Australia and Refugees, 19012002: An Annotated Chronology Based on Official Sources

This Chronology is issued electronically. It will be kept up-to-date online. The date of the latest update is noted clearly above.

Part 9 of 10

Table 1: Humanitarian Arrivals (Assisted), Financial Years 194748 to 197475

Financial Year	Number of assisted humanitarian arrivals
January 1947 to June 1948		5 138
194849		33 816
194950		89 199
195051		36 912
195152		4 934
195253		664
195354		3 248
195455		1 534
195556		521
195657		11 070
195758		6 759
195859		4 118
195960		3 969
196061		3 413
196162		946
196263		1 375
196364		2 040
196465		1 609
196566		2 177
196667		1 805
196768		3 226
196869		7 613
196970		16 495
197071		11 812
197172		3 259
197273		2 512
197374		1 228
197475		514

Note:

Between January 1947 and 195253, all were Displaced Persons. The Scheme was discontinued in January 1954. An estimated additional 33 000 humanitarian cases were not assisted by government.

Sources: Compiled from Australian Immigration: Consolidated Statistics, Nos 1, 1966, 4, 1970, Department of Immigration, AGPS, 1966 and 1970, and No. 13, 1982.

Table 2: Humanitarian Arrivals, Financial Years 194748 to 199091

Financial Year	Refugee Program Arrivals Number	Special Humanitarian Program (a) Arrivals Number	Total Humanitarian Arrivals Number
194748 to 197475 (Estimated Assisted Refugees) (b)	(b)264 053	n/a	264 053
194748 to197475 (Estimated Unassisted Refugees)	33 000	n/a	33 000
197576	4 374	n/a	4 374
197677	8 124	n/a	8 124
197778	9 597	n/a	9 597
197879	13 450	n/a	13 450
197980	19 954	n/a	19 954
198081	21 847	n/a	21 847
198182	20 216	1 701	21 917
198283	16 193	861	17 054
198384	12 330	2 439	14 769
198485	9 680	5 170	14 850
198586	7 837	4 003	11 840
198687	5 990	5 111	11 101
198788	5 304	5 772	11 076
198889	3 623	7 264	10 887
198990	1 537	10 411	11 948
199091	1 267	6 478	7 745

Notes:

(a) Special Humanitarian Program (introduced late in 1981)
(b) Includes an estimated 170 000 displaced persons who arrived between 1947 and 1954.

Source: DIMA (unpublished tabulations)

Table 3: Humanitarian Arrivals, Financial Years 199192 to 200001

Financial Year	Refugee Program Arrivals	Special Humanitarian Program (a) Arrivals	Special Assistance Category Arrivals	Total Humanitarian Arrivals
199192	2 385	4 320	452	7 157
199293	2 686	3 169	5 082	10 939
199394	3 845	2 563	4 942	11,350
199495	4 006	3 774	5 852	13 632
199596	4 060	3 617	6 147	13 824
199697	3 372	2 120	4 394	9 886
199798	3 553	3 033	2 193	8 779
199899	3 269	4 614	907	8 790
199900	3 429	3 022	816	7 267
200001 (a)	4 129	2 701	795	7 625

Note:

(a) Figures for 200102 are from DIMIA's Settlement database. Figures that incorporate the Overseas Arrivals and Departures (OAD) database will not be available until later in 2002. The figure will not be much different. In 199900, for instance, the Settlement Database figure was 7 313 humanitarian permanent arrivals compared to the OAD figure of 7 267.

Table 4: Humanitarian Program by Country of Birth, 19911992 to 20012002

Birthplace	9192	9293	9394	9495	9596	9697	9798	9899	9900	0001	0102
	Financial Year
Oceania
Total	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1

Europe & the Former USSR
Bosnia-Herzegovina -		-	219	733	2 026	1 214	1 603	1 180	573	672	324
Croatia	55	174	89	78	379	691	1 096	1 225	1 001	1 166	563
Germany	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	95	59
Greece	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	16
Poland	2	4	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Romania	42	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Ukraine	171	345	36	5	-	-	-	4	-	-	-
Fed. Rep. Of Yugoslavia -			-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1 484	1 417
Other	1 583	4 363	4 950	4 986	5 417	2 205	2 585	2 273	1 836	36	33
Total	1 853	4 891	5 297	5 802	7 822	4 110	5 284	4 682	3 410	3 453	2 412

The Middle East and North Africa
Egypt	10	25	19	39	33	38	21	34	23	73	111
Iran	240	78	225	468	485	303	378	424	366	441	212
Iraq	1 904	1 090	1 434	2 310	2 009	1 624	1 635	1 546	1 091	893	881
Kuwait	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	21	-
Lebanon	116	13	-	3	-	-	5	11	4	-	-
Sudan	21	148	293	295	320	390	493	632	924	1 107	1 046
Turkey	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	16	129
Other	137	28	41	15	4	22	97	194	232	113	70
Total	2 428	1 382	2 012	3 130	2 851	2 377	2 629	2 841	2 640	2 664	2 449

Southeast Asia
Burma (Myanmar) 1		112	378	524	379	236	104	97	49	83	100
Cambodia	9	6	614	580	584	152	-	14	3	-	-
Indonesia	436	193	52	128	129	82	-	-	2	-	-
Thailand	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	9
Viet Nam	1 525	2 207	2 277	1 542	745	638	396	45	17	17	44
Other	123	79	57	116	22	-	5	8	-	14	5
Total	2 094	2 597	3 378	2 890	1 859	1 108	505	164	71	114	158

Northeast Asia
Total	12	6	15	12	7	7	13	10	12	7	23

Southern Asia
Afghanistan	509	563	415	332	510	312	775	662	450	322	521
Pakistan	2	1	-	-	45	48	56	77	31	104	25
Sri Lanka	1	2	17	238	254	254	160	101	29	102	53
Other	-	3	1	-	13	2	4	5	5	5	12
Total	512	569	433	570	822	616	995	845	515	533	611

Northern America
Total	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-

South America, Central America & the Caribbean
Colombia	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	13
El Salvador	916	288	132	154	137	77	49	7	9	5	-
Other	36	9	17	24	41	-	1	17	10	9	13
Total	952	297	149	178	178	77	50	24	19	14	26

Africa (excl. North Africa)
Eritrea	-	1	61	228	159	120	102	170	185	105	108
Ethiopia	380	575	359	255	216	164	172	196	211	268	227
Kenya	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	43	-
Liberia	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	110
Sierra Leone	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	128	323
Somalia	116	124	300	390	352	397	611	457	254	213	192
Other	52	56	25	-	10	2	6	16	89	67	79
Total	548	756	745	873	737	683	891	839	739	824	1 039

Other and Not Stated -		16	17	7	-	1	-	5	4	14	13

Total All Countries	8 399	10 515	12 046	13 462	14 276	8 979	10 367	9 410	7 424	7 625	6 732

Source: DIMIA

Table 5: Estimated Global Refugee Population and 'Persons of Concern' to the UNHCR, 19782002(a)

Year	Refugee population (millions)	Persons of concern (b) (millions)
1978	3.1
1979	4.6
1980	5.3
1981	8.2
1982	9.7
1983	10.3
1984	10.9
1985	10.5
1986	11.2
1987	12.2
1988	13.2
1989	14.9
1990	14.8
1991	17.2
1992	16.9
1993	16.2	23.0
1994	15.6	27.4
1995	14.8	26.1
1996	13.3	22.7
1997	11.9	22.3
1998	11.4	21.4
1999	11.6	22.2
2000	12.0	21.8
2001	12.0	19.7

Notes:

(a) All figures are for year ending 31 December.
(b) This category was not enumerated by UNHCR prior to 1993.

Source: UNHCR website: Statistics page and UNHCR, The State of the world's refugees, 19971998, Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 54. Totals do not include other groups (i.e. other than refugees by the UNHCR definition) of concern to the UNHCR and Palestinians assisted by the UN Relief and Works Agency.

Table 6: Ministers of Immigration, Ministries and gross annual settler intake, 19451991(a)

Ministry	Year	Minister (b)	Intake (c)
Curtin	1945	Calwell (ALP)
Chifley	1946	Calwell (ALP)
	1947 (d)	Calwell (ALP)	34 284
	1948	Calwell (ALP)	46 569
	1949	Calwell (ALP)	114 818
Menzies	1950	Holt (Lib)	184 889
	1951	Holt (Lib)	153 290
	1952	Holt (Lib)	130 462
	1953	Holt (Lib)	95 890
	1954	Holt (Lib)	86 468
	1955	Holt (Lib)	124 180
	1956	Holt (Lib)	132 628
	1957	Townley (Lib)	120 601
	1958	Downer (Lib)	107 978
	1959	Downer (Lib)	116 697
	1960	Downer (Lib)	105 887
	1961	Downer (Lib)	108 291
	1962	Downer (Lib)	85 808
	1963	Downer (Lib)	101 888
	1964	Opperman (Lib)	122 318
	1965	Opperman (Lib)	140 152
Holt	1966	Opperman (Lib)	144 055
McEwen	1967	Snedden (Lib)	138 676
Gorton	1968	Snedden (Lib)	137 525
	1969	Snedden (Lib)	175 657
	1970	Lynch (Lib)	185 099
McMahon	1971	Forbes (Lib)	170 011
	1972	Forbes (Lib)	132 719
Whitlam	1973	Grassby (ALP)	107 401
	1974a(e)	Cameron (ALP)	112 712
	1975a	McClelland (ALP)	89 147
Fraser	1976	MacKellar (Lib)	52 748
	1977	MacKellar (Lib)	70 916
	1978	MacKellar (Lib)	73 171
	1979	MacKellar (Lib)	67 192
	1980	Macphee (Lib)	80 748
	1981	Macphee (Lib)	110 689
	1982	Hodges (Lib)	118 030
Hawke	1983	West (ALP)	93 010
	1984	West (ALP)	68 820
	1985	Hurford (ALP)	77 510
	1986	Hurford (ALP)	92 590
	1987	Young (ALP)	113 540
	1988	Holding (ALP)	143 480
	1989	Ray (ALP)	145 320
	1990	Hand (ALP)	121 230
	1991	Hand (ALP)	121 690
Keating	1992	Hand (ALP)	107 391
	1993	Bolkus (ALP)	76 330
	1994	Bolkus (ALP)	69 768
	1995	Bolkus (ALP)	87 428
Howard	1996	Ruddock (Lib)	99 139
	1997	Ruddock (Lib)	85 752
	1998	Ruddock (Lib)	77 327
	1999	Ruddock (Lib)	84 143
	2000	Ruddock (Lib)	92 272
	2001	Ruddock (Lib)	107 366
	2002	Ruddock (Lib)	88 900

Notes:

(a) All figures are for the financial year ending 30 June.
(b) Ministers indicated are those holding office for the majority of the year. (During the period of the 'caretaker' Government of Malcolm Fraser in November and December 1975, the Minister for Labour and Immigration was Anthony Street).
(c) The settler intake includes permanent and long-term arrivals before 19581959.
(d) The 1947 figure includes arrivals from October 1945.
(e) The Department of Immigration was amalgamated with Labour between 1974 and 1976.

Table 7: Onshore Asylum Applications 19892002

Year	Asylum claims
198990	3 373
199091	14 020
199192	9 718
199293	3 087
199394	2 800
199495	4 516
199596	7 640
199697	11 135
199798	8 101
199899	8 257
199900	12 713
200001	13 015
200102	11 635

Source: Immigration Department Annual Reports.

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