Immigration a defining issue for Australia

In The 1950s newly arrived immigrants to Australian shores were introduced to their new lives here at Sydney's Westbridge Centre.

It was here that the immigrants on whose backs this country was built after the second World War registered with the authorities and were given temporary shelter and a helping hand.

Today, however, not many of the immigrants of half a century ago would recognise the old place. Just inside the complex stand two massive eight-metre fences, the inner one topped with barbed wire. The name too has changed.

This complex is now the Villawood Detention Centre, where Australian immigration authorities house illegal immigrants.

It is just one of six such centres around the country in which an estimated 4,000 illegal immigrants are detained.

Just before the end of August, a boatload of 348 refugees, mostly of Middle Eastern origin, arrived at Christmas Island, off northern Australia. It was the second-biggest group of illegals to arrive on Australian shores.

The Immigration Minister, Mr Philip Ruddock, said the arrivals were a clear sign the government had to continue its strong stand against illegal immigrants. He was backed by the Prime Minister, Mr John Howard.

Perhaps most vocal in the debate is the anti-immigration party One Nation, headed by the controversial but charismatic Ms Pauline Hanson.

This is an election year in Australia, both at state and federal level. Three weeks ago, the Northern Territory went to the polls. One Nation polled 30 per cent of the votes in some areas, just enough to remind the rest of the political system that in a country where unemployment is near 7 per cent, and rising, boatloads of illegals are not welcomed by everyone.

But away from the refugee debate, racial tensions simmer just beneath the surface. The reconciliation issue between the Australian government and aborigines and Torres Strait islanders is a never-ending saga.

The Prime Minister, Mr Howard, refuses to say sorry for the ills done to the indigenous peoples over most of the last two centuries. Indigenous communities believe their rights to their land are still not being fully recognised by "white courts".

The latest statistics on the indigenous communities paint a picture of them being a people very much displaced in their own land.

Just over 53 per cent of indigenous men die before the age of 50 compared with 13 per cent for non-indigenous men. An average of one in four aborigines is unemployed. Indigenous absenteeism from educational institutions is about twice the non-indigenous level.

Aborigines in New South Wales are 10 times more likely to go to jail compared with the general population. Some 30 per cent of aboriginal offenders are sent to jail, compared with 18 per cent of non-indigenous offenders.