Immigration and Immigrant Settlement in Australia: Political Responses, Discourses and New Challenges

Australian society has been shaped more by immigration and immigrants than most countries in the world today. This paper examines the changes to the character and composition of Australian immigration in the post-1945 period and analyses the impact of these changes on the public discourses and policy responses related to Australian immigration and settlement philosophies and practices in Australia today. It first looks at the Australian immigration experience, and how immigration policy has changed in recent decades as a result of globalisation. It then outlines the changing composition and character of the Australian immigration intake as a consequence of these policy changes, and at the key discourses about Australian immigration that have accompanied these changes. The paper then examines the way in which immigrant settlement or integration policies and practices have changed in light of the impact of globalisation on the political, economic and social climate in Australian society, with a particular emphasis on the debates about Australian multiculturalism. Finally, the paper addresses the new challenges for government policy makers and for decision makers in the private and non-government sectors of Australian society that are a consequence to the changing dynamics of the Australian immigration experience in a changing global world