Australian Immigration Policies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Australian Immigration Policies - Essay ExampleWithin the party, his evident energetic commitment to open service and his active loyalty to Labour Party principles and policy-making precepts contributed to both his growing popularity within Labour Party circles and ever-increasing public visibility. It was thus that in 1931 he became the President of the Victorian Labour Party and, in 1940, the MP for Melbourne in the Australian sign of Representatives. During the war years, he served as Minister of Information in Curtins government and, from 1945 to 1949, the Minister of Immigration in Chifleys government. As may be deduced from the foregoing biographical information, Calwell was a consummate politician, as evidence in his elected to Victorian Labour Party presidency, his election to the House of Representatives and, importantly, in his appointment to ministerial positions in two consecutive governments. More importantly, he was a consummate politician of strong beliefs, largely evidenced in his staunch commitment to Roman Catholicism. The importance of the above-cited biographical information lies in its commentary of Calwells political temperament and the clues it provides to his visions of and for Australian society. As some scholars have pointed out, amongst whom sensation may mention Albinski, Ozdowski, and Jupp, Caldwells background immediately informed his political temperament and, thus, his immigration policies.... from the foregoing biographical information, Calwell was a consummate politician, as evidenced in his elected to Victorian Labour Party presidency, his election to the House of Representatives and, importantly, in his appointment to ministerial positions in two consecutive governments. More importantly, he was a consummate politician of strong beliefs, largely evidenced in his staunch commitment to Roman Catholicism. The importance of the above-cited biographical information lies in its exposition of Calwells political temperament and the clues it provides to his visions of and for Australian society. As some scholars have pointed out, amongst whom one may mention Albinski,4 Ozdowski5 and Jupp,6 Caldwells background immediately informed his political temperament and, thus, his immigration policies. As the descendant of immigrants to Australia, he was staunchly pro-immigration. As an Anglo-Saxon Catholic, however, whose loyalties were to Hesperian Christian heritage and culture, he was unequivocally pro-White European immigration to Australia, and not immigration per se.7 In essence, he advocated European immigration to Australia, as opposed to Asian, for example, because he saw in European immigration the fortification and solidification of Australias Western and Christian cultural heritage and Anglo-Saxon Caucasian ethnic majority. In different words, Calwell advocated a selective immigration policy which would constructively contribute to the populating of Australia, without undermining the nations hegemonic culture or introducing challenges to its Anglo-Saxon Christian ethnic majority. Informed and influenced by Calwells background and political temperament, Australias post-World War II immigration policies was a highly selective one.