Immigration Nation - Part 3

Summary

"Immigration Nation - Part 3" by Australian Perspective takes a deep dive into the history and evolution of Australia's immigration policies, focusing particularly on the transition from the 'White Australia policy' to modern multiculturalism. Highlighted is the story of Australian students and activists who fought against racial exclusion and significant political figures who played pivotal roles in reforming immigration laws. Central events, such as the Vietnam War and the ensuing refugee crisis, are explored as critical turning points that challenged existing ideologies. The documentary closes with a reflection on how Australia's journey from a racially exclusive to an inclusive nation was forged against overwhelming opposition, resulting in the diverse society it is today.

Highlights

• Australia's shift from the 'White Australia policy' was fueled by a new generation questioning racial discrimination. 🌱
• The Colombo Plan accidentally paved the way for multicultural exchanges by bringing Asian students to Australia. 🎓
• A kidnapped 5-year-old girl, Nancy Prad, became a symbol in the fight against Australia's racial policies in the 1960s. 🧒
• The first Vietnamese 'boat people' arriving in Australia tested the country's willingness to embrace multiculturalism. ⛵
• By taking in thousands of Vietnamese refugees, Australia began to transform into a multicultural nation. 📜
• The journey to becoming a multicultural nation involved overcoming significant political and social challenges. 🌐

Key Takeaways

• Australia's restrictive 'White Australia' policy was challenged and eventually dismantled through decades of activism and pivotal cultural shifts. 🌏
• Significant political figures and international events, such as the Vietnam War, heavily influenced Australia's immigration policies. ✌️
• Activism by young Australians played a crucial role in transitioning the country towards a more inclusive immigration stance. 👩‍🎓
• The response to the Vietnamese refugee crisis marked a significant turning point in Australia’s approach to immigration and multiculturalism. 🚢
• Despite past restrictive policies, Australia's modern identity is deeply multicultural and inclusive, celebrating diversity in many forms. 🌈

Overview

In "Immigration Nation - Part 3," the transformation from Australia's 'White Australia policy' to embracing multiculturalism is explored through pivotal historical events and personal stories. Activists and students challenge the racial status quo, setting the stage for revolutionary changes in immigration laws.

Key political figures emerge as influencers in Australia's journey towards inclusiveness. Major events like the Vietnam War and the reaction to Vietnamese refugees arriving on Australian shores underscore critical shifts in public and political ideologies regarding immigration.

The documentary concludes by celebrating the multicultural reality of modern Australia, recognizing past struggles and triumphs that led to the current diverse society. It underscores the notion that through persistence and activism, Australia achieved a society that values diversity, equality, and openness.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Australia's Immigration History Australia is fundamentally a nation of immigrants, although this was not the original intention when the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. The founders envisioned creating a utopian society.
• 00:30 - 05:00: White Australia Policy and its Challenges The chapter titled 'White Australia Policy and its Challenges' discusses the historical context and evolution of the White Australia Policy, starting from 1901. This policy aimed at creating an exclusively white community by imposing strict immigration restrictions. However, by the 1960s, a new generation began to question and challenge the exclusionary nature of this policy, particularly towards Asians.
• 05:00 - 10:30: Colombo Plan and the Arrival of Asian Students The chapter discusses the Colombo Plan and its role in bringing Asian students to Australia. It addresses the attitudes of Australian students towards racism and the impact of these interactions. A specific story about a young girl named Nancy highlights the racial injustices prevalent in the immigration system. It points out that Nancy's deportation was solely based on her skin color. The chapter concludes by emphasizing that it took the Vietnam War and a subsequent humanitarian crisis to challenge and shift Australia's racially biased policies.
• 10:30 - 18:00: John Menadue's Experience and Changing Perspectives In this chapter, we delve into John Menadue's experiences and evolving viewpoints, particularly focusing on the dismantling of the 'White Australia' policy. The narrative captures the determination of individuals and families who were prepared to face extreme risks for the sake of unity and survival, encapsulating the broader struggle to establish a truly multicultural Australian society. This chapter recounts the often untold stories that played a crucial role in shaping modern Australia's diverse cultural landscape.
• 18:00 - 27:00: Nancy Prasad's Deportation and Public Outcry The chapter discusses the strict immigration policies of White Australia, a racially exclusive policy that restricted non-white immigration into the country. It mentions the deportation of Nancy Prasad, a child from Fiji, which sparked public outcry. The excerpt seems to highlight the emotional tension and discussions around these policies, especially focusing on the human impact and the reactions of Australian citizens towards such governmental decisions. It also touches on the broader implications of who gets to determine the country's demographic and cultural landscape.
• 27:00 - 39:00: Political Shifts and the End of White Australia Policy Australia's current status as an immigration nation was influenced significantly by geopolitical threats in the 1950s, particularly the rise of Asian communism.
• 39:00 - 62:00: Vietnam War and Australia's Refugee Policy The chapter discusses Australia's immigration policy during the Vietnam War era, highlighting the country's efforts to maintain a predominantly white population through strict immigration controls. It touches on the fear of communism spreading and the economic prosperity of Australia, which was seen as a potential target for communist influence.
• 62:00 - 81:00: Fraser Government and Vietnamese Immigration In response to the communist threat in Asia during the 1950s, Prime Minister Menzies takes a dual approach. While sending troops to combat communism in Korea and Malaya, he also endorses the Columbo Plan. This initiative aims to build a coalition in Southeast and South Asia to counter communist influence, marking a significant strategic move in Australia's foreign policy.
• 81:00 - 87:00: Modern Immigration Policy and Challenges The chapter focuses on modern immigration policy and its challenges, using the Columbo plan as a central theme. Rather than excluding Asian immigrants, the plan advocates for their inclusion to resist communism. A significant component of the plan is educating Asians, aimed at empowering them to contribute effectively to their home societies and resist communist influence. It highlights the transformative impact such educational opportunities could have, particularly on university campuses across Australia.
• 87:00 - 91:00: Conclusion and Reflection The Australian government's initiative to bring Asian students to Australia was intended to allow them to experience the country and counter any perceptions of racism. The goal was for these students to return to their home countries as ambassadors, promoting a positive image of Australia. However, the effectiveness of this strategy, particularly as it pertains to students becoming advocates for a 'white Australia', appears to be somewhat optimistic.

Immigration Nation - Part 3 Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 Australia is an immigration Nation but 100 years ago this wasn't the plan the Commonwealth of Australia was built on a paradox the Paradox was they were going to re realize a Utopia but they were
• 00:30 - 01:00 going to do it through excluding the vast majority of humanity from 1901 this meant tough restrictions on immigration the white Australia policy we would be exclusively White Community there would be no one in Australia other than members of the white race this was the objective but by the 1960s a new generation questioned the exclusion of our Asian
• 01:00 - 01:30 neighbors these Australian students they're not prepared to play the game they're not prepared to judge whether someone should enter Australia because of the color of their skin the kidnap of a 6-year-old girl exposed the Injustice of a racist system Nancy is being deported on the basis of one Criterion alone in that color but it took the Vietnam War and a humanitarian crisis to force the country
• 01:30 - 02:00 to banish the ideal of a white Australia once and for all we're leaving our country if we die if we perish at least we at the whole family we die together this is the secret history of us how modern Multicultural Australia was achieved against the odds
• 02:00 - 02:30 be white Australia is your children will over and celebrate a new life in this warm and friendly decide who comes to this country I ically the final chapter of
• 02:30 - 03:00 how Australia became the immigration Nation we live in today was only possible because of the terrifying threat of Asian communism the events of the 1950s seem to show that communism in Asia was expansion and so Australia is seen as the the ultimate destination of those falling dominoes that the gravity uh would see them communism move through China through Southeast Asia threat in
• 03:00 - 03:30 Australia Today five six of Europe and Asia are under the iron heel of Communism and one of the biggest prizes of all Australia be assured they will not remain indifferent to the wealth this country can provide Australia is a prosperous nation of 8 million the country is 99% white thanks to tight immigration controls designed to keep anyone who isn't white out
• 03:30 - 04:00 to protect white Australia prime minister meny sends troops to fight communism in Korea and Malay but in 1950 he also signs up to a plan to counter communism in a very different way the Columbo plan was an attempt to create in Southeast Asia uh and South Asia a block against the Communist this communist Advance extraordinarily
• 04:00 - 04:30 one of the key features of the Columbo plan means menes will resist communism not by keeping Asians out but by letting them [Music] in University campuses across Australia will be transformed a crucial dimension of the Columbo plan related to issues of Education educating Asians to play important roles in their societies and hopefully resist communism and so the
• 04:30 - 05:00 Australian government saw bringing Asian students to Australia as an important part of the plan but it also had another motivation and that was that these people could experience Australia see that Australians are not racist and return essentially as ambassadors of white Australia at least defending uh the policy but as Asian students arrive it seems the intention for them to become Advocates of a white Australia may be a little optim [Music]
• 05:00 - 05:30 Mystic what do Asian students tell their friends who ask about the white Australia policy and it is the white Australia policy that's mentioned that the Australians tend to be tend to be a friendly Nation towards us and yet uh you know why do they have the white Australia policy the Columbo plan was never going to achieve the hopes that Robert meny had hope for it it wasn't ever going to be that magic bullet that would inoculate the wide Australia policy
• 05:30 - 06:00 against Asian criticism not only will men's great plan fail in its key aim it has ironic and unintended consequences for white Australians John menadue leaves his home in rural South Australia and enrolls at Adelaide University in 1953 on his first day he's told he'll be sharing a room with with three Malayan
• 06:00 - 06:30 students I was just stunned I grew up knowing nothing else but uh basically white and Caucasian people we didn't even have Chinese resturants in the country towns of South Australia I guess the main view that I had at that time was that Asians were poor people they were badly educated and that'd be something of a threat to this country but even a man with prejudice gets hungry so when John's new roommates
• 06:30 - 07:00 share their dinner with him the tension begins to break down it was my introduction to Asian food curry rice and things which I'd never really I'd only eaten rice as as a dessert and never as a part of a main course I found that these Asian students were well educated spoke extremely good English and were very pleasant people to know rather than Asians discovering the
• 07:00 - 07:30 virtues of white Australia Australians are realizing the charm of their new Asian neighbors and indeed in some suburbs around universities land ladies would put up signs saying uh room available Asian students only because they'd come to see Asian students as a better tenant than than many Australian students of the time I could see that white Australia was abhorent it was not in Australia's uh interest uh and that we needed to
• 07:30 - 08:00 change and those that experien with those Asian students was very much a part of that a changed man John menu joins the university Alp Club where he meets Kindred Spirits one of the brightest stars is Don Dunston a young lawyer newly elected to the South Australian Parliament he was smarter than anyone
• 08:00 - 08:30 else on the conservative side he was also smarter than many people in the labor party and that caused some resentment as well but we admired him his ability and his General stance on public issues and he was a great reformer Don Dunston was important uh because he is representative of this new generation of Labor politicians who come to the aop with a Social Democratic agenda
• 08:30 - 09:00 the fact that the aop national platform still has a commitment to the white Australia policy is seen by the likes of Dunston as incredible Dunston and menu's views are shared by the upand cominging gof whitlam but it seems these young fire Brands won't stand a chance against bipartisan support for white Australia as well as prime minister meny
• 09:00 - 09:30 even the deputy leader of their own party Arthur calwell is against them in a very real sense Bob menes and Arthur corwell had more in common with each other when it came to their attitudes about migration and what sort of Australia should be should be maintained then either of them had with the younger guard in their own parties there's a gulf there and it's a generational Gulf it's not a political
• 09:30 - 10:00 golf the Old Guard Menses corwell and others of that generation were not persuaded one iot that there was a need for fundamental change for them it was axiomatic it couldn't be challenged it was like a law of nature that you couldn't mix races if you mixed races you end up with trouble throughout the 1950s it's clear what kind of country country Australia
• 10:00 - 10:30 wants to [Music] be in the last decade the government has imported a million migrants from Europe half of them British dad's taking me to Australia he says that's the best place for me to get on in life you too can go to Australia for £10 inquire now at your local employment exchange or at Australia house London the 10B pal scheme helps keep us Australia white we came here from
• 10:30 - 11:00 Britain 3 years ago we are so very happy that we are bringing out another British family to give them the same chance we [Music] got as prime minister menes and Arthur calwell go head-to-head in the federal election of 1961 students Target the campaign to force their protest against white Australia on to the
• 11:00 - 11:30 agenda this is Melbourne University which is the headquarters of student Action Now student action was perhaps the first public demonstration of some general disire or unease felt by young people in this country about certain aspects of our migration policy well first of all I think it's just plain unfair that people should be discriminated against just because of their skin color I mean it's immoral it gets Australia very bad publicity in the eyes of the world I think that white Australia is a slap in the face for Asian peoples and therefore there's no
• 11:30 - 12:00 point in making um enemies overseas these Australian students saw the white Australia policy as a cause to be championed as an aspect of Australian society that was outdated and had to change and they were going to attempt to change it they're not prepared to play the game they're not prepared to judge whether someone should enter Australia because of the color of their skin have you heard the politicians make their
• 12:00 - 12:30 St want to keep the budget right want it keep Australia wi oh there's mean things happening in this land but cwell and men's have no time for Radicals or change neither do many Australians well I think that they should keep it white as much as possible I
• 12:30 - 13:00 think that there's no two ways about it we'd soon become outnumbered here if we allowed the asiatics in they ways and habits so far different of ours once you open that little track in the door and then they come the minute you let them in you're going to finish up you get overrun with them the 1961 election campaign ends with men's winning power for the sixth time in a row white Australia is Safe in
• 13:00 - 13:30 His Hands but soon the few Roar over a 5-year-old will expose the racism of the system and embarrass the [Applause] government it's 1964 and this little girl is about to shake the foundations of white Australia
• 13:30 - 14:00 Nancy prad's parents have been deported to Fiji after overstaying their Visas so Nancy's living with her sister Shashi and brothers Roy and Sam in Sydney seeing the conditions that my parents and the family were living in Fiji after being deported from here uh really broke her heart Nancy's older brothers and sister are married to a Ians so they're allowed
• 14:00 - 14:30 to stay but Nancy faces [Music] deportation her sister and her brothers began to mount a publicity campaign to keep Nancy in Australia and her sister announced that she wanted to adopt Nancy nany's parents claimed that it would be terrible to return Nancy to Fiji because she would be doomed to a life of
• 14:30 - 15:00 poverty you like to stay here I stay here why want to stay here for I like I like so I like to stay here I want to go to SCH but in Cambra Hubert opman the minister for immigration is not about to roll over the immigration department were outraged by The Audacity Of The pads uh
• 15:00 - 15:30 and their willingness to utilize the media so they believe the whole thing is a setup to get the whole family here in Australia and they are firmly committed to not allowing that to happen they're very fearful that that kind of public backdown would really undermine the integrity and the authority of this stran government the family fear that Nancy's days in Australia are numbered
• 15:30 - 16:00 every time we seen a government vehicle in our street we automatically took it that it was from the immigration department and looking for ncy uh we are really paranoid about that they are prepared to take drastic action and are you confident that you can keep her from the officials for the necessary time we're going to do our best as soon as the officials we F our getting close to us we shall move from one address to the other
• 16:00 - 16:30 the pads are on the run but help will now come from a man who has a growing reputation for fighting racial [Music] Injustice the public Acclaim for Charles Perkins Aboriginal leader and University graduate has been widespread one American Negro writer has called him the Martin Luther King of Australia in February
• 16:30 - 17:00 1965 Charles Perkins gains notoriety when he leads the freedom rides to highlight discrimination against Aboriginal people who were still not included in the census now the outspoken leader shifts his Focus to the plight of Nancy prad Charlie Perkins was the uh head of the student council at the time very
• 17:00 - 17:30 nice man very educated person and and a good friend and he was willing to uh uh help us out and we accepted his help but just how Charles Perkins plans to help is kept a closely guarded secret meanwhile a date is set for ny's deportation [Music]
• 17:30 - 18:00 there's a lot of bad publicity but immigration department and uh Hubert opment uh determined that Nancy will leave we really didn't want Nancy to go she was very fond of us and wanted to remain in Australia we were very worried couldn't really comprehend that the government was going to that extent of uh removing a little child from a family environment that
• 18:00 - 18:30 loved [Music] her the 6th of August 1965 the day of Nancy's deportation has arrived Sam drives his little sister to Sydney airport and it was a very nervous trip from home to the airport crying that hopefully nothing goes wrong here Charles Perkins has organized students
• 18:30 - 19:00 to protest nany's deportation amidst the chaos he joins the family for a photo call but suddenly he kidnaps Nancy I've never been you know picked up and run by a stranger It All Happened
• 19:00 - 19:30 very quickly so it was one minute I was there and the next minute you know in his car so yeah I don't think I had a huge amount of time to react Perkins takes Nancy Out Of Reach of the authorities and into hiding
• 19:30 - 20:00 it's quite shocking and dramatic and was very embarrassing for the Australian government 2 hours later Nancy turns up safe and sound and it turns out that this whole thing was a setup it was absolutely scary anything could have gone wrong and I would have been the one to face the uh consequences I feared that I could be Beyond bars all the parties involved with the
• 20:00 - 20:30 agreement of Nancy's sister argued that they had been trying to reinforce to the Australian public you know the Injustice of nany's removal and to reinforce the fact that the white Australia policy had to end I feel very strongly about it personally because it is a color question Nancy is being deported on the basis of one Criterion alone and that's color and this is this is bad and immoral as far as I'm concerned when the man picked you up and ran away with you were you frightened
• 20:30 - 21:00 were you worried no did you know him no weren't you worried at all when you ran fast no oh you are a brave girl tell me had somebody told you you might be picked up no aha that's all right the very week that Nancy avoids deportation Sparks Fly inside Sydney Town Hall they may not be in government but the
• 21:00 - 21:30 Alp opposition is furiously debating whether to end their official commitment to the white Australia policy some branches say that the term white Australia should be removed from the party platform because it tends to discriminate perhaps too strongly against race and color and so we see many of the younger generation of aop politicians such as goof whitlam uh such as Don Dunston trying actively to get
• 21:30 - 22:00 the aop to change its policy Adelaide University graduate John menu is at the meeting he's landed the job of private secretary to the deputy leader gof whitlam people are such as whitlam such as Dunson if I could say modestly myself we're of a younger generation and we were professional uh and we saw the need for change so it it clearly was a
• 22:00 - 22:30 generational change unlike the liberals who have a philosophical commitment Labour's platform has had a written pledge to keep Australia white since the early [Music] 1900s Dunston and Cole are determined this must change but the Old Guard including party leader Arthur calwell stand in their way corwell sees that his party is being
• 22:30 - 23:00 destroyed from within by people he calls long hairs uh Rat bags do gooders these people were destroying the party destroying the principles upon which the Australian labor movement had been built and he saw it as fundamentally a slight at him fundamentally a challenge to his authority that was a major problem for Arthur Cole a very generous man uh in so
• 23:00 - 23:30 many respects but he believed that Australia would be making a major mistake uh to take Asian migrants on any worthwhile scale I remember very clearly how upset he was dunon desperately tries to convince corwell that change must be made for the sake of the party's image and that reforming the party platform will not mean a flood of nonwhite
• 23:30 - 24:00 immigrants finally a reluctant call Will backs the [Music] proposal put the resolution all in favor say I against it's carried the whole atmosphere and the discussion was that a major change had occurred Arthur was not happy but uh responsibility on these issues had passed to another generation
• 24:00 - 24:30 even if he had to reluctantly accept it it may be a landmark decision but it can't have any impact on Australia's immigration policy until the Alp eventually gain power meanwhile just 24 hours after the kidnap stunt any hopes of Nancy staying in Australia are dashed the government refuses to back down and
• 24:30 - 25:00 orders her immediate [Music] deportation Nancy says goodbye to the only home she's ever really known it was heartbreaking when he ncy had a uphill battle going to Fiji she couldn't speak the language so she'll be completely out of place [Applause] [Music]
• 25:00 - 25:30 as Nancy arrives at Sydney airport on the 7th of August 1965 the authorities are out in force a lot of policemen there there was a lot of people I think they were making sure that I got on that [Music] flight they weren't going to have that same incidents happened as it did you know the day before
• 25:30 - 26:00 I'm feeling for myself there seeing that plane take off that's what I'm [Music] feeling a little 5-year-old you know having to go to that to those lengths uh and being deported simply for her color you know just 5 months later the man who oversaw
• 26:00 - 26:30 nany's deportation finally retires as prime [Music] minister I couldn't see myself saying to the people of Australia I want you to give me another turn as Robert men the chief guardian of the white Australia policy steps aside after 16 years momentous change suddenly seems possible [Applause] [Music]
• 26:30 - 27:00 Australia Day 1966 there's a new man in the lodge Harold Holt a former minister of immigration decides to take a fresh look at Australia's immigration policy halt is looking to make his Mark as the new leader he's trying to present an image of himself as as you youthful and in touch with you know a changing
• 27:00 - 27:30 Australia and changing circumstances HT announces that Australia will open its doors to 6 and a half thousand highly skilled Asians every year it's the first time in the nation's history that such a commitment has been [Music] made but right away the minister for immigration Hubert oerman reassures the public the trickle will not become a
• 27:30 - 28:00 flood the changes are not intended to meet general labor shortages or to permit the large scale admission of workers from Asia there is no departure intended from the principles of our immigration policy and the basic aim of preserving a homogeneous population will certainly be maintained the government hopes to Rebrand Australia racist image abroad
• 28:00 - 28:30 without disrupting the fabric of Australian Society ultimately halt has no interest in ending the white Australia policy indeed it can be argued that the changes of 66 are about saving and perpetuating the policy rather than beginning to pull it down nobody runs around and says hooray the old witch is dead no more white Australia when people from Asia sought to migrate to Australia they were
• 28:30 - 29:00 not told sorry that's not possible they were told fill out this form the chance of actually being admitted to this country was very [Music] small it's business as usual for the immigration department in the late 1960s Britain have always been Australia's immigrant of choice and now they wanted as much as ever George KD has spent 20 years as an
• 29:00 - 29:30 immigration official and is now Chief migration officer in London we were selecting 70,000 assisted migrants a year I can remember the minister snon used to come around come over overseas every year in the summer and it dropped to 55,000 one year and he came over the next year and grabbed me by the the pelous suit and shook me said now
• 29:30 - 30:00 get that back up to that [Music] level the Brits keep on coming and Australia keeps clinging to the white Australia policy but ironically it is this special relationship with the motherland that exposes the undeniable racism of the system right into the 1970s the Australian government still priv privileges British migration through the assisted migration scheme
• 30:00 - 30:30 the so-called 10 pound Pals in early 197s uh a British citizen by the name of Jan Allen applies for the assisted passage scheme and is denied on the face of it it is peculiar he's a computer engineer the Australian the economy requires his skills at that time he had received glowing reports from immigration officials the only reason he wasn't
• 30:30 - 31:00 offered an assisted passage like many other migrants from Britain were was that he was [Music] black it demonstrates how far the issue of race has moved on and how far behind Australia is in 1971 after seven long decades the white
• 31:00 - 31:30 Australia policy is still alive and [Music] kicking but in the summer of 1972 change is in the air goth whitlam leads labor to a landmark Victory on the promise of sweeping
• 31:30 - 32:00 reform the aop has a mandate for radical change to Australian Society more than just about any other new government in Australian history ladies and gentlemen I give you wh the Prime Minister of Australia once a backbench radical now whitlam has the power to end the white Australia policy and abandon the ideology that has been the Bedrock of political thinking for more than 70 [Music]
• 32:00 - 32:30 years whitlam was always very clear that uh as leader and if they won government labor would remove racial discrimination uh from the statutes he was always very explicit about that from that time onwards it was illegal to discriminate on racial grounds but whitlam needs somebody to Spook the new message a flamboyant queenslander of Irish and Spanish
• 32:30 - 33:00 descent is the perfect choice if go Whitland was looking for an individual who could most aggressively throw himself into the the portfolio of immigration and and really set the cat amongst the pigeons and show that the that the entire game has changed now he couldn't have selected better than when he selected Al grasby that when migration began here on January the 26th 1788 all Australians were black and the
• 33:00 - 33:30 first migrants were white and not very well selected I might say brasby launches himself into a publicity tour of nearby Asian Nations who have been seriously irritated in the last 10 15 years by the white Australia policy and he makes it as abundantly clear as he possibly can that that's that's old Australia and it's over when you get to the Philippines he announces that white a trailer is dead and he says
• 33:30 - 34:00 give me a shovel and I'll bury it the words are bold but the government needs to signal that things have really changed the opportunity comes on live television as grasby has asked about a certain Fijian girl deported from Australia 8 years before I don't know if you remember the matter she was a 5 years old little girl n Prasad uh would the minister be prepared to uh
• 34:00 - 34:30 reconsider this case how old is she now she's 13 13 well if she if she's still as nice as she was when we deported her when she's five I'd be delighted to welcome her back God bless Mr graby think it was the most amazing moment in my life when I heard that that was incredible you're happy about the position now where you can go back and live in Australia are you yeah I'm
• 34:30 - 35:00 Overjoyed Nancy's return is great PR but the truth is her case doesn't Herald a new era of Asian immigration even though grasby had said white Australia was was dead and buried you'd have to ask yourself the question was it really buried or just sleeping because when you look at the changes that were taking place under under whitlam's government there was a lot of grand symbolic announcements being made but when you when you actually look at
• 35:00 - 35:30 the the numbers of immigration and and where the immigrants were coming from there was no great degree of change the white Australia policy may have gone but it will take the Fallout from the Vietnam War to prove if it's really over in practice with tens of thousands of Vietnamese fleeing the new communist regime in 1975 the Australian government will soon
• 35:30 - 36:00 be tested it's that Guam America's Island Fortress in the Central Pacific that the majority of South Vietnam's War refugees have found Sanctuary Australian immigration officials were among the first on the scene at Guan it was a giant United States base military base it was a tent city with thousands and thousands of people who' been flown in from Vietnam and who were
• 36:00 - 36:30 being processed for onward movement the people we've had contact with so far have largely had strong family commitments in Australia U mostly wives and children of Vietnamese who have settled in Australia and a number of parents of Vietnamese after its decad long involvement in Vietnam Australia is expected to help in Guam and Beyond but in canra John menu now secretary to the
• 36:30 - 37:00 Prime Minister sees firsthand the lack of action from his boss there were some groups that were vulnerable in Vietnam towards the latter period of the whitlam government who deserved our protection and we did not give it to [Music] them while goth whitlam was prepared to end decisively the white australi policy when it came to accepting large numbers
• 37:00 - 37:30 of migrants from the Asia region he he bought out of 96,000 stranded Vietnamese refugees whitlam agrees to take just 1,000 for those on the ground it's a tough directive well it wasn't in my power to change the prime minister's uh position on Vietnamese I felt disappointed and
• 37:30 - 38:00 some guilt as an Australian that we weren't going to do more for uh former allies um as a public servant it was my duty to implement the government's policy cra's response seems meager the truth is there are politics at play whitlam fears the refugees fleeing communism won't vote for a left-wing labor
• 38:00 - 38:30 government the experience that Australia had had of refugees from communism from the Baltic countries uh were thorn in the side of the labor party for many years so I think it the attitude of the party labor party at that time was Vietnamese refugees coming to Australia could represent a significant and very hostile opposition I to labor frankly a political view they
• 38:30 - 39:00 won't vote for [Music] us now one of the most dramatic events in Australian history will have an unforeseen impact on the story of the immigration Nation on the 11th of November 1975 the governor general dismisses the whitlam [Applause] government information which you have just heard read by the governor
• 39:00 - 39:30 General's official secretary was counter signed Malcolm Fraser amidst the controversy the top job is seized by liberal leader Malcolm Fraser who will undoubtedly go down in Australian history from Remembrance Day 1975 as Cur Cur [Applause]
• 39:30 - 40:00 it will be the conservative Fraser who writes the final chapter in the story of how the white Australia policy is finally buried Fraser's first challenge will come when five young Vietnamese men sail into Darwin Harbor [Applause] [Music] Anzac Day
• 40:00 - 40:30 1976 and a tiny fishing boat is about to sail into the history books the first Asian boat people are on their way to [Music] Australia the first few day we get wary and we Scar and worly so much don't know where we go what the life and after a few more day we think don't think too too far away we have enough fuel water
• 40:30 - 41:00 food so we keep [Music] going his future under threat 19-year-old T Tam lamb flees the Communist Regime in Vietnam with four friends he escapes onto the high seas using nothing but a school to guide them they fearlessly consider sailing
• 41:00 - 41:30 thousands of kilometers to Australia or America American people no friendly people we know you know Vietnam War we know so on the Australia Army is very friendly with know y fond memories of Australian soldiers convinced the boys to head here after 2 months at Sea they finally make it to D in Harbor pulling up next to a prawn
• 41:30 - 42:00 troller they asked local fishermen what to do there a called the police public forms there so my brother we not have money so they they give my brother 10 C there go call so my brother got a make the phone call to call the police and my Fishman my friend Fishman he died for three week no cigarette on the smoke and saw the Fishman smoke so
• 42:00 - 42:30 with the body leg asked him to see that and the Fishman show whole packet to him say yeah for you yeah so oh a very good only one but whole packet mean where could cancer that's cancer we li the locals may be welcoming but immigration officials are Panic stricken the authorities think even far five boys and one boat could cause
• 42:30 - 43:00 public alarm in his latest Mission Wayne Gibbons is ordered to Darwin to hush things up but we kept the arrival of the boat that first boat um into Darwin um as lowkey as we could we didn't want to Spook Australians boat arrivals directly into Australian territory r red creating an atmosphere that things were out of
• 43:00 - 43:30 control when the Australian public feels things are out of control they generally turn against immigration the government has managed to keep this first arrival Under Wraps but just 2 years later prime minister Fraser faces a crisis on an entirely different [Music] scale there are now hundred hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing Vietnam
• 43:30 - 44:00 and several hundred boat people have already made it to D Vietnamese Refugee boat number 48 arrived in daan yesterday with 113 people on board Immigration Department officials have completed preliminary checks on the refugees and are now awaiting a decision on whether they'll be taken to a quarantine station for detailed health and immigration procedures mean while the refugees remain on their listing boat which will
• 44:00 - 44:30 eventually join the dozens of others lying in and around the dawin harbor CRA dispatches Wayne Gibbons to Malaysia to set up refugee camps and stop the boats from coming directly to Australia you would see them arrive with no standing room on the deck and that looked awful but when you opened the hatch and looked below and you saw hundreds sometimes of people just
• 44:30 - 45:00 stacked like sardines literally like sardines there was no room to move how people survive those Journeys was amazing The Exodus from Vietnam shows no sign of slowing down the nin family fought against the Communists now like many others they must
• 45:00 - 45:30 flee we were listed at the Public Enemy Number One we are the most dangerous elements of the new Society we are uh Scoundrels we are scum of the earth and we must be sent to labor camps that is when mom decided that at any cost we must escape like all Vietnamese Fong's family forbidden from leaving the country but the government is pushing
• 45:30 - 46:00 out the ethnic Chinese and Southern newns assume false identities and escape on a packed ship mom was carrying with us nothing but a little statue of our Ladi it was that's it and and nothing no clothing just what we wear and we are leaving our country but
• 46:00 - 46:30 the only thing is I'm happy if we die if we perish at least we at the whole family we die together for the developing countries of Southeast Asia the influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees is an intolerable economic burden but with a July 1979 and there are now 400,000 refugees in in Southeast Asia looking for a new
• 46:30 - 47:00 home Malcolm Fraser has a momentous decision to make if he opens the doors he not only risks the backlash of a deeply fearful Nation he will overturn an ideology that has barred Asians from Australia for more than 70 years if Malcolm Fraser had decided that he wouldn't take Indo Chinese refugees until had consulted opinion polls or focus groups he would never in Australia
• 47:00 - 47:30 would never have taken indo-chinese refugees but Malcolm Fraser didn't take polls he decided that leadership was essential it was something Australia had to do morally Justified and would be the benefit of this country if we did so in July 1979 Fraser agrees to take 14,000 indo-chinese
• 47:30 - 48:00 refugees ultimately 70,000 will settle here during his time as prime minister Fong win's family arrive into Adelaide at Christmas in 1979 everything was so strange everything was so different but on the other hand we so glad we are so relieved from the refugee camp to finally this is
• 48:00 - 48:30 our new home in in my mind there's no doubt that the decisions made by F the Fraser government literally changed the F of Australia we had never had such an injection of Asian migrants to the country uh not since the Gold Rush days I think their acceptance and their settlement is one of the great successes stories of of Australian migration
• 48:30 - 49:00 history it was the Fraser government's decision to allow tens of thousands of refugees from uh Vietnam to come to Australia that really marks the end point of the white Australia [Music] policy The Watershed event of the Vietnamese Refugee crisis has never been repeated but for the past 30 years the agenda has still been dominated by
• 49:00 - 49:30 stories of unplanned arrivals the arrival of the T we will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come Australia has no obligation under international law Australians are concerned when they see boats on our Horizon and they want to make sure that the government is actively managing to protect our borders borders both people remain one of Australia's great
• 49:30 - 50:00 [Music] fears although the arrival of unauthorized boats of Asylum Seekers has always generated extraordinary angst and extraordinary media coverage the actual numbers coming to Australia have been tiny in absolute terms in on averages however you want to look at it since the Vietnamese Refugee crisis around 20 ,000 boat people have arrived in Australia at the same time more than
• 50:00 - 50:30 3 and a half million immigrants have made their home here without provoking comment and largely with great success we're a country of migrants they've transformed the country and we're indebted to them for the great contribution that they've made in helping us to overcome to some extent the social Suffocation the insularity which has beveled us as an Ireland country Australia's probably been as
• 50:30 - 51:00 successful as any country in the world uh in managing its immigration programs and in bringing together a very broad range of different National groups while maintaining Harmony to a very large extent but in celebrating the success of Australia should never lose sight of the reality of the difficulties and the tensions and the conflicts uh necessarily involved in Mass [Music]
• 51:00 - 51:30 migration it's still work in progress but Australia has made a remarkable Journey since 191 when its political leaders passed Draconian laws to protect the dream of a white Nation it's taken a century and more of struggle but the immigration Nation we live in today has been achieved against the odds we started this Century with a a massive
• 51:30 - 52:00 contradiction these Universal values of freedom and tolerance and fairness but they're being restricted to whites only and white Brits only now finally in the last 20 30 years we've got these still these same core Australian values and characteristics but now they're not being restricted to any one race or set now anyone from any ENT of the world is able to come to Australia and
• 52:00 - 52:30 participate in that and so it's the final realization of the dream that was begun by a very different set of people with a very different set of of ways of seeing the world back in 1901 [Music]
• 52:30 - 53:00 [Applause] B [Music] [Applause]
• 53:00 - 53:30 [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music]
• 53:30 - 54:00 for an interactive version of the Australian immigration story go to sbs.com.au immigration Nation [Music] he
• 54:00 - 54:30 [Music]