Arts, Law and Politics: White Australia Policy, Anzac Day, Gender and Feminism

Running head: ARTS, LAW AND POLITICS
Arts, Law and Politics
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1ARTS, LAWS AND POLITICS
A Recent Event that Influenced Australian Politics
White privilege has always been a topic of discussion, throughout the world. The
White Australia Policy was one such issue which can neither be specified solely as a
cultural event nor just a political one. This issue of the government’s effort to extricate all
Non-Europeans, went on for a considerable period. This essay aims to analyse the influence
on the 21st century Australian politics considering the White Australia Policy.
In 1901, right after Federation; there were certain policies that were devised to
maintain Australia’s “white” and thereafter “British” population (Ozdowski 2013). During
1925, the then Prime Minister, Stanley Bruce comforted the seemingly anxious public that
the racial composition of Australia has always been 98 percent British and it would stay the
same in the future (Awu.net.au 2018). After 1901, this policy was stabilized for about seven
long decades. Interracial dialect was applied to curtail international denunciation, but the
chauvinistic approach was very prominent.
A sequence of enactments, with a mutual objective to attain and sustain a white nation
was the driving force of this policy; it was not a lone government ordinance. There were
other Acts that were passed around in 1901, these were:
 The Immigration Restriction Act- to put certain boundaries and to deliver the
elimination from the Commonwealth of banned Immigrants (Ndhlovu 2008).
 The Pacific Island Labourers Act- it passed a law to extradite the clear majority of
the Pacific Islanders in Australia; only under permit as contracted helpers, till 31st
March 1904 (Shineberg 1999).
 The Post and Telegraph Act- it was concerning the “Postal and Telegraphic
Services” of Commonwealth; that it should cease to apply to the State (Moyal 1983).

2ARTS, LAWS AND POLITICS
These three actions formed the former set of legislative bases of the politics then. The
Immigration Restriction Act epitomised the soul of White Australia Policy, highlighting the
nation’s hypocrisy. It was used as a tool for racial discrimination, although it did not mention
“white” or “race” anywhere in the title (Jupp 2006). The Act’s most infamous characteristic
was a dictation test, where a migrant would be asked to write a paragraph in any European
Dialect, within 50 words; where the officers could easily manoeuvre and exclude any
unwanted person. Its duality was soon perceived by the common mass and only 2000 people
took the test, within 1958 (McNamara 2009).
The White Australia Policy initially acquired a dichotomous support; unfortunately, it
was disassembled by both the sides. The Migration Act of 1958 was introduced by the
conservative governments, where the non-Europeans were approved to come to Australia
based on proficiency and propriety rather than colour (Vrachnas et al. 2011). According to
Tavan (2004), the Racial Discrimination Act of 1973 concealed the final remnants of the
White Australia Policy; which made it criminal to affront, abuse, exploit or coerce someone
because of their race. It was as much an ethnic as bureaucratic phenomenon, and it could not
be annihilated with a single act of court. The approval of many Vietnamese emigrants
administered by the Fraser government was a litmus test if the White Australia policy had
really dissipated.
From 1980 till 1996, Australia was overflowing with Asian immigrants. During the
2001 election, 438 Norwegian asylum patients were shipped off to Australia, although the
Prime Minister John Howard denied welcoming them. The support he received from the
people earned him the victory in election, as well as proved that the White Australia mindset
has not been eliminated. Scholars like James Jupp and Gwenda Tavan debated that this
ideology till now plays a significant role in shaping Australian immigration policies of the

3ARTS, LAWS AND POLITICS
21st century (Willard 1967). The bifurcated undertakings of the re-appearance of Hanson’s
One Nation party after the 2016 election, lend some importance to this idea.
It can be thus concluded that even-though the policy of White Australia has been
eliminated; it still exists as an ideology, amongst people. Although it constitutes the minority,
this section till now wants to restore an ideal Australia of the past, along with its white mono-
culture.