~ 2 ~ Australia is an immigration nation, a settler immigration society where immigrants comprise a greater proportion of the population than in any other major western nation (OECD, 2008). One in four Austra lians today are rst generation immigrants, while rst and second generation immigrants comprise the majority (between 50 and 60 per cent) of the populations of Australia’s cosmopolitan cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. Australia, with the USA, Canada and New Zealand, is one of the few western countries to have actively pursued a settler immigration policy over the six decades following the end of World War II. In the post-1945 period, about 6.4 million immigrants have arrived in Australia, with immigrants a major component of the Australian population increase from seven million to over 20 million. About one million migrants arrived in each of the four decades following 1950: 1.6 million between October 1945 and June 1960; about 1.3 million in the 1960s; about 960,000 in the 1970s; about 1.1 million in the 1980s and 900,000 in the 1990s. Today immigration contributes about half of Australia’s population and workforce growth (Productivity Commission, 2006: xv–xvi). This immigration policy was partly established to ll labour shortages, and partly to add to Australia’ s population (Collins, 1991: 77–92). The Australian immigration cycle was closely synchronised with the business cycle. This has led to immigration intakes peaking at the end of the rst (1947 to late 1960s) and second (1992–2008) post-war economic booms, while immigration intakes were cut considerably after the economic recessions of 1974–1975, 1982–1983 and 1990–1991, as unemployment rose. The lowest number in any one year was 52,752 in 1975–1976. The Australian demographer, Charles Price, used the metaphor ‘ boa-constrictor’ to generate the image of the Australian economy as a hungry immigration snake with a great appetite for immigrants during the boom period, dropping off during periods of recession. Post-war Australian immigration policy has thus been primarily labour market driven, with migrants an imported reserve army of labour to ll labour market shortages in specic occupations and regional areas, though as a settler immigration country, like the USA, Canada and New Zealand, immigrant families rather than individual workers were sought. In the past decade, as Table 1 shows, the migration intake was increased signicant ly following the economic recession ofImmigration AndThe AustralianLabour Market By Jock Collins, Professor of Economics and Co-Director, Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Research Centre , University of Te chnology, Sydney (UTS) the early 1990s: immigrant settler arrivals numbered 76,300 in 1992–1993 and rose consistently in subsequent years to over 150,000 in 2007–2008. However, these gures do not include the temporary migration intake. When the permanent and temporary migration intakes are added, 2008 becomes the new high water mark of post war immigration, responding to the lowest levels in Australia n unemployment in thirty years of 4.4 per cent. Table 1: Australian immigration intakes 1991–2 to 2004–5 Settler arrivals and net immigration Settler Arriv al Nu mber s Net P erman ent Migrati on 1991–1992 107,400 78,300 1992–1993 76,300 48,400 1993–1994 69,800 42,500 1994–1995 87,400 60,500 1995–1996 99,100 70,500 1996–1997 85,800 55,900 1997–1998 77,300 45,300 1998–1999 84,100 49,000 1999–2000 92,300 51,200 2000–2001 107,400 60,800 2001–2002 88,900 40,700 2002–2003 93,900 43,500 2003–2004 111,600 52,500 2004–2005 123,400 60,800 2005–2006 132,600 63,700 2006–2007 140,418 20 07 –2 00 8* 14 2, 80 0 – 15 2, 80 0 Source: <http://www.immi.gov.au/media/fact-sheets/02key.htm> (accessed 15 September 2007) *planned intake range. STUDENT ACTIVITIES 1. a. Explain the relationship between population growth and the supply of labour. b. Using a production poss ibilities curve diagram, illus trate the impact of an increase in the labour supply on the level ofproduction in an economy. 2. Discuss the likely impacts of labour shortages on the level ofoutput and income in an economy. Illustrate your answer with examples drawn from the Australian economy. 3. a. Using the statistical data in T able 1, examine the link between the rate of economic growth in the domestic economy and the number of migrants entering the country. b. Comment on the contribution of net migration t o growth in the Australian workforce in recent years.
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4. a. Examine the statistical data in Table 2 and describe how the
composition of Australia’s migrant intake has changed.
b. Suggest reasons for the trend in Table 2.
5. a. What is a ‘temporary immigrant’?
b. How have the numbers of temporary immigrants changed over
recent decades?
6. a. Outline some of the problems associated with the changes in
the level of temporary migration over the past decade.
b. What has been the response of stakeholders to these problems?c. Research activity. What is a 457 visa and why has the
popularity of this visa category grown dramatically in the past
decade?
7. How has immigration been affected by globalisation?
8. a. The World Bank has identied the economic benets of
temporary migration of skilled and unskilled workers.
What are they?
b. How did the Australian government respond?
9. Create a tabular summary of the costs and benets of migration
described in the article. Include reference to both economic and
social effects.
10. Assess how effective the government’s immigration policies have
been in addressing our labour market shortages.
ReferencesBlainey, Geoffrey (1984) All For Australia (North Ryde, NSW: Methuen Haynes).Castles, S, Foster, W, Iredale, R and Withers, G (1998) Australia and
immigration: Myths and Realities (Sydney: Allen & Unwin). Castles,S. and Miller, M. 2009, The Age of Migration: International Population Movements in the Modern World , 4rd edn. Macmillan, London
Collins, Jock (1991) Migrant Hands in a Distant Land: Australia’s Post-war Immigration (Sydney and London: Pluto Press).
Collins, Jock (2007). ‘The Landmark of Cronulla’ in James Jupp and JohnNieuwenhuysen and (eds) Social Cohesion in Australia. CambridgeUniversity Press, Cambridge and Melbourne, pp.61–69.
Collins, Jock (2008). ‘Globalisation, Immigration and the Second Long Post-
war Boom in Australia’ Journal of Australian Political Economy, Numbe61 June 2008 pp. 244–266.
Collins, Jock, Noble, Greg, Poynting, Scott and Tabar, Paul (2000) Kebabs,Kids, Cops and Crime: Youth Ethnicity and Crime (Sydney: Pluto Press).
Department of Immigrating and Citizenship (2008a) Visa SubClass 457
Integrity Review: Issue paper #3 Integrity/Exploitation, <http://www.immgov.au/skilled/skilled-workers/_pdf/457-integrity-review-issue-3.pdf>
(accessed 16 February 2009).Department of Immigrating and Citizenship (2008b) Visa SubClass 457
Integrity Review: nal Report , October 2008, <http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/_pdf/457-integrity-review.pdf> (accessed 16 February 2009)
Hawthorne, Lesleyanne (1994) Labour Market Barriers for Immigrant Engineers in Australia , Bureau of Immigration and Population Research,(Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service).
Hugo, Graeme (2003) ‘A New Paradigm of International Migration Between European Union and Australia: Patterns and Implications’, paper prepared
for The Conference on the Challenges of Immigration and Integration inthe European Union and Australia, University of Sydney, 18–20 February
Iredale, Robyn and Nivison-Smith, Ian (1995) Immigrants’ Experiences of Qualications Recognition and Employment: Results from the Prototype
Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia (LSIA) (Canberra,
Australian Government Publishing Service).Legrain, Philippe (2006) Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them, Little, Brow
London.Macken, Deirdre (2003) ‘Talent in Transit: The New Migratory Pattern’, The
Weekend Australian Financial Review, 22–23 March, pp. 26–7.National Farmers Federation (2008) 2008 Labour Shortage Action Plan: An
ongoing plan investigating new and existing solutions to agricultural laboushortages, their practical implementation and policy solutions, March2008, <http://www.innovation.gov.au/innovationreview/Documents/674(L)National_Farmers_Federation_Supporting1.pdf> (accessed 4 February 200
Productivity Commission (2006) Economic Impacts of Migration and Population Growth: Final Report , Australian Government ProductivityCommission, Canberra, April.
Australia’s EmissionsTrading Framework
By Ann Hodgkinson
Faculty of Commerce (Economics), University of Wollongong, NSW
Why Should Australia ReduceGreenhouse Gas Emission?
Impact of global warming on Australia
Global warming will have particularly severe impacts on theAustralian economy and society in general. These impacts
include increased severity and frequency of natural disasters
such as storms, wind gusts, localised ooding, rising sea
levels and storm surges, and bushres. These events result in
increased insurance costs, deaths and injury, loss of houses,
motor vehicles, public infrastructure and livestock. It has also
been linked to increased frequency and severity of drought
that has impacts on gross domestic product (GDP) growth
and exports as well as increased costs of supplying urban
water due to the need to develop expensive alternative water
sources. There will be particular impacts on areas such as theMurray Darling Basin and south western Western Australia,
with resulting declines in agricultural output, farm incomes
the spread of diseases such as dengue fever. There will also b
signicant impacts on the habitats of many native plants and
animals, including threats to landmark areas such as the Grea
Barrier Reef, wet tropic areas, Kakadu, the Australian Alps,
south-western Australia (a biodiversity ‘hot spot’) and the