Migration In Australia Research Articles

Temporary Migration, Transnational Politics? The Politics of Temporary Migration in Australia

Temporary migration has become a significant component of Australia's migration programme, most notably via the skilled temporary work visa (s457), student visas with work rights and Working Holiday Maker visas, but also the pilot of the Pacific Seasonal Workers’ Scheme. Temporary migration is an extremely diverse phenomenon and it clearly creates opportunities for individuals, households and states. However, it just as clearly creates additional vulnerabilities. It can be a way to get workers to do work where citizens are unwilling, and temporary migrants can be politically excluded both at home and abroad. The decoupling of citizenship and work, however, has uneven affects depending on the bargaining position of workers. This paper examines temporary migration in the Australian context, and the role of NGOs and unions engaged with these migrants. The argument made is that temporary migration transnationalises these organisations. It also shows, however, the uneasy tension between national and transnational politics and solidarities, with implications for temporary migrants.

Demographic change and the needs-based planning of government services: projecting small area populations using spatial microsimulation

Changing patterns of longevity, fertility and migration in Australia have driven substantial changes in population age structure and household size and composition. Of the various dimensions of population change, population ageing is expected to present major challenges to the financing and sustainability of welfare state programs in industrialized countries. One key issue for many of these countries will be assessing where particular services will be required in the future. This paper outlines the application of new forecasting techniques that age a spatial microdataset to 2027. Two illustrative examples are provided to highlight the potential capacities of the new modelling approach for government service delivery planners. For many older people, ageing in place is important, but is more difficult when the person is single: and so the first illustrative application focuses on where aged single people will be living in 2027. The second application examines where future childcare places will be required given the projected growth in the number of children aged 3–4 years living in families where all parents are working. This information will be important for Government planners in deciding the best location for childcare places. The creation of synthetic small-area household microdata for future years offers great potential for a number of purposes, such as analysis of the likely future sociodemographic characteristics of individuals and families at the local level and assessment of the future geographic effect of alternative scenarios such as changes in labour force participation or fertility rates.

The Ethics of Seasonal Labour Migration

Seasonal labour migration and ‘guest worker’ schemes are a common and growing phenomenon around the world. In 2008, the Australian government introduced the Pacific Seasonal Worker pilot scheme for workers from select Pacific Island nations to work in the horticultural industry in Australia. The scheme is the first guest worker scheme in the history of the Commonwealth. The visas entitle workers to reside in Australia for a maximum of seven months, with no provision for secondary visas for family members and no prospect of upgrading the visas to permanent residency. The introduction of the pilot scheme is indicative of a growing trend in the use of temporary labour migration in Australia, and raises the fundamental question of just what are the ethical limits of such schemes. The article addresses this question by considering whether it is consistent with liberal political values to deny long-term seasonal workers the opportunity to join the Australian community. It introduces Michael Walzer’s influential work on this question, and then proposes the liberal criteria of ‘freedom’ as the principle underpinning the state’s obligation to seasonal workers. The article draws on a distinction between freedom as non-interference and freedom as non-domination in Philip Pettit’s theory of republicanism, and uses the distinction to pose the question of whether the freedom of the migrant labourer can be assured through regulation of the employment relationship, or whether it can only be assured through removing the unequal status between alien workers and citizen employers. The article also considers the nature of work, and the vulnerability of migrant workers within the employment relationship. It argues that the problems which arise in the employment relationship between migrant workers and their employers, as they invariably do, are symptomatic of the exclusion of migrant workers from participation in the political life of the receiving state. The article concludes that there are problems with dissociating work in a state from membership of that state in the long term, and makes the case for providing the opportunity for guest workers to apply for permanent residence.

‘Flying Fräuleins’: the construction of single migrant women in discourses on migration in Australia and West Germany in the 1950s and 1960s

The migration of single women of German descent to Australia in the 1950s and 1960s attracted attention from both sides of the world. A closer look at the historical records reveals contradictory opinions of officials from both countries towards the role and desirability of unmarried women as potential migrants. Widows, divorcees and women with dependants therefore faced difficulties in pursuing their aim of migration to Australia. However, many of them assessed available migration opportunities and proactively called upon innovative channels to continue their endeavours. The public construct of ‘the single woman’ neglected the existence of a broad spectrum of diverse female life models present in the early post-World War II German society and official policies refused to recognize the agency of these women. This article explores the diversity present in the lives of women that were interested in migrating to Australia, discloses the mechanisms behind the images propagated in public and analyzes the consequences of this for the women in question. The analysis will show that the migration agreement was deeply influenced by gendered notions of what constituted desirable and undesirable migration flows.

Did it really happen? Memory, history and myth in Eugenia Tsoulis´ Between the ceiling and the sky.

World War II, the Nazi occupation and several dictatorships forced many Greek men and women into migration. In 1952 Greece signed an agreement on assisted migration to Australia and more than “250 000 Greek and Cypriot migrants from Greece (1952-74), Rumania (1952-8), Egypt and the Middle East (1952-2) [sic], Cyprus (1974-84) and other politically turbulent countries of Eastern Europe and Latin America” moved to Australia (Tamis, Anastasios M. The Greeks in Australia, 2005: 47). The lives of those migrants changed radically as they left home behind. Some of them, or their children, wrote fictional texts explaining some of their experiences. An example of this is Eugenia Tsoulis´ Behind the Ceiling and the Sky (1998), where the main characters live their lives between present and past and between memories and myths, on the one hand, and facts and the lifeworld that surround them, on the other. This paper will analyse this novel and the sometimes blurred boundaries between memory, history and myth.

Future Seekers II: Refugees and Irregular Migration in Australia. By Mary Crock, Ben Saul and Azadeh Dastyari.

Future Seekers II: Refugees and Irregular Migration in Australia. By Mary Crock, Ben Saul and Azadeh Dastyari.

Migration Monuments in Italy and Australia: Contesting Histories and Transforming Identities

Rather than focusing on how Italians share the neighbourhood with other groups, this paper examines some of the intra-group processes (i.e. relations between Italians themselves) that produced various monuments to Italian migration in Australia, Brazil and Italy. Through their distinct styles and formulations, the monuments reflect diverse and often competing elaborations of the migrant experience by different generations at local, national and transnational levels. The recent increase in the construction of such monuments in Australia is linked to the gradual disappearance of ‘visibly’ Italian neighbourhoods. These commemorations effectively transform Italian migrants into Australian pioneers and, thus, resolve moral and cultural ambiguities about belonging and identity by de-emphasizing difference (ethnic diversity) and concealing intergenerational tensions about appropriate ways of expressing Italianness. Similarly, the appearance of monuments in Italy is linked to an emergent ‘diasporic’ consciousness fuelled by Italian emigrants’ growing ability to travel to Italy, but also to the attempt to obscure potentially destabilizing dual identities by emphasizing (one, Italian) ‘homeland’.

Migration dates at Eyre Bird Observatory: links with climate change?

In contrast to the Northern Hemisphere, relatively little is known about the influence of climate, in particular climate change, on the timing of bird migration in Australia. This paper exam- ines a new dataset, comprising daily abundance records for 8 landbird species at Eyre Bird Observa- tory (EBO), Western Australia, for the period 1984 to 2003. Five of the 8 species were present at Eyre for only part of the year, while the 3 species present all year round exhibited seasonal changes in abundance. For most species, changes in migration dates were related to observed changes in the regional climate; 3 species showed no trend in migration timing, and these had no regular period of absence from EBO. Of the remaining species, the Purple-crowned Lorikeet Glossopsitta porphyro- cephala and Grey Fantail Rhipidura fuliginosa showed strong trends in arrival dates: both winter visitors arrived suddenly at EBO and earlier over time, with lorikeets arriving earlier in years of warmer night-time temperatures. Two species, Fork-tailed Swift Apus pacificus and Rainbow Bee- eater Merops ornatus, had strong trends in departure dates and were summer visitors. These species responded differently to warming night-time temperatures, perhaps reflecting their breeding char- acteristics. The Budgerigar Melopsittacus undulatus arrived and departed suddenly and showed no trend in migration timing, though wetter years corresponded to earlier arrivals. Consistent with global trends, this region warmed, particularly in minimum temperatures (0.05°C yr -1 ). There was no

Comparative empirical evaluations of internal migration models in subnational population projections

While population forecasters place considerable emphasis on the selection of appropriate migration assumptions, surprisingly little attention has been given to the effects on projection outcomes of the way internal migration is handled within population projection models. This paper compares population projections for Australia's states and territories prepared using ten different internal migration models but with identical assumptions for fertility, mortality and international migration and with the internal migration model parameters held constant. It is shown that the choice of migration model generates large differences in total population, geographical distribution and age-sex composition. It is argued that model choice should be guided by balancing model reality with practical utility and model performance is examined against these criteria. Of the ten models evaluated the authors argue that the migration pool, biregional, and biregional with net constraints models offer a good compromise between conceptual rigour and practicality. If the projected origin-destination flows are required then one of the versions of the standard multiregional model with reduced data inputs is preferred. The large variation in projection outputs points to the need for a better understanding of the spatio-temporal structure of migration in Australia.

Policies of Backlash: Recent Shifts in Australian Migration Policy

The article analyzes the development of Australian migration policy in the 1990s and early years of the twenty-first century, particularly highlighting the shift to a predominantly economic rationale of immigration regulation under the conservative Howard governments. These changes in the migration program encompass the preference of skilled migration over family reunion, the facilitation of temporary migration as well as the introduction of particularly restrictive regulations in the field of asylum policy. It is argued that especially the restrictive regulations of unauthorized migration cannot sufficiently be explained by referring to the redistributive and regulatory character of the policy implications. In order to explain the particularly restrictive response to unauthorized migration in Australia, one also has to relate public debate and policy changes to a fundamental transformation of national identity. The former racial understanding of the Australian nation as a “white nation”, an understanding that was officially abandoned with the end of the White Australia Policy in the 1960s, is underlying populist notions that are particularly widely spread among the rural population and lower middle classes of the metropolitan centres.

Book Review: From Migrants to Citizens: Greek Migration in Australia and Canada

Book Review: From Migrants to Citizens: Greek Migration in Australia and Canada

Cross-national Comparison of Internal Migration: Issues and Measures

Our objectives are to identify the issues that researchers encounter when measuring internal migration in different countries and to propose key indicators that analysts can use to compare internal migration at the 'national' level. We establish the benefits to be gained by a rigorous approach to cross-national comparisons of internal migration and discuss issues that affect such comparisons. We then distinguish four dimensions of internal migration on which countries can be compared and, for each dimension, identify a series of summary measures. We illustrate the issues and measures proposed by comparing migration in Australia and Great Britain.

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From compassion to compliance? Trends in refugee and humanitarian migration in Australia

Australia has a long history of offering protection to refugees. In the post-World War II period it has predominantly been involved in an offshore refugee settlement program whereby it has assisted international efforts to assist refugees and resettled almost 600,000 refugees in Australia. In recent years, however, substantial numbers of asylum seekers have arrived on Australia's shores and this has seen the development of an onshore refugee program which is seen as quite separate from the offshore program. This has involved the detention of asylum seekers while their claims for protection are assessed and when they are assessed as being qualified for protection they are given different status to offshore determined refugee settlers. The paper summarises the development of refugee policy in Australia and the evolution of the offshore and onshore policies.

Net migration and migration effectiveness: A comparison between Australia and the United Kingdom, 1976–96

This paper explores the impact of net migration in Australia and the United Kingdom using measures of migration effectiveness computed from period-age migration data for four consecutive five-year periods. Results reported in Part 1 of this paper (Stillwellet al. 2000) suggest that while the overall effectiveness of net migration at the scale of city regions has declined over the twenty-year period in both countries, important geographical variations are evident. Part 2 considers how patterns of migration effectiveness vary by age and presents a single classification of all the city regions on the basis of age-specific effectiveness. More detailed analysis includes spatial patterns for particular age groups and net migration profiles of selected regions. Cohort effects are shown to be important for explaining changes between time periods in these regions.

Contemporary skill migration in Australia

Immigration has always been a key of the Australian social and economic development. Australia administers separate Migration and Humanitarian Programs. The Migration Program has two streams: Family and Skill. The smaller Special Eligibility stream includes groups such as former Australian citizens and former residents who have maintained ties with Australia. The Skill stream of Australia's Migration Program is specifically designed to target migrants who have skills or outstanding abilities that will contribute to the Australian economy. The migration to Australia of people with qualifications and relevant work experience can help to address skill shortages in Australia and enhance the size, skill level and productivity of the Australian labour force. Skilled migrants were mainly employed in managerial, administrative, professional or paraprofessional occupations or as traders. Permanent movement represents the major element of net overseas migration. Australia has experienced not only permanent influx of skilled but longterm movement as an affect of globalisation of business, the creation of international labour and education markets and cheaper travel. The level of longterm movements is strongly influenced by both domestic and international conditions of development, particularly economic conditions. More Australians are going overseas to work and study and foreigners are coming to Australia in larger numbers for the same reasons. Skill migration in FRY is mostly correlated with the economic situation in the country. Skill stream from FRY to Australia has been significantly increased since 1990. In the Australian official statistics separate data for the FRY has been available since July 1998. Prior to July 1998. FRY component was substantial proportion of total Former Yugoslav Republics. Estimated Serbian skill stream is around 4500 people.

Creating a temporally consistent spatial framework for the analysis of inter- regional migration in Australia

Changes in zonal boundaries severely compromise the reliability of comparisons made from time series data. We examine problems and solutions to the development of a temporally consistent spatial structure in the context of the literature on zone design. One of these, the 'designer' solution, is used to establish a consistent spatial structure for the analysis of inter-regional migration in Australia over the period 1976 to 1996. It is shown that intercensal boundary changes over this period create significant spatial discontinuities and that variations in the digital boundaries from successive censuses hamper development of an automated solution. We set out the tasks involved in the design of geographical zones, establish criteria for the design of migration regions and describe the key procedures for implementation. Using these principles we then devise a system og 69 functional regions which for practical purposes are temporally consistent over the 1981, 1986, 1991 and 1996 censuses. We illustrate the utility of the database by examining selected facets of Australian inter-regional migration.

Does migration equalize regional unemployment rates? Evidence from Australia.

ABSTRACT The question of whether inter‐regional migration serves to equilibrate regional economic performance is one which has received considerable attention in recent literature. This paper addresses this question, focussing on regional unemployment rates and real wages within the context of a 24‐equation econometric model of the interaction between regional wages, regional unemployment and inter‐regional migration in Australia. The main findings are that inter‐regional equilibrating forces are slow and do not serve to equalize regional unemployment rates or wages.

Genetic variation in the little red flying-fox Pteropus scapulatus (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae): Implications for management

The little red flying-fox Pteropus scapulatus has a range exceeding 3·5 million km 2 during its seasonal migration in Australia. Management of this species has been problematical because the range spans five States and Territories, each with its own system of managing wildlife. The results of an investigation of population structure by genetic analysis are presented. Allozyme electrophoresis and Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analyses were used to determine genetic variation within and among six populations from widely separated locations on the continent. Both allozyme and DNA techniques demonstrated very little genetic structuring among the subpopulation samples. Analysis of molecular variance on the RAPD data showed only 5% of variance among populations, although this difference was shown to be significant. A value of 0·028 for Wright's F ST (a measure of the among-population component of variance in allele frequencies) suggested a similarly low degree of differentiation among subpopulations. The levels of gene flow detected by these genetic analyses indicate that P. scapulatus is effectively panmictic.

What is ethnic tourism? An Australian perspective

As travel to long-haul, culturally different destinations becomes increasingly popular, this article outlines the two major types of activity referred to by the label ‘ethnic tourism’, namely the search for ‘exotic’ cultures and travel which is motivated by purposes of ethnic reunion. It is argued that the search for the exotic is the more common variety cited and that travel for ethnic reunion has a tendency to become synonymous with VFR travel. The need to relate our understanding of ethnic tourism more closely to our understanding of migration generally is highlighted. Current debate about migration in Australia is outlined. A rethinking of our definitions of ethnic tourism is urged with a view to enhancing our understanding of the role of tourism as a form of migration — tourism planners may currently be neglecting an important segment of the market.