:
5.
By geography we are close to Asia but our faces are
turned to both the Pacific and Indian Oceans. We have a largely
European heritage. With our enormous resources, our large land
mass and a skilled and innovative people we have the potential to
be a force for stability in international affairs far beyond our
present influence.
I have no doubt that a major factor restricting our
influence is the size of our population. If we are to achieve our
potential we must build our population in ways which do not disturb
our social cohesiveness or overstrain our absorptive capacity.
Australia's approach to population building has been
Particularly during the
mainly through programs of immigration.
past 30 years when there has been wide diversity in the sources of
migrants, immigration has done much to enrich and diversify our
culture, to broaden our perspectives and to dispel the insularity
which may otherwise have resulted from our geographic isolation.
There have been problems, as is inevitable when large
numbers of people face dislocation and resettlement in a sometimes
alien environment and society. But the massive immigration program
of the post-war years, in which three and a half million people.
have settled here, has been one of the most successful migrations
of history, in both economic and social terms. This period of
migration stands as testimony to the strength and purpose of the
immigrants themselves and the adaptability and tolerance of the
Australians who accepted the newcomers into their midst.
If ever
we have some doubts we should remember that it took 200 years for
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