By Mike Karadjis
SYDNEY — More than 80 women at a recent Women in Migration Conference walked out when shadow immigration minister Phillip Ruddock showed up to speak. Those who remained jeered, and Ruddock appeared visibly shaken in a later television appearance. Activists from migrant communities are in no doubt as to the impact of recent anti-migrant statements by the Liberals, and measures taken by the Labor government.
Ruddock earned the wrath of migrants with statements that residents who were not citizens had no right to participate in Australian politics. The Liberals also proposed to restrict non-citizens' rights to own property.
Ruddock's outpourings are just part of a recent bipartisan campaign to scapegoat migrants for Australia's economic situation. While Labor attempted to score points against the Liberals by attacking their more extreme statements, it was the federal government that set the ball rolling late last year when it introduced an immigration bond.
"The basic effect that will have will be to stop people sponsoring relatives", Jonathon Duignan of the Immigration Advice and Rights Centre told 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳. "The bond will affect only some categories of entry, but some of these are the most desperate categories, like special-need relatives. In this category, an Australian citizen has to show some desperate special need to have a relative here, and then has to come up with $3500 plus $822 (Medicare levy) plus an acceptable assurance of support. I think you'll see a drop in the numbers from those categories coming in."
In response to the tightened rules, community groups organised public meetings and protests. One of the most successful was a demonstration in December organised by the Immigrant Women's Speakout Centre.
Duignan is also concerned about other federal government measures. In dealing with temporary resident access, such as visitors' visas, "they've introduced what are called risk factors based on people's nationality, marital status, previous migration history". This is supposedly to prevent overstaying and reduce the illegal population.
Changes in January to the immigration points test will also make immigration more difficult for concessional family and independent migrants. "For people who don't fit any of the main family categories, or refugee, humanitarian or specific economic categories, the only other chance of entry is under a points test system based on qualifications, age, English language ability and family relationships in Australia.
"If you get enough points you can come. The government has just increased the necessary points for both categories. That again will mean less people will be able to come. They haven't increased the points dramatically, but the five points in each category could mean the difference between coming and not coming."
A proposed two-year qualifying period for social security is probably he Liberals' recent anti-immigrant proposals. "You allow people to enter the country and leave them without any income support at all, and hence drive them into underpaid and non-unionised jobs and create an underclass", says Duignan.
In an apparent break with the bipartisan policy of multiculturalism, the Liberals also want to reintroduce English language testing as a condition for migration. It was on this point that Prime Minister Keating created a furore by describing the Liberals as racist.
Other Liberal proposals include slashing the family migration program, doubling the qualifying period for citizenship from two to four years, and imposing a 10-year residency qualification for the age pension.
Whether or not the Liberals' new policy is overtly racist, "it's certainly going to be racist in operation", says Duignan. "It's going to delineate between races, and those who are naturally better at English will have a better chance of coming.
"That can have long-term effects, not just for migration and for people here now who want to bring relatives, but also for the services that are available in Australia. If you're looking at trying to increase English language skills, the next step is to cut back services that are available at the moment."
Duignan supports the recent federal government move to regulate migrant advisory services, some of which had operated fraudulently, charging families as much as $11,000 to sponsor relatives who had little chance of admission, and charging illegal immigrants as much as $4000 to make fraudulent applications.