Immigration Concerns in The Early 21st Century
In December 2006, in the town of Tamworth, New South Wales, the Regional Council voted 6 to 3 against an offer from the Federal Government to take part in a one-year trial rural refugee resettlement program; the majority of these refugees would be Sudanese escaping civil war in their homeland. The mayor of Tamworth, Cr James Treloar, argued that the program under which the refugees would be resettled "has faults". This decision resulted in national and international media attention on the city. The decision to reject the refugees was reversed one month later, and Tamworth will now take part in the resettling program.
In October 2007, the Australian government announced a ban on refugees from Africa, which would be reviewed in mid-2008. Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews stated that refugees from Sudan and Darfur were having problems integrating and that refugees from Burma and Afghanistan should take priority. However, after the Rudd Labor government was elected on the 25 November 2007, Australia's stance on keeping refugees off shore changed and on 8 February 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced that all refugees kept on Nauru would be moved to Australia. This signalled the end of the Pacific solution.
Read more about this topic: Immigration History Of Australia
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