The Asianisation of Australia: volume 2, part 6
Part Six
Australian Governments,
Prime Ministers,
and Immigration Ministers:
1945 to 1998 (67)
The list below has been produced to give readers an appreciation of how various Australian governments have handled immigration. If this list is compared with the tables of immigration statistics, the results can be enlightening.
Following the end of World War Two in 1945, it was the Labor Party which began the mass immigration programmes (based upon the notion of "populate or perish"). Ehen the Liberal Party came into government in 1949 it continued the policy of mass immigration.
Looking at the statistics of Settler Arrivals in this document, it can be seen that Asian immigration was being kept low, from 1959 to 1965 it was around 2.5% to 4%. However, when Harold Holt became the (Liberal) Prime Minister in 1966 he changed the immigration rules to allow an increase in Asian immigration ("the thin edge of the wedge"), which was further increased by subsequent Liberal Prime Ministers, rising from 4% to 11%.
The immigration policies of the 1970s Labor government of Gough Whitlam (with Al Grassby as Immigration Minister until June 1974) bumped up the proportion of Asian immigration significantly from 11% to 21% (bear in mind that the effects of the immigration policies of one government do not end immediately on the day that they lose office).
It was the Liberal government of Malcolm Fraser that really gave Asian immigration a boost, mostly keeping it steady in-between 26% to 35%.
But it was the Labor governments of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating which gave the biggest boost to Asian immigration, always keeping it above 39%, and normally as high as 45% to 55%.
What is shown by a brief look at these immigration trends is that the Labor and Liberal-National parties have, since the mid-1960s, been promoters of mass immigration, and therefore are guilty of carrying out the Asianisation of Australia.
Government: Labor Party 13.7.1945 - 19.12.1949
Prime Minister: Joseph Benedict (Ben) Chifley 13.7.1945 - 19.12.1949
Minister for Immigration: Arthur Calwell 13.7.1945 - 19.12.1949
Government: Liberal Party - Country Party coalition 19.12.1949 - 5.12.1972
Prime Minister: Robert (Bob) Menzies 19.12.1949 - 26.1.1966
Prime Minister: Harold Holt 26.1.1966 - 19.12.1967
Prime Minister: John McEwan 19.12.1967 - 10.1.1968
Prime Minister: John Gorton 10.1.1968 - 10.3.1971
Prime Minister: William (Billy) McMahon 10.3.1971 - 5.12.1972
Minister for Immigration: Harold Holt 19.12.1949 - 24.10.1956
Minister for Immigration: Athol Gordon Townley 24.10.1956 - 19.3.1958
Minister for Immigration: Alexander Downer 20.3.1958 - 18.12.1963
Minister for Immigration: Hubert Opperman 18.12.1963 - 14.12.1966
Minister for Immigration: Billy Snowdon 14.12.1966 - 12.11.1969
Minister for Immigration: Phillip Lynch 12.11.1969 - 22.3.1971
Minister for Immigration: Alexander James Forbes 22.3.1971 - 5.12.1972
Government: Labor Party 5.12.1972 - 11.11.1975
Prime Minister: Gough Whitlam 5.12.1972 - 11.11.1975
Minister for Immigration: Lance Barnard 5.12.1972 - 19.12.1972
Minister for Immigration: Albert (Al) Grassby 19.12.1972 - 12.6.1974
Minister for Labor and Immigration: Clyde Cameron 12.6.1974 - 6.6.1975
Minister for Labor and Immigration: James Robert McClelland 6.6.1975 - 11.11.1975
Government: Liberal Party - National Country Party coalition: 11.11.1975 - 11.3.1983
Prime Minister: Malcolm Fraser 11.11.1975 - 11.3.1983
Minister for Labor and Immigration: Anthony Street 12.11.1975 - 22.12.1975
Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs: Michael MacKellar 22.12.1975 - 8.12.1979
Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs: Ian Macphee 8.12.1979 - 7.5.1982
Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs: John Hodges 7.5.82.- 11.3.83
Government: Labor Party 11.3.83 - 11.3.1996
Minister: Bob Hawke 11.83.3.83 - 20.12.1991
Minister: Paul Keating 20.12.1991 - 11.3.1996
Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs: Stewart West 11.3.1983 - 13.12.1984
Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs: Chris Hurford 13.12.1984 - 16.2.1987
Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs: Michael (Mick) Young 16.2.1987 - 24.7.1987
Minister for Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic Affairs: Michael (Mick) Young 24.7.1987 - 12.2.1988
Minister for Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic Affairs: Clyde Holding 15.2.1988 - 2.9.1988
Minister for Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic Affairs: Robert Ray 2.9.1988 - 4.4.1990
Minister for Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic Affairs: Gerald (Gerry) Hand 4.4.1990 - 24.3.1993
Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs: Nick Bolkus 24.3.1993 - 11.3.1996
Government: Liberal Party - National Party coalition 11.3.1996 - present
Prime Minister: John Howard 11.3.1996 - present
Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs: Philip Ruddock 11.3.1996 - present
Note: The Department of Immigration was created on 13.7.1945.(68)
The Asianisation of Australia:
Statistics (Immigration, Ethnicity, and Trade) (Volume 2)
Australian Nationalism Information Database - www.ausnatinfo.angelfire.com
