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Immigration quotas in Australia are guided primarily by economic policy—the needs of the nation are quite rightly the principal concern of policymakers. Using data from a mixed-methods study, this article engages in a dialogue between labour geography and population and migration studies through an examination of the lived experiences of migrating workers and their families. The paper examines a number of cases where policy and practice have detrimentally affected the migration experience of Irish migrants who came to Australia under the Temporary Work (Skilled) (subclass 457) visa. The case study focuses on interviews with secondary 457 visa applicants, namely the wives of former 457 workers. These interviews highlight the problems faced by newcomers to Australia who arrive under this visa. The experiences relayed by these women demonstrate how ill-considered policy relating to qualification transferability makes entering the workplace and, therefore, transition to life in Australia more difficult than it needs to be. While the cases that underpin this paper ended in migration failure (the families involved returned to Ireland), the core issues of qualification transferability and skill comparison were replicated in the wider study dataset (of 1022 survey responses and 80 qualitative interviews). While acknowledging that citizens generally have more freedom and more civil rights than non-citizens, the findings of this study indicate that further review of Australia’s 457 visa is needed, particularly with respect to the limitations placed on the agency of migrant workers. Greater awareness amongst prospective migrants as to the purpose and limits of the 457 visa is also necessary, in order to avoid misinterpretation and the extreme personal repercussions outlined in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines two key dimensions of the impact of immigration for Australia and related policy aspects. One is sub-national and the other is national. They are, first, the regional location aspects of immigration and, second, the aggregate unemployment implications of immigration. These are chosen so as to focus on two important issues that condition public attitudes towards immigration. In relation to the first, there is a common positive view that channelling migration towards regional areas assists regional development and reduces pressure on metropolitan areas. The paper reviews regional concepts embodied in Australian immigration policy and the ways in which visa arrangements have implemented policies geared towards the regional dispersal of immigrants. Using official data, it discusses the demographic impacts of these policies and, in particular, considers the extent to which immigrants to regional Australia remain there over the longer term. In relation to unemployment, a common concern is that immigrants take jobs from local workers. The paper examines—using statistical regression methodology—the relationship between immigration and national aggregate unemployment in Australia. It evaluates the net consequences of immigration for both existing residents and new arrivals together. The paper concludes that, with good policy design in each case, regional location encouragement can be effective for immigrants and that immigrants need not take more jobs than they create. The analysis demonstrates that mixed-methods approaches to important social science issues can be productive, and helpful also for policy. Evidence, such as that presented in this paper, offers a powerful basis from which to counter negative public and political discourses surrounding immigration in contemporary Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Over the past two decades, migration from Mainland China (MC) to Australia has become increasingly significant. In contrast to previous migrant waves, post-2000 MC-born migrants in Australia are more likely to be highly skilled and/or financially independent, and often migrate under skilled, business and investment visa programs. Though scholarship has explored various facets of MC-born migrants' settlement in Australian cities, the spatial dynamics of settlement, and change over time associated with these shifts in socio-economic profile, have remained unexplored. This paper draws on three census periods, and employs a local indicator of spatial autocorrelation together with a geographically weighted regression. We conclude that the settlement patterns of MC-born migrants in Australia do not follow the 'straight-line' assumptions of spatial assimilation theory, nor are they tied explicitly to socio-economic factors in the majority of capital cities. Instead, the settlement patterns of MC-born migrants vary by city: Sydney and Melbourne display the most spatially segmented settlement patterns; while Adelaide and Perth exhibit increasing levels of concentration as the number of MC-born migrants grows. Results indicate that while MC-born migrants are somewhat likely to cluster at the early stage of group formation, within-group spatial patterns are articulated by social attributes as the group grows in size and significance in a metropolitan context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concern about rapid population growth in Australia's large cities and slower growth in many non-metropolitan areas has stimulated a range of government policies attempting to lift non-metropolitan growth rates. However, there is relatively little research on which to base these policies. It would be helpful to understand more about the consequences of current demographic trends continuing and the effects of alternative migration patterns. This paper presents sub-national population projections for Australia over the horizon 2011–2041, basing the projections on more socially meaningful Remoteness Areas instead of common statistical geographies. Three sets of projections were generated: aCurrent Directionscenario in which recent demographic trends are maintained, aRegional Immigrationscenario in which more immigrants settle in regional and remote areas, and aMetro Exodusscenario in which there is increased internal migration from metropolitan to non-metropolitan areas. The future of Australia's population geography is shown to be one of spatially varying growth and population ageing, and continued metropolitanisation. In regional areas rapid population ageing will lower natural increase rates and thus reduce overall growth, resulting in a falling share of the national population. Policy measures attempting to increase the share of growth in regional areas will struggle against natural demographic forces operating in the opposite direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alternative Places of Detention (APODs) are a new way of detaining asylum seekers in Australia. The establishment of APODs creates a new formal structure of belonging in Australia which challenges everyday practices of belonging and senses of belonging at the local and national scale. This paper examines practices of belonging which emerged following the establishment of the Inverbrackie APOD in Woodside, South Australia. Using a critical discourse analysis approach, informed by the insights of theories of performativity, this research explores the competing stories of two broadly defined groups (opponents and supporters of Inverbrackie) engaged in a dialogue about asylum seekers, refugees, immigration detention and belonging. While opposition to the APOD was vocal and frequent in the lead-up to the establishment of the detention centre, once the Inverbrackie APOD became operational opponents’ voices began to fade. On the other hand, supporters continued to say things—and more importantly continued to do things—to nurture belonging for asylum seekers in Inverbrackie, Woodside, and Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The ABS 2006 Post-Enumeration Survey was extended to include a sample of localities from the whole of Australia, thereby providing an estimate of census net undercount reflective of the enumeration in remote Indigenous settlements for the first time. The results revealed substantial undercounting of the Indigenous population in certain jurisdictions. At the same time, census counts in many locations were substantially higher than demographic factors could account for. The analytical and policy issues that arise from this revolve around a simple question: what credence can we give to observed spatial patterns of Indigenous population change? This paper seeks to provide an answer by establishing the spatial relationship between population change and net migration at the small area level. This reveals the detailed geography of census undercount and 'overcount' with the former common in remote areas and the latter most evident in regional towns and cities. The findings raise important policy issues about the proper interpretation of Indigenous population change data and the nature of estimates used to determine fiscal resourcing for Indigenous policies and programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia's labour market is most influenced by international migration among OECD nations, but Australian research on this issue focuses almost exclusively on permanent settlement migration. The present paper, however, demonstrates that non-permanent migration has an important impact on the Australian labour market, although such migrants are not included in standard data collections and research on migrants and the labour market. A number of data sources are utilised to estimate the labour-market impact of Working Holiday Makers, Temporary Business Entrants, Overseas Students, and New Zealand temporary migrants. It is shown that their impact is equivalent to more than 400 000 full-time jobs. However, the effect is magnified because it is concentrated in particular sectors of the economy and in particular communities within Australia. A number of issues relating to temporary migration are discussed, including the nature of its relationship with permanent migration, the effects on job training, and the implications for regional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on Australian migrants and housing consistently confirm that the Italianborn have the highest home-ownership rates of all birthplace groups in Australia. Only a few studies have suggested explanatory factors, including agrarian histories and economic aspirations. This paper demonstrates that home ownership for post-war Italian migrants to Australia was indeed conditioned by these and other factors, but within the broader process of migration. Conditions of poverty in Italy made sistemazione (settling down) the goal of migration. Built into sistemazione was a gendered moral imperative to achieve it. Work experiences demonstrate how this imperative conditioned home ownership in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is successful migration? At a macro-socio-political level migration by individuals may appear to be successful when it has met the objectives of governments, industries and domestic profit makers. However, delving beneath the surface can reveal contradictions and other measures of success at the individual, or micro-level. Within a broader critical historical ethnography, we interviewed 26 post-World War 2 (WW2) British migrants living in South Australia. All interviewees could be viewed as successful at the macro-level, having remained in Australia for many years and having established multi-generational Australian families. Their migration was a ‘success’ when measured against the priorities that were actively promoted by Australian governments in the post-WW2 period. At a micro-level, the migrants involved in this study reported mixed outcomes. While migration did result in self-identified aims of migration including employment, opportunities and adventure, some migrants reported high levels of distress and longing, linked to loss and dislocation from people and places in geographically distant locales. For some, these feelings extended into the present, raising questions over the ‘success’ of their migration experiences at a personal level. We argue that pro-active migration recruitment—such as that undertaken by Australian governments in the post-WW2 period—has the potential to pressure some persons into migration, creating ongoing and unresolvable tensions. Experiences of such disruptions merit further exploration to develop deeper critical understandings of migration success. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Focuses on urban environments and on immigration as the segment of population growth often viewed as having a certain effects on cities. Immigrant-led population growth and the condition of urban environments as the product of the political and economic interpretations being made of the nation's internationalization; Consequences for diversity among places and peoples.

Mixed-ethnicity partnerships are becoming increasingly common in Australia and other countries of high immigration. Formal and de facto marriages involving partners from different ethnic backgrounds are key indicators of decreasing social distance between groups. Yet mixed-ethnicity couples have received scant attention from Australian geographers. We use customised data from the 2011 Australian census to analyse the nation-wide distribution of several types of mixed-ethnicity couples. We focus on couples comprised of an Anglo-European (ethnic majority) partner, and a partner from a ‘visible’ ethnic minority group. Our analyses explore the residential geographies of mixed-ethnicity couples vis-à-vis ‘co-ethnic couples’ (where partners share the same ethnicity). We find that mixed-ethnicity couples are more widely dispersed across Australian cities and regions than comparative co-ethnic couples. However, each type of mixed-ethnicity couple has its own unique residential pattern: there are multiple geographies of mixed-ethnicity couples in Australia. These distinctive patterns reflect the migration and settlement histories of the couples’ constituent ethnic groups, but also hold great potential to shift seemingly entrenched ethnic residential geographies in the present and future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on transfer of horticultural skills and knowledges with Pacific Island seasonal workers in Australia. It explores the Australian Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP), migration and development of migrants, and the article "Migration and Development in Low-income Countries: A Role for Destination Country Policy?," by Graeme Hugo.

The article discusses Australian migration and migration policy. Topics discussed include the changes in global and regional migration patterns, the status of the country's migration, and the comparative advantage of the country despite its struggle in terms of global competition for skilled workers. It also suggests the need for policymakers to ask temporary migrants if they actually want to become Australians.

Australia's border enforcement strategies and immigration control policies operate in distant geographies, concealed from human rights groups, media and the public. From offshore detention to militarised maritime defence operations, Australia's exclusion of asylum seekers is increasingly dependent upon geographical processes that ensure asylum seekers do not have access to the state's systems of protection. This article explores a critically overlooked geopolitical strategy of mobility regulation that relies on processes simultaneously expanding geographies of control, while contracting spaces of rights. The outcome of these rapidly evolving bordering practices is the exaggeration of the distance separating asylum seekers from the state, suspending them within a space devoid of an operational system of rights, and emphasising a new and restructured maritime legal geography. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We use the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia, 2005–2006, to examine the housing tenure experience of skilled immigrants to Australia 6 and 18 months after arrival for relationships with ethnic capital (cultural background), visa category streams, aspects of human capital, demographics, social capital and discrimination. Homeownership experience is used to indicate integration into Australia's dominantly middle-class society. Multinomial regression analysis identifies visa entry category as the most important independent group of variables accounting for immigrants' short-term dwelling tenure, followed by aspects of human capital, family status, and the importance of ethnic capital for immigrants of both English-speaking and non-English-speaking backgrounds, and discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article states that Vietnamese, Cambodian and Lao people are migrating from their home countries are start getting assessed on case by case basis. it states that Australia has declined group-based determinations for refugee status, Whitlam's reversal of the White Australia policy and Fraser's subsequent admission of 100 000 Indochinese refugees is especially held out by refugee advocates in Australia's immigration Policy.

It is well known that a pilgrimage overseas can be crucial to the career development of specialist creative artists. All too often, however, the pilgrimage becomes a permanent migration. Significantly, the loss of this creative talent is not limited to the national level. The dominance of cities as the centres of Australia's knowledge-based economy leads also to migration of creative artists from regional centres and from smaller cities such as Perth, lessening the potential for those regions to attract and retain creative and innovative people. Given the globalised nature of the cultural industries and the emergence of new technologies, this study of Western Australian creative artists considers whether migration loss could be repositioned as cultural gain. Initial results suggest that spatial separation due to geographic isolation is particularly problematic for Western Australian creative artists both within the regions and the metropolitan area. Despite participants' strong personal connections with Western Australia, artistic connections were tenuous and artistic involvement was negligible. Implications include the need to actively engage with creative migrants by fostering their continued involvement in the cultural life of cities and regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the position of South Australia and Tasmania within contemporary Australian immigration processes, the impact of their populations relative to the nation as a whole, and the implications for their further development. Nature and demographic impact of immigration to Australia; Population processes and the economic performance of South Australia and Tasmania.