Introduction The Immigration Act of 1901 is an important act in the history of Australia as it provided major guidelines and procedure for any person who wants to enter the soil of Australia (Jupp, 2007). In this process, it has also allowed the policy of social inequality and discrimination between the White and non White classes of people in terms of their immigration in to the soil of Australia. The White people were allowed freely by following the liberal practices of immigration rules where as the strict restrictions were imposed for the non European people under the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 which is nothing but encouraging the policy of social inequality. In other words, the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 has initiated a trend in which the differential attitude of Australian administration was followed towards the treatment of different races of the people (Immigration Restriction Act, 1901). Staring with the nature of the tests put to the immigrants, several other restrictions were imposed to non white people for discouraging them to stay in Australia. Even in case of labor immigration, the white labor were allowed to enter the soil of Australia where as other classes of labor were restricted under the clauses of Immigration Restriction Act of 1901. This discriminatory and social inequality attitude of Australian authorities was further continued in different arena for which the seeds were sown in the form of Immigration Restriction Act of 1901. Hence, it is essential to critically examine the nature of Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 and to analyze the ways in which it influenced social inequality in the history of Australia and also to examine the ways in which its legacy continues to be felt now a days in the public policy in Australia. Let us examine these issues one by one. Nature of Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 and critical analysis of the ways in which it influenced social inequality in the history of Australia Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 was passed by the House of Parliament of Australia for the main objective of limiting the immigration rate of non Europeans to Australia. The policy of social inequality and White Australia in restricting the immigration of alien persons in to the land of Australia is very well reflected in the form of Immigration Restriction Act of 1901. It has decided the fate of the people who were willing to enter Australia for various types of works since long and it tilted towards selective concessions to white people and it is even influencing the public policy related to immigration at present also. Hence, it is very significant instrument in the history of Australia which may be analyzed form time to time for making betterment in the rules and restrictions related to immigration to Australia. The basic origin of introducing this Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 was in the form of opportunism and can be traced to the history of formation of Australia. When Australia was formed by union of six colonies, they wanted to build the nation protecting from foreign forces and the Common wealth of Australia was proclaimed in 1901. As the armed forces were controlled by the British, the Australians wanted to have control over the people who would migrate from other regions. They feared that people from China and Japan may dominate in some economic spheres if they are allowed to settle in Australia which would affect the prospects of local people. At the same time, the trade unions in Australia also felt that if people form Asian origin are allowed to immigrate in to Australia, the labor wages may go down which would negatively influence the earnings of the labor of Australian origin. At the same time, the population of Australia in 1901 comprised of majority of white people who accounted for about 98 % and the Australian administration wanted to continue this composition or white dominance for which a strict immigration policy was required. Keeping all these points in view, they were interested to make an immigration policy that would restrict the entry of non whites or non Europeans in the land of Australia. In this way, the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 was legislated by the Parliament of Australia. The immigration Restriction Act of 1901 also mentioned that the illegal immigrants may be deported for further restricting any people with out valid visa. However, its main intention was to restrict the entry of non white or non European people in to its territory. It has also allowed higher flexibility with the immigration officers who have the discretion of allowing the people for immigration based on a test called dictation test. Under this test, the foreign citizens would be subjected to an exam in which response can be given in any European language including English and based on their performance, the decision would be made to allow the people to immigration or not? (Wilson et al., 1996). This test was viewed by many people as a mechanism for restricting the non European citizens as the questions would be of difficult nature for answering. In other words, it has encouraged the discriminatory nature and sown the seeds for social inequality. The Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 was mainly aimed at social inequality in the form of restricting the non European travelers in to the soil of Australia. During those times, the main transport mechanism for immigration of the people is sea route through shipping. Hence the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 combined the legislations of Pacific Islanders Laborers Act and Section 15 of the Post and Telegraph Act of 1901 which directed the ships carrying the mails and labor to restrict the immigration to white labor. In other words, the attitude of the Australian administration in discriminating the non white people from White people was well reflected through white Australian policy under Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 (Willard, 1923). However, the white Australian policy was subjected to some phenomenal changes after 1958 when Migration Act of 1958 replaced the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901. The Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 was prepared on the basis of similar legislation of South Africa and its other objectives include the restricting the people with deadly and infectious diseases, criminal history and prostitutes. At the same time, it has a selective nature of restricting different types of the people. For example, the people belonging to elite class and soft nations like United Kingdom were allowed under the class of special exemption where as the people from developing nations were restricted based on different criteria. The Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 though declared that it mainly intended for the security reasons and for protecting the domestic interests of the local people, its main intention was to give an selective edge for White class of people for their immigration and restricting the other classes of people for immigration and hence displaying higher extent of social inequality. It is also alarming to note that it has its influence in deciding the structure of present day public policy related to immigration. In making the objective of restricting the non White people to immigrate in to the soil of Australia leading to social inequality, the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 has made certain provisions for punishing the functionaries and other classes of people who are found guilty in facilitating the immigration of the people. For example, the Captain of the ships in which illegal immigrants of non European origin are found to travel, would be punished with imprisonment or fine. Any person who is found guilty in cooperating illegal immigrants would be severely punished under this act. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was entrusted with the power of detaining the ships in which illegal immigrants traveled. The dictation test used by the Authorities to restrict the foreigners drawn lot of criticism due to its nature of social inequality since the time when Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 was passed by the Parliament of Australia. The main reason for this is that the people believed that the test was mainly intended for restricting several classes of people and it was well reflected in the form of less than 5 % of the people getting qualified under dictation test during initial years after the implementation of Immigration Restriction Act of 1901. It also attracted the criticism when some people were not allowed based on their performance in the dictation test. As mentioned earlier, in case of those people who were intentionally restricted for immigration to Australia, the immigration specialist used to put tough language test which was challenged in the court of law. This is a severe form of social inequality. In case of E.E. Kisch, an exiled person from Germany, the immigrationofficer intentionally put a tough language which is out side the purview of the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901. Though Kisch was good in several European languages, the intention of putting a tough language was reflected in denying the permission for immigration and hence this was challenged in the court of law. Similar incident was also witnessed in not allowing some people who enjoyed public sympathy. Hence, this allowed the administrators and legislators to amend some clauses of Immigration Restriction Act of 1901. Critical analysis of the ways in which its legacy continues to be felt now a days in the public policy in Australia. During the process of amendments, the toughness extent of allowing people to immigrate in to the soil of Australia increased further leading to higher social inequality. For example, the people were initially allowed to appear in the dictation test in an European language where as after 1905, the test was given to the people on any language of the choice by dictation officer. Similarly, the people were initially subjected to appear for the language test with in the period of one year of their residence, where as later it was changed to five years and that too any number of times as desired by the immigration officer which indicates the tough attitude of the foreign ministry of Australia to restrict the immigration rate. However, with lot of resistance form different corners, the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 was replaced by Migration Act 1958 of Australia (Jupp, 1998). With the implementation of Migration Act of 1958, the dictation test was abolished and simplest systems of permits were introduced which resulted in some form of social justice. The questions related to element of race were removed and Asians with good caliber were allowed to immigrate in to Australia. In 1966, the administration of Australia declared that it would welcome citizens of any nation who would be useful for the progress of nation building through their qualifications and their ability to integrate well in to the system of Australia. However, even after the replacement of The Immigration Restriction Act of 1901, the social inequality was not fully eliminated and it was reflected in some other forms of legislations of Australia later. In this way, The Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 affected the social inequality and immigration policy of Australia for longer period. The political transformation has played key role in changing the nature of immigration policy and in this process, it has played significant role in reducing the social inequality in Australia. For example, the victory of coalition government of Liberal and Country parties in 1949 paved the way for gradually replacing the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 by Migration Act of 1958. Similarly, the residual effect of The Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 in terms of social inequality which continued for longer period was also reduced when new Labor government came to power in 1973. The liberal changes made in the immigration policy of Australia by new Labor government paved the way for social equality and reduced the extent of social inequality. It has legislated that all migrants, of any origin would qualify for obtaining citizenship once they complete the requirement of permanent residence for three years. Similarly, in case of overseas recruitments or jobs, the element of race as a criterion would not be given any emphasis. In addition, the priority would be given to include any positive clauses of international agreements on immigration and race for promoting social equality. The positive approach continued towards the immigration of people in to Australia and emphasis was given to more consistent and structural and positive approach by encouraging immigration of people with higher academic and technical qualifications who would be of immense use to the growth and development of science and technology in Australia. It is heartening to note that the present immigration policy of Australia allows people of any origin irrespective of their ethnicity, culture, language or religion to immigrate in to the soil of Australia. It also strongly believes that the diversified groups of people living in Australia are potential source of both social and economic wealth. It also realized the fact that the social inequality would not be prospective for the future of Australia and it is group of different people working together for common goal would be more needed for the creation of welfare society in Australia. For making this positive transformation to happen, the role of Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 is quite significant. Though it resulted in higher social inequality in the previous years, it has become an instrument through which the negative effects of social inequality were realized by the administrators of Australia. Similar thing was reflected in the political transformation process in which new parties recognized the majority public opinion on treating different groups of people uniformly in terms of immigration and accordingly they added this in their agendas. They could implement the positive changes starting with the introduction of Migration policy of 1958 and in this process, they played crucial role in reducing the social inequalities and also in betterment of Australian economy. As a result, about 25 % of Australian population have their birth place overseas and it has people with several religions and languages and majority of them have been contributing to the economic well being and public policy and administration of Australia. Conclusion The Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 was mainly initiated to restrict the immigration of non white class of people and in this process it has clearly sown the seeds for social inequality. It has incorporated strict rules in the form of dictation test with a sole aim of controlling the immigration of non European people and it also reflected the discriminatory nature for establishing white Australian policy leading to wide social inequalities. However, with the progress of time, this act was replaced by Migration Act of 1958 due to changes in political structure and also due to protests from some section of the people. Most importantly, the Australian administration realized the fact that the welfare society cannot be built by encouraging the concentration of limited classes of people and they felt the necessity of removing the social inequality in public policy including immigration clauses. They also encouraged the people of good technical brilliance irrespective of their race or religion or language to take part in the public administration and economic welfare of Australia. This has led to gradual transformation of immigration policy of Australia by removing the restriction of race as a criterion. In this way, the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 though resulted in social inequality in Australia for about 50 years after its implementation, it has also transformed the thinking of policy makers by realizing the necessity of incorporating the principle of social equality in public policy. References Immigration Restriction Act. 1901. An Act to place certain restrictions on Immigration and to provide for the removal from the Commonwealth of prohibited Immigrants (No.17 of 1901). National Archives of Australia, P:7. Jupp, J 2007, From White Australia to Woomera: The Story of Australian Immigration, Cambridge University Press Publication, P:256, ISBN-10: 0521697891. Jupp, J 1998, Immigration, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press Publication, Melbourne, P:210, ISBN : 019550786X. Willard, M 1923, History of White Australian Policy, Melbourne University Press Publication, P:217, ISBN : 0522838308. Wilson, J, Thomson, J & Mc Mohan, A 1996, Immigration Restriction Act, 1901, The Australian Welfare State, Key documents and Themes, Mc Millan Education Australia Pty Ltd, Melbourne. Yarwood, AT, 1964, Asian Migration to Australia: The Background to Exclusion 1896–1923, Melbourne University Press Publication, Melbourne. Read More