The Australian Identity and Citizenship

Walters, Robert

doi:10.1007/978-981-15-2164-5_4

Robert Walters²

Abstract

Australia history and beginning is very different to that of Slovenia and the EU. Australia has been occupied by the Indigenous Aboriginal peoples for centuries. However, the treatment of the Indigenous community can be best described in the modern period as barbaric and quite shocking. They were excluded from all forms of the polity and society. They were dispersed across the entire continent. Upon Federation their plight got no better, when the White Australia policy was invoked. This chapter traces some of the issues the Aboriginal people faced. Since then, Australia has abolished its White policy, at least on paper, and today Australia is an amalgam of different ethnic and religious groups. National identity and social cohesion has not been smooth. The national identity has, at times, been difficult to define and locate. It has been challenged, along with cohesion. Both have been highly politicised over the past two decades with the rise of nationalist thought and politics. It has galvanised Australia to strengthen its identity. More importantly, government(s) have begun to recognise the Aboriginal people, even though they continue to be excluded from many areas of the law and policy. In 1948–1949, the first citizenship laws were introduced, and ever since there has been reform to strengthen the laws in response to regional and international events. They support multicultural Australia today, immigration, rights, PIL, identity and social cohesion.

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Notes

1.
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Ibid.
8.
Ibid.
9.
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10.
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11.
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14.
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Ibid.
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18.
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19.
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20.
Ibid.
21.
Ibid.
22.
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23.
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Ibid.
26.
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27.
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28.
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29.
Rubenstein, K, (2002) Australian Citizenship Law in Context, Lawbook Co, 24–35.
30.
Ibid.
31.
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32.
John Quick and Robert Garran, Annotated Constitution of the Australian Commonwealth, 1901, in Kim Rubenstein, Citizenship in Australia: Unscrambling its Meaning, Melbourne University Law Review, 1995, 504–508.
33.
Ibid.
34.
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35.
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36.
Ibid.
37.
Chu Kheng Lim v MILGEA (1992) 176 CLR 1, 54.
38.
Preamble, Australian Constitution, 1900.
39.
Immigration Act 1901, section 5.
40.
Above, n 482.
41.
Crock, M., Berg, L, (2011) Immigration, Refugees and Forced Migration, Law, Policy and Practice in Australia, The Federation Press, 521.
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Ibid.
43.
Irving, H, (1997) To Constitute a Nation: A Cultural History of Australia’s Constitution, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 144.
44.
Ibid.
45.
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46.
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47.
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50.
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51.
Rubenstein, K, (2002) Australian Citizenship Law in Context, Lawbook Co, 52–53.
52.
Ibid.
53.
Ibid.
54.
Potter v Minahan (1908) 7 CLR 277.
55.
Ibid.
56.
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58.
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62.
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Rubenstein, K, (2002) Australian Citizenship Law in Context, Lawbook Co, 53. The Act was amended with similar titled Acts of 1922 (No 24); 1925 (No 10); 1930 (No 9); 1936 (No 62) and 1946 (No 9 and 28).
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Ibid.
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89.
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98.
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99.
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100.
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101.
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102.
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103.
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Walters, R. (2020). The Australian Identity and Citizenship. In: National Identity and Social Cohesion in a Time of Geopolitical and Economic Tension: Australia – European Union – Slovenia . Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2164-5_4

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