Immigrants' democratic rights vulnerable

An audit of the democratic rights of immigrants' has found Australia does a good job of protecting citizens, but places the human rights of refugees and other non-citizens at risk.

“Australian democracy can claim successes but must also admit failures in its implementation of a liberal, democratic, multicultural society providing equitable access to influence and to public goods for all its citizens,” the paper, How Well Does Australian Democracy Serve Immigrant Australians?, said.

Prepared by Dr James Jupp of the ANU Centre for Immigration and Multicultural Studies, the paper is part of the three-year Democratic Audit of Australia, being conducted by the ANU Research School of Social Sciences.

According to the paper, the contradictory nature of the democratic rights of immigrants was evident in a number of arenas, including policy, politics and access to public services.

For example, the audit found that Australia has one of the shortest waiting periods in the world for those accepted as permanent residents to become eligible for citizenship. However, several million Australians possessing dual nationality are eligible to vote, but not to stand for election to Federal Parliament without going through a renunciation procedure.

It also found Australia’s representative political system based on single member electorates worked against immigrant minorities, as their local member “rarely, if ever, comes from the ethnic group concerned”.

“The political representation of ethnic minorities is well below the level which might be expected from their number of voters … [It] is not due to overt discrimination but to the practices of the political parties,” the report said.

It did, however, acknowledge that this imbalance led to the “unfortunate” practice of ‘ethnic branch stacking’, especially in the 1990s, “an obvious way of shifting the balance of power towards new elements previously excluded from influence”.

Some of the ‘positives’ of democratic rights of immigrants in Australia, according to the report, are:
· No restrictions on the voting rights of citizens;
· Public figures regularly claim that Australia is multicultural and must be ‘tolerant’;
· Racist political movements have been marginalised and there is minimal political violence.

However, the report highlighted a number of ‘negatives’, including:
· Undocumented asylum seekers are subject to mandatory and irrevocable detention until their cases are cleared, including forced detention outside Australia;
· Family reunion for parents has been capped at a minimal level;
· Public welfare services are not available for permanent residents until two years after admission, other than for humanitarian entrants.

Also, the report found that immigrants - both born overseas in non-English speaking countries (NESB1) or Australian born with one or both parents born overseas in a non-English speaking country (NESB2) - were underrepresented in the Australian public service.

The Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs had the highest percentage of staff – 11 per cent – born overseas in non-English speaking countries, while the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had the highest percentage of those born in Australia to parents born in non-English speaking countries (14 per cent).

The Attorney-Generals Department and the Education Department had the lowest levels of both NESB1 and NESB2.

The report concluded that the legal and constitutional framework for a liberal, multicultural democracy is well established, “but the implementation and advocacy of policy is less well developed”.

“The interplay between the political parties and majority opinion inhibits multiculturalism as do some entrenched traditions,” the audit said. “A well-planned immigration and settlement program has modified many of the tensions found elsewhere. This may not continue if these programs are made more rigid and if cultural variety becomes more challenging to accepted attitudes.”

How Well Does Australian Democracy Serve Immigrant Australians? is available online at http://democratic.audit.anu.edu.au.

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