Immigration policy and associated multicultural and settlement provisions have been driven through over the past thirty years with considerable success. But they have also been driven with the brake on. In all policy areas there has been resistance – either overt and destructive, as with One Nation and many conservative publicists – or quiet and subversive, as with reluctance to develop policies or to administer in accordance with multicultural principles. This strong undercurrent of resistance reflects the upbringing and collective culture of that generation of Australians born and educated before the abandoning of White Australia. It is based, however, on attitudes which are common in most societies, including xenophobia, assimilationism and lack of tolerance. These are not necessarily dominant, but they inhibit policies which must meet the realities of a globalising world, of declining fertility with consequent ageing, and of escalating human movement for business, pleasure, work, refuge and settlement.

All periodisation involves fuzzy distinctions, blurred edges and continuity and change. However, the past thirty years might be divided as follows, in terms of public policy and controversy:

1. • 1972–1978: a transition involving the final end of White Australia and the proclamation of Australia as ‘multicultural’, with the reorganisation of the Immigration Department to reflect these changes.

2. • 1978–1988: an emphasis on settlement, with the incorporation of ethnic communities into policy advice and the growth of welfare, education, multicultural and other provisions at Commonwealth and State levels.[…]