PRIME MINISTER's SPEECH AT SAN NICOLA BALL, PERTH
19 APRIL, 1975
Thank you very much indeed for the very kind words that
you have used about me and my wife. It is a very great
pleasure again to be guests of the Association of San Nicola
at the Annual Ball.
The last time I was your guest was three years ago and on
that occasion I remember undertaking that if I was translated
from Leader of the Opposition to Prime Minister, I would see
that people who had migrated to Australia, were placed in
as good a position as people who-had always lived in Australia.
In particular,' I remember promising that if anybody in
Australia had-an age, or an invalid or a widow's pension,
then he or she would be able to continue to receive that
pension wherever he or she went to live in the world.
That is, you wouldn't lose the pension if. you left the
country. You earned it, you received it.
Now I realise that it will be a long, long time before any
of you are interested in pensions. But, nevertheless, it
was something that we were able to carry out.
There were some other things we wanted to do for migrants.
We were not satisfied that the interest, the respondibility
of the Federal Government for migrants, ceased when they
arrived in Australia. We wanted to see that when people
came to Australia, they would be happy to remain here, they
would be happy to become citizens and they themselves would
prove the Very best advocates for other people to come to
Australia. We didn't think it was good enough for the
Government always to be looking for migrants. The best
people to persuade migrants to come to Australia, were
people who themselves had migrated to Australia and had
found it a good place to live.
It has given my colleagues and me, the very greatest
satisfaction that the number of people being naturalised
in Australia, is almost double what it was three years ago
and the number of people leaving Australia, is only half
as many as it was three years ago.
To give you an indication in this city of what we have
tried to do. Quite early in the peace, in February, 1973,
we established a migrant education centre in Wapet House,
in St. Georges Terrace. This was to make it easy for people
to learn English if they wanted to. There are other things
which are being done to see that people at work, or women
at home, are able to learn English easily.
To take something more recently In March last year, we
established in Perth the telephone interpreter service,
which means that anybody who is not familiar with English,
is able to ring up the telephone interpreter service and
seek advice about his problems. The Department of Social
Security in Perth now has people, welfare officers, on its
staff, who can speak Italian. Of course, there are others
who can speak other languages as well. I emphasise Italians
because they are the people who have come to Australia in
greatest numbers after the British and the Irish. Of all
the people who have come to settle in Australia, the British
are the most numerous, the Irish are the next, and the Italians
are third.
The last census in June, 1971, showed that at that time,
there were 289,000 people living in Australia who had been
born in Italy.. Moreover, there have been 160,000 Italian
citizens who have been naturalised as Australians in Australia
so far. It is a remarkable record. The number of people who
have come here and the number of people, who coming here,
have decided to become Australians.
In Western Australia, in particular, Italians came earliest
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There was-an Italian in the First Fleet that Captain Phillip
took to Sydney, and there some in the Gold Rush, of course,
later on in Victoria and New South Wales. But until abouta
or 40 years ago, the greatest percentage of Italia-lis in
any of the States was in Perth, Western Australia. Most
in Perth, but of course, there were gold miners and there
were timber getters and so on in the country as well. There
is no doubt that Italians have felt that Australia is one of
the most attractive countries to go. There are very few
countries in the world to which Italians have gone in such
miurbers. I believe it is true to say, there is no country.
in the world where Italians have felt so much at home and
have been so successful.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we want you to be happy here. We
want you to be the great advocates * for other people to come
to Australia, because people are happiest in Australia, if
they already have friends and relatives who are happily
established here.
S 3.
We have made it easier to become citizens. The same conditions
apply to people from all parts of the world who want to be
citizens. There are the same qualifications, the same period,
three years required, and we have made all the conditions easier.
Some of the things which used to be done to discriminate against
migrants, have been abolished. It used to be possible, for
instance, for anybody who had fallen foul of the law, to be
deported if he was a migrant. That is no longer possible.
There are no double penalties. There is no discrimination.
We have set up in each State, committees, task forces, to make
sure that there is no discrimination against any migrants, any
particular community within the whole community. In this State,
that task force is chaired by my colleague, Mr. Jo Berenson,
the M. P. for Perth.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is a very great
pleasure once again to be your guest. I am happy to be able
to come to you and say that I carried out the promises that
I made the last time I was your guest.