“When refugees from newly unified Vietnam began sailing into Darwin during the 1977 election campaign, the government responded competently and soberly despite fear mongering by Labor leaders. (This is when the language of queue jumpers entered our lexicon.) When the head of the Immigration Department suggested setting up outback “reception centres” Fraser dismissed the proposal as “racist barbarism.” Instead, in league with the United States, Canada and France, Australia resettled Indochinese refugees held in camps in Southeast Asia and negotiated an “orderly departure program” for others to leave Vietnam. With fewer refugees having reason to risk the journey by boat, arrivals on Australian shores all but stopped.”
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“ Five of the seven exclusionary clauses in the 1901 Immigration Restriction Act live on in contemporary regulations. Race is gone, but health, morality, character and financial means remain mechanisms for denying entry.”
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