‘A Bill for an Act to provide for a plebiscite at the next general election in relation to the level of migration to Australia, and for related purposes’.
The Plebiscite (Future Migration Level) Bill 2018 was introduced by Senator Pauline Hanson and has been read a first time. It includes the following provisions:
5 Plebiscite on migration to Australia
(1) The Governor-General may cause a plebiscite to be held in accordance with this Act.
(2) The question to be submitted to electors at the plebiscite is:
“From December 2005 to December 2016 Australia’s populationgrew from 20.5 million to 24.4 million; 62% of this growth was from net overseas migration.
Do you think the current rate of immigration to Australia is too high?”.
6 Result of the plebiscite
(1) The result of the plebiscite is in favour of the plebiscite proposal if, disregarding informal ballot-papers, more than 50% of the votes cast in the plebiscite are given in favour of the plebiscite proposal.
(2) The result of the plebiscite is not in favour of the plebiscite proposal if, disregarding informal ballot-papers, more than 50% of the votes cast in the plebiscite are given not in favour of the plebiscite proposal.
Senator Anning has suggested the following amendments to Senator Hanson’s Bill:
(11) Clause 5, page 5 (after line 11), after subclause (2), insert:
(3) The second question to be submitted to electors at the plebiscite is:
“Currently, Australia indiscriminately selects migrants regardless of their ethnicity, religion or country of origin.
Do you think that Australia’s immigration policy should be changed to favour predominantly European immigration with no further immigration of Muslims?”
The Plebiscite (Restricting Non‑European Migration) Bill 2018 was introduced by Senator Fraser Anning on 18 October 2018, but ‘negatived at the first hearing’. It included the following provisions:
Part 2—Plebiscite on migration to Australia
5 Plebiscite on migration to Australia
(1) The Governor‑General may cause a plebiscite to be held in accordance with this Act.
(2) The first question to be submitted to electors at the plebiscite is:
“From December 2005 to December 2016 Australia’s population grew from 20.5 million to 24.4 million; 62% of this growth was from net overseas migration.
Do you think the current rate of immigration from all sources should be substantially reduced?”.
(3) The second question to be submitted to electors at the plebiscite is:
“Currently, Australia indiscriminately selects migrants regardless of their ethnicity, religion or country of origin. Left unchanged, this policy will transform the ethnic basis of Australian society over coming decades.
Do you think that, in order to facilitate assimilation of migrants and to preserve the current ethnic composition of society, Australia’s immigration policy should be changed to favour predominantly European immigration?”.
(4) The third question to be submitted to electors at the plebiscite is:
“Muslim immigrants to Australia and their children have some of the highest levels of welfare dependency and criminal conviction rates of any group. There have also been repeated instances of attempted terrorist attacks on the broader Australian community by Muslims.
Given the record of previous Muslim immigrants to this country in terms of welfare dependency, crime and terrorism, should further Muslim immigration be prohibited?”.
(1) The result of the plebiscite is in favour of a plebiscite proposal if, disregarding informal ballot‑papers, more than 50% of the votes cast in the plebiscite are given in favour of the plebiscite proposal.
(2) The result of the plebiscite is not in favour of a plebiscite proposal if, disregarding informal ballot‑papers, more than 50% of the votes cast in the plebiscite are given not in favour of the plebiscite proposal.
Disclaimer: the above is a mere reproduction of 2 bills. The views expressed in those documents might not reflect the view of the Department, the AAT or the courts. The law or policies might have changed between the writing and reading of this article. The author of this article and Migration Law Updates disclaim any liability for any action (or omission) on their part based on any information provided (or not provided) in this article and are under no obligation to keep the general public nor practitioners informed about the matters discussed in this article or any other matters, or any future changes to any of those matters. It is the responsibility of each practitioner to obtain access to primary sources of law and policy by themselves and to carry out their own research and come to their own conclusions on legislation, case law, policies and more. This article is not intended for the general public.
Sergio Zanotti Stagliorio is a Registered Migration Agent (MARN 1461003). He is the owner of Target Migration in Sydney. He can be reached at sergio@targetmigration.com.au