6.
what is now the most powerful nation the world has ever
seen to
be e raced in the mainstream of world events. At the time the United States of America began its advance, there was no European
settlement of Australia.
Immigration can be an advantage in developing good
It can also be the reverse.
relations with other countries.
If an immigrant-receiving country does nothing else but
skim off the cream of another country's people
concentrating on
taking only the professionals, technicians and skilled tradesmen relations can be prejudiced. They can, too, if all people of a particular race, colour or nationality are debarred from entry.
In Australia we have now reached a stage in the
evolution of immigration policy where entry criteria are applied in the same non-discriminatory way to applicants in all regions.
We
set our entry criteria on the basis of admitting people who will be of benefit to the Australian community, while making generous provision for family reunion migration and the entry of refugees.
The principles on which our immigration policy are based were stated on 7 June last year in my Ministerial Statement to Parliament on "Immigration Policies and Australia's Population". They included the following points:
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