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...merely "economic migrants"

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Economic migrants or refugees? - Refugee Council of Australia

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How many refugees who come by boat have been found by refugees? Are they economic migrants or refugees?

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Q&A: Bob Carr says Australia's immigration rate should be cut in half

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CULTURAL SENSITIVITY MESSAGE - Please read

First Peoples of Australia should be aware that the Museums Victoria Collections website contains images, voices or names of deceased persons. For some First Peoples communities, seeing images or hearing recordings of persons who have passed, may cause sadness or distress and, in some cases, offense.

Language

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They are not the current views of Museums Victoria, do not reflect current understanding and are not appropriate today.

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Pamphlet - 'Twenty Million Australians in Our Time!', Arthur Calwell, Australian Federal Minister for Immigration, 8 Sep 1949

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Black and white printed pamphlet titled '20,000,000 Australians In Our Time!' written by Arthur Calwell on 8 September 1949. The pamphlet contains a statement given by the Minister for Immigration, the Hon. Arthur A. Calwell, M.H.R. to the House of Representatives on 8 September, 1949.

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What is the difference between a migrant and a refugee?

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What is the difference between a refugee and an economic migrant?

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"I thought Australia would be good for the future, good for my family." - Youssef Eid, 2012

Brothers Youssef, Romanos and Tansa Eid were born in Hadchit, a small Maronite Catholic village in the mountains of northern Lebanon.

After receiving a letter from his brother-in-law praising the economic opportunities in Australia, Youssef and his wife Nadimie migrated in 1965 with their three children.

He later sponsored Tansa, Romanos and his family. They all planned to stay for a few years and return to Lebanon with enough capital to establish businesses. Instead they settled permanently and can't imagine living anywhere else.

The Eid brothers decided to establish taxi businesses in the early 1970s. After working in textile factories the prospect of greater earnings and 'being your own boss' outweighed the long hours and personal and financial risks. Popping home for lunch or a coffee became rituals that reinforced their sense of freedom.

Romanos was the 'King of the airport'. His penchant for multiple-hiring and attracting skybus passengers to his taxi exemplified an entrepreneurial drive. His gregarious and jovial nature made him very popular with other drivers.

Romanos Eid with the first taxi he drove, 1973.

Handling 'the good, the bad and the ugly' in the back seat of their taxis became a way of life. Youssef was firm with his passengers and he didn't suffer fools. Tansa was a stickler for rules, preferring to use psychology to get out of tricky situations in his taxi.

With over 75 combined years of driving taxis, the Eid brothers left the industry in the 1990s and 2000s - weary of the working conditions and fearful of the impact of deregulation.

Taxi!

Being 'on the taxi' once offered entrepreneurial opportunities for newly arrived migrants. In recent decades the choices have been more limited.

The Eid brothers chose to establish taxi businesses in the 1970s to fulfill their hopes of prosperity, independence, mobility and flexible hours. Greater earnings could be made driving taxis compared with working for set wages, provided they were willing to put in long hours. In the long term, owning a licence proved to be a lucrative long-term investment.

Front cover of Taxi Talk magazine, No. 130 June 1977.

Since the mid 1990s the taxi industry has shifted from an owner-operated service to an investor-driven industry. In the early 1970s, the Eid brothers bought their licences for around $17 000. However, with the cost of licences rising to just under $480 000 in 2012, the owner-taxi business is now out of reach for new migrants. Instead they have to lease licences for about $24 000 a year.

Taxi driving was, and still is, challenging, unpredictable and often precarious work. For Youssef, Romanos and Tansa, extended hours on the road increased the risk of accidents and working in a confined space had adverse effects on their health. Juggling passenger and pedestrian behavior, traffic conditions and street navigation could be extremely stressful.

Today, most taxi drivers work long hours in a highly regulated industry with no working entitlements or investment opportunities. The risks and insecurities remain the same, without the silver lining.

New Australians

"When I came here I'm not happy. I wet my pillow from crying all the time, I want to go back." Youssef Eid, 2012

Youssef and his family first stayed with his brother-in-law in Strathmore. By the time his brothers arrived Youssef had bought a house in Essendon where they all lived until they could put deposits on their own homes.

They worked at Footscray's Bradmill Cotton Mills and Tansa studied English via correspondence.

"A lot of people call me wog, a lot of people told me go back to my country... In the taxi some people... ask me how many houses? I tell them I've got three, four houses, I didn't have a house. I told them I got six wives, I only have one wife, I told them a lot... to make them upset." - Youssef Eid, 2012

Family album

Getting on the Taxi

In the early 1970s Melbourne taxi drivers were required to hold an ordinary driver's licence for three years and pass a location test before obtaining a taxi driver's certificate.

After six months drivers could purchase a taxi licence for about $17 000, allowing them to own and operate a taxi business.

"I had my friends there in the taxi industry and I see that they're doing well, I thought why not try it for myself?" Tansa Eid

Relatives advised the brothers that while factory work paid $50 a week, they might make $400 a week driving taxis. In 1973 they all bought taxi licences.

Working Life

The Eid brothers often socialised with other taxi drivers at the Moonee Ponds rank. While waiting for a fare they told jokes, shared stories and advice on being 'street-smart'. Tansa remembers in the early 1980s:

"One night a couple of troublemakers got into my taxi and immediately began insulting me. I knew I had to get rid of them fast. I put the car in drive and turned the ignition. The car wouldn't start. I pretended to be frustrated and asked them to push-start the car. Once they were out of the taxi I quickly drove away." - Tansa Eid

Tansa Eid behind the wheel, about 1972.

"I was very lucky on the taxi. I had a good time. I had lot of friends at the airport, all nationalities, we were like brothers, we would play games... If it wasn't for my health I would still be working." - Romanos Eid, 2012

Taxi Talk

Taxi Talk magazine was established as a monthly trade journal for the taxi industry. It provides a unique insight into the changing face of the Victorian taxi industry from 1966 to the present day.

Its pages are filled with taxi news, advertisements and jokes. Youssef, Romanos and Tansa often read Taxi Talk while waiting for a fare.

Dangers of the Job

Youssef, Romanos & Tansa hung Christian icons in their taxis for protection. A postcard with an image of Mary and Jesus was always placed on the back of the sun visor in Tansa's taxi.

During the 1980s both Youssef and Tansa proudly displayed medallions of Saint Charbel, a Lebanese saint, in their taxis. However the depiction of his long, dark beard provoked passengers to constantly ask why they had a picture of Khomeini, the Iranian leader, in their taxi? They soon removed the medallion and decided to only display western Christian images.

"I used to go to my brothers' houses to see if they made it home, when we first started. We used to get scared, there was trouble, there were some Lebanese cab drivers that were killed before I started, maybe 35 years ago in Ballarat, it was not safe at night." - Romanos Eid

Taxi weddings

Taxicabs have long been hired for wedding parties, theatre outings and balls. In the 1970s the Eid brothers often chauffeured brides to their weddings.

They wore grey suits with shirts, ties, chauffeur hats and gloves. Their taxis were black, immaculately cleaned and adorned with white ribbon.

"My first taxi was an old black limousine car. I was very excited about starting my first business and with a limousine I could do weddings... My first day on the taxi I had to change three tyres - even the spare in the boot was flat. I had a very bad start. Everyday I had some problems if it wasn't the radiator hoses it was the alternator or the starter motor or the engine. That first year I couldn't make any money." - Tansa Eid, 2012

Tansa with his new Ford Falcon taxi, Arrow Taxi Service, 1974.

See the exhibition

Immigrant Stories is now showing at the Immigration Museum.

Find out more

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"I thought Australia would be good for the future, good for my family." - Youssef Eid, 2012 Brothers Youssef, Romanos and Tansa Eid were born in Hadchit, a small Maronite Catholic village in the mountains of northern Lebanon.

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Peter Dutton launches extraordinary attack on ‘economic refugees’ sent to US

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Immigration minister verbally abuses 52 refugees who left for resettlement in US and contradicts evidence from his own department

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The man, aged in his 30s, was killed when he was hit by a truck carrying an excavator in Redfern yesterday evening.

The most recent death has reignited calls for an overhaul of the wages and working conditions in the gig economy.

The industry has been repeatedly accused of putting profits before the wellbeing of their rider or driver "partners" earning below the minimum wage while working in often dangerous conditions.

"These companies don't care whether these riders live or die," the Transport Workers Union National Secretary told 9News today.

The TWU has again asked for a federal inquiry and tribunal.

Labor Senator Tony Sheldon has echoed this call.

"The federal government has the power to regulate to make sure these visa holders and Australian workers in this industry are protected to ensure they receive minimum and appropriate safety training and skills," he said.

Some riders being paid as little as ten dollars an hour and admit to cutting corners just to survive.

"Yes, yes I personally do if you want to make minimum wage," rider Alex Roxborough said.

The riders are often in the country on visas and are under enormous pressure to deliver food on time or risk losing their job.

In the past two weeks at least two delivery riders have been robbed or carjacked in separate incidents across Sydney.

Many of them worked through the pandemic as dine-in restaurants closed and people ordered more takeaway.

In addition, food deliveries companies aren't required to have insurance, so grieving families are often left without compensation.

NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance said the riders have "an element of self-responsibility' to ensure they are visible on the roads.

"This is government failing to regulate because they don't see them as real people," Mr Sheldon said.

In a statement, Uber Eats said the latest death was concerning in light of recent accidents.

"On Monday evening we learned the incredibly sad news that an Uber Eats delivery partner had passed away following a road accident in the Sydney CBD," an Uber Eats spokesperson said.

"We notified Safework NSW and contacted our insurance team about the incident. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones at this time.

"In isolation this fatality is devastating. But when considered alongside other recent incidents across the on-demand food delivery sector, it is all the more concerning.

"It is clear the industry needs to do more to improve road safety, and we are committed to playing a leading role in achieving this."

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Food delivery driver killed in Sydney is fourth to die on the roads in two months

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The man, aged in his 30s, was killed when he was hit by a truck carrying an excavator in Redfern yesterday evening. The most recent death has reignited calls for an overhaul of the wages and working conditions in the gig economy.

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Summary

Stanley and Lucy Hathaway migrated to Australia from England with their daughters Hazel and Merle in 1951. Having survived the bombing of their home town of Coventry, they celebrated Victory in Europe Day and later successfully applied for assistance to immigrate. Lucy had been involved in Girl Guides and Brownies in England and continued her involvement in Ballarat and Melbourne.

Stanley and Lucy Hathaway:
Stanley and Lucy (nee Simmons) Hathaway and their daughter Hazel were living in Coventry, in the West Midlands in England when World War II broke out. Stanley was a mechanical engineer and had moved to Coventry to work at a truck and later aeroplane manufacturing factory. He and Lucy had married in 1938 and she had followed him to Coventry soon afterwards.

Coventry suffered severe bomb damage during the War, most notoriously from a massive Luftwaffe air raid known as the 'Coventry Blitz' on 14 November 1940. More than 4,000 houses were damaged or destroyed, along with around three-quarters of the city's industrial plants which had a high concentration of armament, munitions, and aircraft production. More than 800 people were killed, with thousands injured and homeless. Nevertheless, the family remained in Coventry until 1946, having survived the bombings, and they were present for the Victory in Europe celebrations on 8 May 1945 for which Lucy made Hazel a special dress to wear.

The Hathaways relocated to Wing in a neighbouring country of Buckinghamshire in 1947 where Stanley purchased a hardware store at 44 High Street. Lucy had been working for the Singer Sewing Machine company as a sales representative and demonstrator. She continued her longstanding involvement with the Girl Guides. Their second daughter Merle was born in Wing in 1948, and prior to 1950 the family also resided in New Forest and Ringwood in Hampshire.

It was around 1950 that the family decided to migrate to Australia as they were being pushed out of business by another larger store. Stanley had expressed an interest in migrating to Australia many years earlier. The family sold up, and bought a caravan to live in. Their application took nearly two years to be confirmed under the Assisted Passage Migration Scheme, correspondence indicating that Stanley's trade qualifications were not immediately accepted for the Commonwealth Nomination Scheme. Putting all their belongings into storage, they purchased a second smaller caravan and went caravanning around England while awaiting the finalisation of their passage. On 17 November, 1951 Stanley, Lucy and their two daughters Hazel (aged 12) and Merle (aged 3), departed England on the 'New Australia', travelling via the Suez Canal and arrived in Melbourne in time for Christmas. The luggage and contents lists that Stanley kept show that the family were able to transport a number of goods in their homemade crate, including Lucy's singer sewing machine and Stanley's work tools.

They first stayed (probably for a few weeks) at the Bathurst Migrant Camp in New South Wales (one of the major migrant reception centres in Australia, accepting around 100,000 migrants between 1948 and 1952). The accommodation was basic - army surplus iron sheds and timber barracks which were unlined, unheated and offered little privacy. The family was then relocated to Ballarat in Victoria where an acute housing shortage had led to the establishment of a housing commission estate on the former Ballarat Common (now Wendouree West) under construction between 1951 and 1962. They were housed in Nissen tin huts but within six months they had purchased a block of land near Ballarat Grammar, where they designed a house, living in a borrowed caravan while it was built.

The family joined the Jubilee Methodist Church and Stanley joined the church choir and later the Civic Male and City of Ballarat Choirs. He had a high, sweet tenor voice and singing was one of his passions. He also was a keen member the chorus of the Ballarat Light Opera Company (and probably its oldest performing member). Lucy worked as a volunteer for a local committee which would establish the McCallum House Centre for Retarded Children at Sebastopol (where Lucy became Supervisor for 17 years). Her mother Sarah Simmons joined the family in 1958 but was never very happy in Australia. She missed city life and hated the 'green' (countryside). The family remained staunch supporters of the English Royal family, collecting memorabilia relating to the 1954 Coronation, and the 1954 and 1983 Royal Visits. They also continued their involvement with the Brownies and Girl Guides. The couple relocated to Northcote in Melbourne in 1968 and Lucy became Supervisor of another children's centre in Epping. She went on to become Northcote's first female councillor.

After they both retired, Lucy and Stanley followed their daughter Merle to Buninyong near Ballarat, purchasing a block of land in the main street. They bought a log cabin kit home for which Stanley drew up all the plans and together they built the house. Lucy and Stanley became Secretary and Treasurer of the Buninyong Labor Party, and joined the local Bowling and Senior Citizens clubs. They also took woodworking lessons. Stanley had a series of strokes over time and died in 1990. Lucy became active with various support groups and clubs, both community and church. As a child she had had rheumatic fever and in her 80's developed a serious heart condition. Against advice Lucy underwent a highly risky valve replacement operation around 2000 and she lived for another nine years, passing away in 2009.

Hazel Hathaway:
After Lucy and Stanley returned to Ballarat (Buninyong), Hazel rented a flat in Northcote while working at Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital. She retired before the official retirement age on a disability pension initially as she had had several serious schizophrenic episodes while at Fairfield. She then moved to Buninyong to live near her parents. She joined the Delacombe Salvation Army, Buninyong Bowling Club and Buninyong Senior Citizens Club and, especially after her father's death, became a constant companion to her mother. Hazel continued to have occasional schizophrenic episodes, and more intensive care meant she had to be admitted to a hostel in Sebastopol, which she hated. Diagnosed with bowel cancer, Hazel died aged only 65.

Merle Hathaway:
Merle attended Wendouree Primary School, Ballarat High School, and Ballarat School of Mines, studying sculpture, ceramics and photography. She married sculptor Michael Young in December 1969 and they travelled in Europe and North Africa for three years, particularly visiting galleries, museums and architectural sites. On their return in late 1972 they rented before purchasing the old Buninyong brewery in 1973 which they restored and which Merle continues to run as a business. She finished her art and education training, worked as an art teacher at Sebastopol Technical College for seven years and then held various education, arts and community arts positions in Ballarat. She furthered her qualifications in museum studies and tourism and went on to become Director of Horsham Regional Art Gallery and then Executive Officer of the Public Galleries Association. During her mother's final years as her health declined Merle spent a great deal of time with Lucy.

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Hathaway Family, Assisted English Migrants, 1951

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Stanley and Lucy Hathaway:Stanley and Lucy (nee Simmons) Hathaway and their daughter Hazel were living in Coventry, in the West Midlands in England when World War II broke out. Stanley was a mechanical engineer and had moved to Coventry to work at a truck and later aeroplane manufacturing factory.

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Migration and Migrant Labour in the Gig Economy- An Intervention 

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Australian Labor Party MP @KKeneally channels her inner @PaulineHansonOz

Pauline Hanson "Kristina Keneally, first time she's probably agreed with me, the Labor Party may finally be listening."

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Australian Labor Party MP @KKeneally channels her inner @PaulineHansonOz

Pauline Hanson "Kristina Keneally, first time she's probably agreed with me, the Labor Party may finally be listening." https://t.co/XeKHVQF7iO

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Australian Labor Party MP @KKeneally channels her inner @PaulineHansonOz

Pauline Hanson "Kristina Keneally, first time she's probably agreed with me, the Labor Party may finally be listening." pic.twitter.com/XeKHVQF7iO
— eX-detainees (@riserefugee) May 5, 2020

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Australian Labor Party MP @KKeneally channels her inner @PaulineHansonOz

Pauline Hanson "Kristina Keneally, first time she's probably agreed with me, the Labor Party may finally be listening." https://t.co/XeKHVQF7iO

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Australian Labor Party MP @KKeneally channels her inner @PaulineHansonOz

Pauline Hanson "Kristina Keneally, first time she's probably agreed with me, the Labor Party may finally be listening." https://t.co/XeKHVQF7iO

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Australian Labor Party MP @KKeneally channels her inner @PaulineHansonOz

Pauline Hanson "Kristina Keneally, first time she's probably agreed with me, the Labor Party may finally be listening."

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By MatthewDonovan | | comments |

The issue of asylum seekers is overblown by the media and subject to cynical politics from all sides, human rights advocate Gerry Georgatos calls for a more compassionate approach.

In the late 70s and early 80s tens of thousands of refugees came to Australia with a minimum of fuss.

DURING THE LAST YEARS of the 1970s and the early years of the 1980s up to 30,000 refugees a year came by boat to Australia. There was relatively little public fuss. There was the bipartisan political support of both Malcolm Fraser and Gough Whitlam. However three decades later hysteria has gripped us. It was first generated by the Howard years. These days, we have bipartisan support for punitive measures to "stem the tide of boat people".

In the late 1970s and early 1980s moral leadership was demonstrated by the Fraser Government assisting Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees. My sister-in-law - just a baby - came from Vietnam on one of those boats. The boat nearly sank on the way here.

Children who arrived from these countries without any knowledge of English or any possessions enrolled in my school. I became friends with some of them. One of them, a landmine victim, severely dragged his right leg.

The Galang Island camp opened in 1979 and was closed in 1996 after all the refugees were resettled. It had two sections; one for newly arrived refugees and another for those approved, who received English classes and cultural information about the country of their resettlement.

Babies were born in the Galang Island camp.

Alongside the UNHCR, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) and Save the Children maintained a daily presence.

Hong Kong's little rocky island of Hei Ling Chau maintained a closed camp with razor wire. Many of the refugees broke down and again many died. Hong Kong refused to push boats of refugees back out to sea, as Thais did on occasions.

There are patterns of global movements of refugees which explain boat arrivals - nothing else does.

People risk their lives to get to other countries in order to flee persecution and other dangers. Half the asylum seekers to Australia in the last 15 years have been Hazaras fleeing the Taliban.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Bob Carr has done a great disservice to the national consciousness. It is as bad as anything former Prime Minister John Howard did. Minister Carr described Iranian refugees fleeing to Australia as economic migrants. He has no evidence of this; he is merely working to harden the attitudes of Australians against these people.

More than 90 per cent of all asylum seekers who sought refuge in Australia have been approved as bona fide refugees.

The diabolical myth-making that occurs is disgraceful. The ability to discover the truth is outstripped by the capacity to manifest deceit.

Take the argument that there are "queues". It is as if someone should stand in a Woolworths checkout line instead of running for their life.

The argument that they all destroy their passports and other important documents is false. Most of them can never secure such documents.

Both sides of government are responsible for misleading the national consciousness.

Our government needs to demonstrate moral leadership. For a country like Australia, resettling 30,000 to 40,000 people a year is not an issue. It never has been. It is only a trickle of humanity.

Detention centres should be dismantled. We should be instead assisting them into community living and onto refugee visas in less than 30 days of their arrival. Ridding Australia of the blight of detention centres will save Australia $4 billion a year. This money could then be spent on regional collaborations and other such worthy initiatives.

I have interviewed more than one hundred former immigration detainees. The effect of prolonged detention is brutal. For many of them their period of prolonged incarceration and obvious maltreatment has left them with clinical disorders. They suffer mental and physical meltdowns that disable them from the normal life most of us enjoy.

The Australia I know and am proud of should be resettling as many asylum seekers as it can. It should be wisely spending its billions on working for humanity and not against it.

The number of asylum seekers coming to Australia is small. The spikes in numbers run in parallel to global refugee patterns, nothing else. There are no other so-called "push" and "pull" factors.

The dog-whistle politics needs to cease.

(Gerry Georgatos is the lead senate candidate in WA for the Wikileaks Party at the upcoming federal election.)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License

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the refugee dog-whistle politics must stop

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The refugee dog-whistle politics must stop

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By MatthewDonovan | | comments | The issue of asylum seekers is overblown by the media and subject to cynical politics from all sides, human rights advocate Gerry Georgatos calls for a more compassionate approach. DURING THE LAST YEARS of the 1970s and the early years of the 1980s up to 30,000 refugees a year came by boat to Australia.

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In modern Australia, there is an uneasy relationship between international students seeking migration through education while attempting to pay their considerable fees. Most do so by working for rideshare or food delivery services, or employment in supermarkets.

They straddle the invisible barrier between the citizenship comforts of the First World and the desperate striving among those from developing countries.

Most are not citizens and cannot vote. They are also not eligible for childcare subsidies. The cost of flexibility is the sacrificing of entitlements such as sick leave.

The unspoken undercurrent of the debate is that our lifestyles are partially built on the cheap labour of newly arrived migrants,

The ACTU estimates the current size of the gig economy to be marginally above 1 per cent of the job market, but destined to grow. Led by Uber, the apps and their algorithms have popularised a new way of organising workers.

Our egalitarian ethos means Australians have long been uncomfortable about having servants. Expatriate Australian professionals in Asia often express an initial discomfort at having a maid, a nanny, or a driver. But they eventually get used to the idea of domestic jobs being dealt with.

We feel similar discomfort at home about riders dying for our convenience, as the handful of food delivery workers who were killed last year underlined.

Labor's Anthony Albanese has also picked industrial relations as his big point of difference with the government. In a recent speech about the gig economy, he promised workers "a better deal", vowing that a Labor government would "legislate to ensure more Australian workers have access to employee protections and entitlements currently denied to them by the narrow, outdated definition of an 'employee' ".

In a campaign spearheaded by the NSW branch of the Transport Workers Union, the party wants to set up an independent umpire to ensure adequate safety standards and insurance. ACTU secretary Sally McManus referred to insecure work as a "virus" in a speech last year, calling for a target to halve the number of insecure jobs by the end of the decade.

Federal Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter has pounced on such demands as unworkable, saying they would hurt employers and kill jobs, but the battle lines have been drawn.

While there will be ongoing debate about the definition of a casual worker, such pronouncements miss the point that many workers prefer flexibility over security.

A European working conditions survey which covered almost 50,000 workers across 44 countries found two-thirds of gig workers found it "easy" to "arrange an hour or two off during working time to take care of personal or family matters". However, almost half of employed machine operators, service or sale workers answered the same question as "very difficult".

The corresponding, and less debated issue is how to enshrine better flexibility in low-paid work.

As Sarah O'Connor wrote last year in the Financial Times, "we should remember the gig economy isn't the cause of their ills, it's a symptom of them".

Last year Uber won a notable victory when voters in California approved Proposition 22, which means it does not have to classify drivers as employees, a move that reduced Uber's costs by 5 per cent. Instead, it is obliged to pay 120 per cent of the minimum wage (not applicable while drivers wait between passengers).

But last week in a landmark ruling, the British Supreme Court found Uber's system of control placed so-called contractors in a "position of subordination". As a result they have been granted similar entitlements to those classified as workers, rather than those who are self-employed.

They are not, however, permanent employees and retain a degree of flexibility.

The decision threatens to reshape the gig economy in Britain and will have implications globally, especially in countries like Australia which share common law principles. In the short term, costs for Uber are certain to rise.

But the unspoken undercurrent of the debate is that our middle-class lifestyles are partially built on the cheap labour of newly arrived migrants, mediated through algorithmic capitalism.

While intentions to improve their lot may be noble, further regulation threatens to limit their opportunities to transition to the privileges of citizenship.

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The gig economy is also a road to the comforts of citizenship

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In modern Australia, there is an uneasy relationship between international students seeking migration through education while attempting to pay their considerable fees. Most do so by working for rideshare or food delivery services, or employment in supermarkets. They straddle the invisible barrier between the citizenship comforts of the First World and the desperate striving among those from developing countries.

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A migrant is a person who makes a conscious choice to leave their country to seek a better life elsewhere. Before they decide to leave their country, migrants can seek information about their new home, study the language and explore employment opportunities. They can plan their travel, take their belongings with them and say goodbye to the important people in their lives. They are free to return home at any time if things don't work out as they had hoped, if they get homesick or if they wish to visit family members and friends left behind.

Refugees are forced to leave their country because they are at risk of, or have experienced persecution. The concerns of refugees are human rights and safety, not economic advantage. They leave behind their homes, most or all of their belongings, family members and friends. Some are forced to flee with no warning and many have experienced significant trauma or been tortured or otherwise ill-treated. The journey to safety is fraught with hazard and many refugees risk their lives in search of protection. They cannot return unless the situation that forced them to leave improves. (RCOA)

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What is the difference between a refugee and a migrant? - Settlement Services International

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A migrant is a person who makes a conscious choice to leave their country to seek a better life elsewhere. Before they decide to leave their country, migrants can seek information about their new home, study the language and explore employment opportunities.

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ACTU Secretary Sally McManus on the national conversation around food delivery drivers

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A vigil has been held in Sydney in memory of the five food delivery drivers killed on the roads in the last two months.

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Q&A panellists discussed migration and refugees, but struggled to agree on what the numbers show. Q&A

The Conversation is fact-checking claims made on Q&A, broadcast Mondays on the ABC at 9:35pm. Thank you to everyone who sent us quotes for checking via Twitter using hashtags #FactCheck and #QandA, on Facebook or by email.

SHEN NARAYANASAMY: I think there is an alternative because when you understand that we take 800,000 people a year and we have done so since Prime Minister John Howard, the highest intake in history, it's because we know it turbo-charges our economy and contributes to our society.

JIM MOLAN: 800,000 per year?

SHEN NARAYANASAMY: 800,000 per year.

JIM MOLAN: 200,000 per year.

SHEN NARAYANASAMY: No, 800,000.

JIM MOLAN: 200,000 per year.

SHEN NARAYANASAMY: This is the problem.

JIM MOLAN: 200,000 per year.

JANE MCADAM: Permanent. 600,000 temporary....

... TONY JONES: The fact checkers are going to be all over this one.
- The architect of Australia's Sovereign Borders strategy, retired general Jim Molan, speaking with GetUp's Shen Narayanasamy, director of UNSW's Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law Professor Jane McAdam and host Tony Jones on Q&A, October 10, 2016.

On Q&A, panellists duelled over the numbers of migrants Australia takes a year. Is it 200,000 or 800,000? How many are permanent and how many are temporary?

Let's check the facts.

Checking the source

The Conversation asked the three panellists for sources and comment to support their statements.

Shen Narayanasamy referred to a recent speech she had given. Her figure of 800,000 included visas issued under categories such as family reunion, skilled workers, a special eligibility category, humanitarian visas issued to refugees, student visas, 457 temporary workers visas and 417 working holiday visas. You can read her full response here.

Jim Molan said it was "important to understand the nature of these 800,000 visas and what relevance they have to a discussion on how generous we are to refugees".

Jane McAdam said that her comment was intended to clarify the breakdown of the figures quoted by Shen Narayanasamy, "specifically that the 200,000 figure mentioned by Jim and Shen referred (roughly) to the number of new permanent migrants each year, and that the remaining 600,000 in Shen's figure were temporary visas". You can read her full response here.

Depending on how you look at it, all the panellists are broadly correct. Whether or not the figure is 200,000 or 800,000 depends on what categories you include.

Let's break it down.

Permanent migration

The entry and presence of non-citizens in Australia is regulated by the Migration Act and Regulations, and administered by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection under the Migration Programme.

Broadly speaking, permanent migration is capped each year but temporary migration is not.

Each year, the Australian government determines how many permanent visas can be handed out across categories such as skilled, family and humanitarian (which includes refugees onshore and offshore). The bureaucrats planning this take into account research, community views, economic and labour forecasting.

The umbrella Migration Programme can be broken into two parts: a migration program and a refugee and humanitarian program.

Under the migration program, for the year 2015-2016, the bureaucrats planned for 190,000 permanent visas, comprising up to:

128,550 skilled places,

57,400 family stream places, and

565 special eligibility stream places

Under the Refugee and Humanitarian program, there were 13,750 places allocated in 2015-2016, consisting of:

11,000 places available for the resettlement of refugees offshore, and

2,750 places available for onshore applicants who did not arrive in Australia by boat

(These numbers exclude the one-off 12,000 places made available to resettle Syrian and Iraqi refugees.)

The actual numbers of permanent visas granted each year may not exactly match the planned levels.

The tables below show the Department's publicly available historical data on the planning levels and the outcomes of both the migration and humanitarian and refugee programs for the last decade.
Table 1: Australia's planned permanent migration intake for 2005-2015
Table 2: Migration Programme outcome by stream 2005-2015

Table 3: Humanitarian and Refugee visas granted 2005-2015

Refugee and humanitarian visas have been steady at around 6-10% of Australia's overall permanent migration intake for the last decade. Most of Australia's migrants are not refugees. This is despite a growing need for international protection both within the region and abroad.

Only 33 countries have formal resettlement programs with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Australia ranks highly within this group of countries.

But only a small fraction of the world's refugees are settled through the UNHCR program. If we look at the the broader picture, based on 2015 figures, Australia does not rank highly for overall refugee intake or refugee intake per capita.

Temporary migration

In contrast to permanent migration, temporary migration in Australia is not planned in detail. The number of visas granted each year fluctuates.

As temporary migrants come and go, it is difficult to ascertain exactly how many temporary visa holders are in Australia at any given time.

On my calculations, the Department's latest available statistics show there are around 1 million people in Australia on visas held by visitors, students, 457 workers and asylum seekers on bridging visa E visas (a category for people making arrangements to leave, finalise their immigration matters or who are waiting for an immigration decision).

But this is by no means a complete picture as there are other categories not accounted for in that calculation.

Net overseas migration

Looking at the numbers of visas granted or held does not give us the full picture in terms of the net number of arrivals for a given year. We need to also take into account temporary visa holders who leave the country, and those who are already in Australia.

For example, a person may transition from a temporary to permanent visa in Australia. Such a visa grant would not constitute a person entering Australia.

For this reason, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) measures net overseas migration by calculating those visa holders (or "travellers", to use the ABS' term) who have been in Australia for 12 of the last 16 months. The measurement is intended to exclude short-term visitors.

According to the ABS figures for 2014-2015, net overseas migration to Australia was estimated at 168,200.

Verdict

Depending on how you look at it, all participants are correct.

It is true that roughly 200,000 permanent visas are granted each year.

For any given year, the total of permanent and temporary visa holders in Australia at any given time may be higher or lower than 800,000.

Further, if we are looking at net overseas migration, the numbers are different still.

In the context of the refugee debate - which was the main focus of the Q&A discussion - it is important to emphasise that the numbers of permanent visas available to refugees (both onshore and offshore) accounts for a relatively small proportion of Australia's overall permanent migration intake.

This has been consistent for much of the past decade. - Khanh Hoang.

Review

This is a sound analysis of the debate that took place on Q&A. The author is right to note in their conclusion that all participants were technically correct. I agree with Jim Molan that the figure of 200,000 - which represents the number of permanent migrants moving to Australia - is most relevant to discussion about refugee policy.

What is especially important to remember is that Australia's annual humanitarian intake scheme remains a very small, static percentage of Australia's overall migration scheme. - Sara Davies.

Have you ever seen a "fact" worth checking? The Conversation's FactCheck asks academic experts to test claims and see how true they are. We then ask a second academic to review an anonymous copy of the article. You can request a check at checkit@theconversation.edu.au. Please include the statement you would like us to check, the date it was made, and a link if possible.

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FactCheck Q&A: what are the real numbers on refugees and other migrants coming to Australia?

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The Conversation is fact-checking claims made on Q&A, broadcast Mondays on the ABC at 9:35pm. Thank you to everyone who sent us quotes for checking via Twitter using hashtags #FactCheck and #QandA, on Facebook or by email.

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Summary

Program, 'Australia in 2050, The Population Summit 2002' issued by the Government of Victoria in February 2002. Held in Melbourne in February 2002, hosted by the Victorian Government and chaired by Steve Vizard, the 2002 Population Summit (Australia in 2050) was attended by politicians, prominent Australians, school students and population policy experts.

During the Summit the Premiers of all States, except South Australia, and the Chief Ministers of the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory signed an historic communique which recommends acknowledgement of the need for a National Population Policy, the establishment of an intergovernmental Population Council to develop, communicate and co-ordinate matters, to educate, to commission research, maintain a national database and report annually.

Despite this agreement the Summit saw a wide range of views about Australia's population needs: Philip Ruddock (then Minister for Immigration) argued "Australia does not need a population policy", Simon Crean (then Opposition Leader) pushed for Australia to set population targets as part of a comprehensive population policy, Former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser wanted a target of 40 million, largely from increased immigration, others pushed for a target population of 50 million by 2050 also from increased immigration, and Ross Garnaut, Professor of Economics at the Australian National University, stated "that without population growth through increased fertility and immigration, Australia would become a declining, ageing place and questions would be asked about its viability as a national sovereign entity". Conversely Peter Mc Donald, Professor of Social Sciences at ANU argued that to achieve a population of 50 million by 2050 was far above any realistic past or future achievement.

Physical Description

Booklet with cover printed on matt finished paper. Blue background with stylised image of Australia with faces in olive green. Text on right hand edge of cover and logo and text in top left hand corner.

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Museums Victoria Collections https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/250744
Accessed 14 March 2021

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Programme - 'Australia in 2050, The Population Summit 2002', Government of Victoria, Feb 2002

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Program, 'Australia in 2050, The Population Summit 2002' issued by the Government of Victoria in February 2002. Held in Melbourne in February 2002, hosted by the Victorian Government and chaired by Steve Vizard, the 2002 Population Summit (Australia in 2050) was attended by politicians, prominent Australians, school students and population policy experts.

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At some point in the last century Americans, having gotten rid of slavery, accidentally lifted their incomes so much that they found themselves isolated in suburban houses, surrounded by machinery, cleaning their own toilets. They had rising incomes but everyone's incomes were rising which means that there was no one to do stuff for you, and you couldn't just buy people anymore.

This century the vaunted American middle class has bottomed out and the place has started to look more like the 'developing' world, with a definite underclass. However, lacking generations of feudal tradition and clinging to the myth of being a classless society, Americans couldn't just bring servants into their homes. So venture capitalists did it for them.

Uber and Postmates and DoorDash and all of these 'gig' economy companies simply created a giant pool of servants that you could call on demand. That's all they really do. The gig economy is just a giant collection of servants.
I should know. I have servants.
I live in Sri Lanka and despite always making below the US poverty line (about $2000 a month), that is a shit-ton of money here. I have also generally lived with family that pools resources. Hence I have (and have often had) a driver. This driver can go and pick stuff up as well. So that's Uber and Postmates rolled into one. If you have a good driver they can do lots of things.

My family or my wife's family also have cooks, which makes DoorDash (food delivery) largely irrelevant, but again, there's also the driver for that.

Then of course there are cleaners and people to do laundry, which I have always had, even when I lived alone, because it makes life so much better. It has always amazed me that quite wealthy people in the west still clean their toilets and fold clothes. Silicon Valley hasn't quite yet figured that one out, though WeWork has serviced offices where all the cleaning and janitorial are taken care of.

I still use ride hailing and food delivery services, but the fact is that the core functionality of these apps - despite all their fancy technology - is not significantly different than having a servant. What the technology has done is pool the servants, make them available to more people, make it easier to communicate tasks, and - most importantly - make it possible to not think of them as servants at all.

But that is what people in the gig economy are. They drive you around, they run errands for you, they bring you food. There's a lot of hype and billionaires around that fact that an increasing unequal society has rediscovered servants, and given it a new name. If you strip away the hype and get to the core functionality, the gig economy is just a distributed servant class.

This is not a revolution as much as it is a return. In Sri Lanka decades ago you would get fresh milk delivered to your door. Today you get bread, vegetables, fish and brooms and brushes peddled door-to-door. Make that 'on-demand', scale it up with venture money and you've got a startup, but it's still basically the same thing.

For all the algorithms companies have thrown at the problem they still can't find a way to pay great wages, even after massive subsidization, so it's not like they revolutionized that troubling part of the servant situation either. And they still skirt labor laws, which sadly don't apply to most domestic workers. For all the vaunted efficiency gains of technology, it's still not so efficient that it's changed the basic economics of menial tasks. In 'developing' countries being a gig worker can be a step up, but it's hard to argue this in countries which have already moved on and expect more.

The gig economy is just white people re-discovering servants. That's really all it is. It offers the same conveniences as centuries past, or 'developing' countries now, but also comes with the same economic and ethical issues. As much AI or even automation as you throw at it, you still have poorer people doing stuff you don't want to do for not really enough money.

The real disruption would be something that renders the gig economy or servant class empty, because it lifts living standards for so many. Something that creates actual middle class jobs and lifts real family incomes across the board. In the past these have been government infrastructure programs, or opening up to free trade, or allowing more free movement of people. But those policies aren't sexy and they don't have an app.

But we shouldn't mistake gig economy companies for more than what they are. They deliver convenience, not prosperity. They touch millions of lives, but only in a superficial way.

As it is, however, the gig economy is a symptom of rising inequality, not a solution. For countries that haven't had servants the difference seems truly revolutionary, but in reality they are just stepping back into the 'developing' world, hiding the ugly parts behind a gilded screen.
Further Reading: After writing this I discovered this great article by Alexis Madrigal on the same idea: The Servant Economy

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The Gig Economy Is White People Discovering Servants

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At some point in the last century Americans, having gotten rid of slavery, accidentally lifted their incomes so much that they found themselves isolated in suburban houses, surrounded by machinery, cleaning their own toilets. They had rising incomes but everyone's incomes were rising which means that there was no one to do stuff for you, and you couldn't just buy people anymore.

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CULTURAL SENSITIVITY MESSAGE - Please read

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Badge - Australia is Full, Australians Against Further Immigration, circa 1990

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Alternative Name(s): Button Badge 'Australia is Full', made on behalf of the organisation Australians Against Further Immigration, circa 1990. Australians Against Further Immigration (AAFI) was an Australian political party who described themselves as "eco-nationalists" and were against positive net immigration. The party was founded in 1989 and registered in 1990 by Rodney and Robyn Spencer, the ...

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Summary

Salvatore and Gesualda Mazzarino and their children migrated to Melbourne on the 'Flotto Lauro' from a rural town in Sicily, Italy in 1961. Salvatore worked at the Newport railyards as a blacksmith and Gesualda in small city textile factories. They purchased their one and only family home in St Albans which became the site of Salvatore's gardening, small farming and traditional basket weaving practices.

Salvatore Mazzarino was born in Vizzini, Provincia Catania, a rural town in Sicily in Italy on 17 February 1923. His family were farmers and they were able to subsist on their own produce. He was the eighth child of 14 children. Salvatore was in the Italian army during World War II, serving in Italy and Germany and was for a period a prisoner of war in Stargard, Germany. He would later receive a medal of honour in Melbourne for his war service. He returned home after the War.

Salvatore and Gesualda [also from Vizzini] eloped and married in 1947. Like many from Vizzini, they migrated to Australia on the Flotto Lauro line 'TN Roma', leaving on 19 March and arriving on 1 April 1961. They travelled with their son Angelo (12 years old) and daughter Marianna (nine years old). Their third child Francesca was born in Melbourne in 1965. Salvatore already had two sisters in Melbourne, Antonina Randello and Giovanna Costa, as well as one brother Giuseppe, and was later joined by two more sisters Maria Ravaneschi and Concetta Polizzi. Gesualda's only brother Gregorio Ragusa also migrated to Australia with his family.

The couple rented a house in Werribee for a few years until they could purchase their own home in St Albans in 1964 where they lived for the rest of their lives together. Two years later they purchased the neighbouring block, giving them about half an acre for their extensive garden.

Salvatore worked as a blacksmith at the Newport rail yards until he retired around 1984. He learned the trade on the job. Gesualda, who learned sewing skills in Italy, took a machinist course in Melbourne and worked in small factories in the city, including in Flinders Lane. She also made all the clothes for herself and the children.

The garden was Salvatore's passion and he was able to apply all the cultivation skills he brought from Italy to growing a diverse array of fruit, vegetable, herbs and flowers. The couple, like so many migrants, smuggled seeds into Australia so that they could grow their own varieties of produce - Gesualda sewed seeds into the hems of her skirts and friends and relatives all did the same to keep Salvatore in good supply. Some of his crop included grapes [he made his own wine], tomatoes [Gesualda made tomato sauce and her own dried tomatoes], figs, eggplants, fennel, corn, olives [salted, pressed and preserved], capsicum,chilies, purple broccoli [unusual in Melbourne at the time], garlic [dried, plaited and hung in the kitchen], parsley, basil and oregano [dried and stored in jars]. The produce was primarily for family consumption but Salvatore gave a much away to family, friends and neighbours. Later he did grow and sell seedlings for a small income.

In order to collect and store the produce, Salvatore made baskets from cane that he grew himself in his garden. The baskets are woven in a Sicilian style and he probably learned the skill from his father. The cane was dried, cut into even strips and used to make the baskets in the winter months. During his lifetime he produced hundreds of baskets of varying shapes and sizes, some with handles and some without. He appears to be unique in demonstrating this skill in Melbourne and was widely recognised in the community for this ability. Salvatore received certificates for craft displays and did demonstrations for school children. He gave many baskets away as gifts holding produce from his garden.

Settlement was not easy for the family. They spoke no English when they arrived and only ever learned just enough to get by. For more complex negotiations, their daughter Marianna [who attended St Albans High School] would act as interpreter for them. They found the lack of Italian goods frustrating, little was produced locally and they were adamant at wanting fresh produce.

Gesualda returned to Italy when her mother died, and also with Salvatore who felt justified in his decision to migrate when he saw the continuing hardships of life in his home town. All their children married and had six grandchildren, Sam and Melissa Mazzarino, Leo and Debbie Rando, Christopher and Natalie Cefala and one great grandchild Jasmine Rando. Salvatore died on 30th October 2004, Gesualda now resides in a nursing home.

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Salvatore & Gesualda Mazzarino, Italian Migrants, 1961

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Salvatore Mazzarino was born in Vizzini, Provincia Catania, a rural town in Sicily in Italy on 17 February 1923. His family were farmers and they were able to subsist on their own produce. He was the eighth child of 14 children.