Racist Or Non-racist-Australia's Refugee Entry Policy, 1977-2001

As an immigration country, Australia has once won a reputation for its multiculturalism. However, heated debates over refugee issues have recently emerged in Australia and the international community. There's even an emerging doubt over Australian multiculturalism. A variety of incidents implies that refugees from different origins receive totally different treatment. Does race play a role in it? This study tries to probe into the race issue in Australia's refugee problem from a Chinese perspective.Since refugee policy is a relatively big issue that an MA thesis may not be long enough to illustrate clearly and thoroughly, the focus of this study will be on Australia's refugee entry policy between 1977 and 2001.Chapter 1, a general introduction, examines the aims of the study, literature review and research methodology.Against the background of a rising refugee problem worldwide, Chapter 2 investigates Australian history in refugee admission, its refugee entry policy, and its refugee intakes by race.Chapter 3 will, by studying Australia's treatment to Aborigines and non-whites, make historical and social dimensional analyses to explore the longstanding racist attitude in Australia.Elements of racism manifested in Australia's refugee entry policy will be dealt with in Chapter 4. Concrete statistics sourced from the UN, deflection in the policy and some typical examples will be used to support the argument that there is clear racial preference in its refugee entry policy.By way of conclusion, Chapter 5 aims to make a chronological examination on the multi-faceted factors impacting on the policy to support the central argument about the racial preference in Australia's refugee entries. Besides, the thesis points out that racism has no benefit at all and that Australia should shoulder its responsibility and do more to help those who are really in need, rather than looking at their races first.