June 30, 2006

Race and Australia's current immigration policy

Regardless of what may be true of the group, we cannot assume the same for every individual in that group. So when I comment about things in Jews as a whole that I like (such as high IQ and high drive) and when I point to things in blacks as a group that I dislike (such as low IQ and high propensity to criminality) that does not at all imply that I advocate treating all the individuals in that group in the same way. Otherwise how would it be that the person I quote most often in my blogging is an American black -- Thomas Sowell? I clearly don't condemn him in any way.

And when it comes to immigration, the Australian government has long embraced a policy which recognizes the importance of the individual. It abandoned the White Australia policy in the 1960s and instituted a selective immigration policy that chose people on largely educational and occupational criteria. People with a good education or useful trade skills were the ones principally selected as immigrants, regardless of whether they were black, white or brindle. And that is exactly the policy that I support. Pretty mainstream, Huh?

The Australian government, however, also has a refugee intake as well as a selective immigration intake. Most people who have entered Australia in the refugee category have been East Asians, who, as a group, have generally sterling qualities and who have hence added to Australian society rather than detracted from it. The low level of selectivity in admitting such people has done no harm overall. Unfortunately, two generally trouble-prone groups (Lebanese Muslims and East Africans) have also entered Australia in considerable numbers in the (minimally selective) "refugee" category. And they have certainly become a burden rather than an asset.

Official references to this are very guarded, however. It is therefore interesting to note an official reference to it by the Premier of NSW in the Hansard of the NSW Legislative Assembly (8 March 2006, Pages 43 -, article 11). He does of course blame the Federal government for the crime-rate rather than those who perpetrate it but he is a Leftist after all. Excerpt below:

"Despite the Commonwealth's failure, the State government will continue to provide a high-quality, targeted ESL program as part of its equity provision in New South Wales government schools-our commitment to equity. Low English ability is a direct contributor to high unemployment rates and is a massive barrier to becoming part of the Australian community. The situation is further exacerbated by the Commonwealth exiting the field of providing interpreter services. On 1 July 2005 the Commonwealth completely abandoned its commitment to providing interpreter services for those accessing community services. This has had a massive impact on those trying to access community services in New South Wales. All this results in social alienation and, inevitably, increased crime rates.

I am advised by NSW Police that a number of local area commands have expressed concern in recent months about the increasing number of recent arrivals from African countries. The concern is not about the African refugees per se; it is about refugees not being adequately supported during their settlement period and thus beginning to feature in crime statistics-both as victims and as offenders. The police are responding to this at the individual local area command level and have recently begun workshops with the Sudanese community as part of a crime prevention and education strategy. About half of the recent 5,000 arrivals have settled in Blacktown. A further 1,500 live in Newcastle and Coffs Harbour. I am advised that local area commanders have to divert police resources to deal with problems associated with these refugees. There are also reports of more serious crime associated with gangs of young men from African communities. It is not the core business of the New South Wales health system for the New South Wales police force to spend time and resources picking up the ball dropped by Canberra.

So what is my view of that? It is starkly simple. I think there should be much the same individual selectivity in admitting refugees as there is in admitting other immigrants. Highly educated East Africans (for instance) should be admitted and illiterate East Africans should not be admitted.

In that respect I am not mainstream. Australians are generally kind-hearted people who approve of giving refuge to people in dire circumstances overseas and the media coverup about the result of doing that in a largely non-selective way lulls most Australians into thinking that the intake concerned poses no threat to their lives and welfare. So for that reason, I do all I can to publicize what a problem group Africans generally are -- so that the need for selectivity in admitting them will come to be recognized. But Africans who are held to the same standards as other people I have no problem with.

I appreciate my fellow Anglo-Australians as being one of the world's most peacable and pleasant populations but that does not imply much about how I respond to individual Australians. Some Australians are not peacable and pleasant and I respond to them unfavourably. Most Indians ARE peacable and pleasant and I respond to them favourably. It is peacableness and pleasantness (for instance) that I respond favourably to -- regardless of whether the person concerned is black, white or brindle.

And I might note that the only two Jews who appear in my personal life from time to time are both great gentlemen. So any adverse treatment of them just because they are Jews I would resist with might and main.




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