PM Transcripts

PRIME MINISTER
FOR PRESS., P. M. No 45/ 1972
A. L. P. IMMIGRATION POLICY
Statement by the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon. William
McMahon, M. P.
There are three elements in the A. L. P. Immigration Policy
which are relevant to non-EuropeQn immigration to Australia.
1. the ' non discrimination' clause inserted into the A. L. P.
Platform at the Launceston Conference.
2. the policy of basing immigration entirely on sponsorship
by relatives, friends and employers resident in Australia.
3. the decision to grant assisted passages to non-European
immigrants.
The first requires " the avoidance of discrimination on any
grounds of race or colour of skin or nationality".
The second would bias the composition of our migration
programme heavily in the direction of those countries which have an
ingrained tradition of sponsorship of friends and relatives that
is, the Southern European, Middle Eastern, and non-European countries.
This ' pyramid' or ' chain' migration as it is sometimes called in not
characteristic of the Northern European and North American countries
or Britain. These patterns of sponsorship for various countries are
clearly established in statistics of the Department of Immigration.
The third element, the granting of assisted passages, would
undoubtedly increase the pressures for entry to Australia from non-
European countries. From practical experience, we know that, even
under present restrictive policies and without assisted passages
very large ntumbers of enquiries are received involving very large
numbers of people.
If, despite this established evidence, Mr. W'nhitlam claims
that under a Labor Government there will be fewer people of non-
European descent admitted to Australia than at present, he has a
clear obligation to explain how it will be achieved. In the view of
the Government it would require a savage and ruthless use of the
immigration power to prevent entry into Australia that would be
difficult to sustain.
Mr. Whitlam's obligation to explain where he stands is * all
the more pressing when it is realised that the aims of a Labor
Government in this field could be achieved purely by administrative
action without the Parliament or the Australian people being aware
of what was happening.
PERTH, 4 May 1972.