Australia Day message to staff
26 January 2016
Michael Pezzullo
Secretary, Department of Immigration and Border Protection
From Settling the Land to Engaging with the World: The Unfinished Australian Journey
On Australia Day each year, we tend to look back. That makes sense, as we recognise the act of European settlement which occurred on this day in 1788. And so on our national day we rightly celebrate our historical roots, and what it means to be an Australian – to live freely, prosperously and securely.
The Australian national story has been fundamentally a story of ‘settlement’ – encompassing our nation’s indigenous origins, the British foundations of our modern nation, and the subsequent waves of migrant arrivals. In our department, we are especially attuned to the fact that Australia would never have become the nation that we are today were it not for immigration, and specifically the remarkable programme of managed mass migration which was undertaken after the Second World War. We are the proud custodians of that magnificent legacy of nation building.
We should also reflect on our future as well. In terms of immigration policy, unlike last century, we no longer rely solely on permanent migration and settlement for our economic and social prosperity. Certainly, Australia will (for as far as I can see) maintain a permanent migration programme, which will continue to be crucial for our long-term economic prosperity and our demographic health. In recent times, however, we have increasingly seen different forms of migration emerge, as we have come to appreciate the national benefits of short-term visitation and temporary migration, for tourism, work and study purposes in particular.
More broadly, in the 21st century, we have well and truly entered an era of global mobility and movement, as the world becomes ever more connected through the forces of ‘globalisation’ – whereby travel, business, trade, investment, study, work and leisure (and so much more besides) are being organised and undertaken on a global scale. Indeed, today’s world is more connected, networked and inter-dependent than ever before. Amongst other developments, we have seen the ‘wiring’ of the world, or borderless connectivity, which commenced on a global scale in the early 1990s with the mass rollout of personal computers, mobile phones and the Internet. We have also seen the expansion of global patterns of trade and investment over the same period, which has seen the rapid growth and proliferation of global supply chains, manufacturing networks and capital flows.
In this era of global mobility and movement, border entry points are increasingly forming the ‘connective tissue’ of the modern world. In various ways, nations are looking beyond the notion of a border as a ‘barrier’. They are increasingly connecting their border systems and processes - for example through ‘trusted trader’ and ‘trusted traveller’ arrangements - which will further connect people and businesses on a global scale, and further expand opportunities for cross-border mobility and movement.
This is a transformative era in human affairs. As a people, we are supremely well equipped to embrace this world of global opportunity, and to prosper as a result. Having knocked down the walls of insularity (in the form of economic protectionism and discriminatory migration policies), and having opened up our society and economy in recent decades, we are today geared to take risks and engage with the world, and prosper as a result.
Our social diversity - and our success as a nation of migrants - has laid the foundations of our national outlook as a confident, outward-looking and internationally engaged people. Australia’s success as a multicultural society challenges the idea that citizens of a nation-state have to share a singular identity that is grounded in a differentiator of race, creed or belief. Our nation nurtures active social participation and shared national values, while being mutually respectful and tolerant of our diverse identities. Long may Australians respect one another regardless of our cultural, racial, religious or other differences, and long may all participate equitably in our society, with a full appreciation of the rights and responsibilities that come with membership of that society.
I know from many discussions with foreign colleagues that Australia has a positive story to tell the world regarding social cohesion, multiculturalism and a long tradition of orderly migration that has typically enjoyed strong levels of public confidence and support.
We cannot, however, afford to become complacent. This exciting era of human history also creates global opportunities for those, such as criminals and terrorists, who would seek to take advantage of global trade, travel and mobility to pursue their evil ends – by profiting from human misery or engaging in violence in the name of distorted and perverted beliefs. As the nation’s border protection agency, we are alert to these risks as core business, and we should be very proud of the work that we do to keep our fellow Australians safe.
There is another potential trend to which we need to be alert, which is itself the consequence of globalisation, transnational mobility, and borderless connectivity. With high levels of global mobility, and increasing levels of temporary migration, the traditional model of migrant integration is being challenged around the world, and will have to continue to adapt. What do I mean by this? Earlier periods of isolation from family, friends, and ethnic culture and language, often compelled new migrants to integrate into their host societies, as occurred in post-war Australia. That was certainly my experience growing up in Sydney in the 1960s and 1970s. Perversely, in the future, in a world of global mobility, movement and borderless connectivity, we could - if we are not vigilant - see the emergence of ‘virtual’ transnational communities that are built around resurgent and ancient bonds of race or religion (or both), with a parallel disengagement from host societies. As borders blur, so too may allegiance to the nation fray, at least amongst immigrant groups that have not been well settled and integrated into that nation’s society. Around the world, we see the consequences of low levels of social cohesion in some areas of high immigrant concentration, along with social disengagement, marginalisation and, potentially, radicalisation and extremism.
Global mobility and movement work well for connecting the world, and generating prosperity, as does the ‘borderless’ digital age in which we now live. It is a good thing that borders are shifting from being seen as barriers to being seen as points of connection. However, a nation cannot simply be an arbitrary spatial construct which happens to be inhabited by individuals who lack any civic connections and common allegiances. The very idea of ‘the nation’ implies bonds of mutual regard, trust and allegiance. That is why the many wonderful citizenship ceremonies which are taking place today are more than ceremonies - they are affirmations of allegiance by our newest citizens in an increasingly ‘borderless’ world.
To be clear, Australia is a multicultural nation which operates an immigration policy which is non-discriminatory as regards race, ethnicity, religion and more besides. Equally, we are entitled to expect that those who come here – to settle, or to visit, work or study for shorter periods – will integrate into our community in terms of adhering to Australian values, respecting our laws and institutions, and exhibiting mutual respect towards one and all. We also have the right to expect that those who seek to come here reject extremism, and violence as a means to deal with political, religious, ethnic and other differences. We are within our rights to not have to tolerate the intolerant.
Our nation is on a journey as we take advantage of this dynamic period in human history, while navigating the challenges and risks of increasingly blurred borders. Our department is assisting in this journey by re-framing how we see and undertake our role. We are of course undertaking far-reaching changes. While our institutional history is a guide, it should not constrain our future. Last year, we celebrated the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Department in 1945, when we opened our doors for business – with a mission to build the nation’s population through an ambitious migration programme, whose aim was to build the nation’s labour force and the family units of the post-war years. That original mission has now passed into memory. (The history of the Department has been covered in great detail in a wonderful publication,
History of the Department of Immigration – Managing Migration to Australia , which was launched last year to commemorate our 70th anniversary.)
From 1st July 2015, our mission changed fundamentally, with the amalgamation of the nation’s immigration, customs and border protection functions and the establishment of the new integrated Department and the Australian Border Force. Today, our new departmental mission is to protect Australia’s border and manage the movement of people and goods across it. Our role is to manage our nation’s border processes by which we oversee the
flow of people and goods, to and from our nation. In other words, we are Australia's gateway to the world, and the world's gateway to Australia. On occasions, we will need to act as the gatekeepers and as necessary protect our borders by all lawful means. However, the daily operating mode of the Department will be to act as the open conduit of Australia's engagement with the world around us, for the purposes of trade, travel or migration.
In a highly-connected global environment, we will need to encourage increasingly ‘seamless’ cross-border movement. A new ‘flow’ model of the Australian border is in fact already emerging, in the form of our increasing capacity to deal with rapidly growing volumes of visitors, migrants and goods - trend lines which will only continue to increase, as the world ‘shrinks’, and as Australia’s global linkages broaden and deepen. Our ability to achieve this in the future will be critically dependent on our best asset – our people – being supported by ever improving capabilities such as real-time data fusion, information-sharing with intelligence and law enforcement partners, biometrics, intelligence-based targeting of high-risk border movements, and quick-response interdiction. Such capabilities will increasingly allow us to minimise our interventions in relation to lower-risk border movements, and concentrate our efforts where they can make the most difference in terms of enforcing our laws, protecting our community and helping to ensure our nation’s security.
Further reform is imperative. To take one example, we will not be able to cope with the growing volume (numbered in the millions) of future visa applications otherwise. We will continue to develop means to ensure rigorous scrutiny of those applications in quick turn-around times, and at high volume. We will need to be prepared to operate more like other large-scale, high-volume enterprises, dealing with masses of data, processing transactions rapidly and using advanced techniques and technologies to discover and deal with risk. This will place a premium on new systems and processes, as well as commensurate learning, development, training and other forms of support for our staff.
As you know, we have been very focussed over the past year on improving our processes and capabilities, and examining what more we need to do to provide our staff - who make it all happen - with the tools, powers and capabilities that they need to facilitate the flow of visitors, migrants and goods, while at the same time protecting our community. The Commissioner and I will have more to say in the weeks ahead on what more we need to do in the area of reform in order to build on the momentum that we achieved last year.
On this Australia Day, as we celebrate with family and friends, and as we recognise the wonderful achievements of some of our fellow citizens – some who are well known, and others who are heroes to their local communities – let us also take a moment to reflect on the role that we have played as a department in our nation’s story, and the role that we will play in the future. We are entrusted with a crucial national responsibility and we justifiably take a great deal of pride in the work that we do. There is no better day upon which to reflect on our role, which is never static, always evolving - as is the nation that we serve.
If you are interested in reading my reflections on Australia Day 2015, which covered some relevant historical aspects of the key themes covered in these reflections, you can find the message
here.
