We are on the verge of a new global political order, and it is bad for Australian society, and our economy.
President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk have told the world about their policy mandate for well over a year, and the similarities of their immigration and economic policies to Australia's outlook from 1901 until around 1972, are unsettling.
Immigration restriction and overregulation of the economy are bad for business, and they are bad for jobs. Trump and Musk's plans to execute fatalistic economic protectionism through tariffs, and immigration restrictions never worked well for Australia, and it was only through our governments dismantling them that Australia's social and economic powerhouse rose among nations.
Largely popular among Australian voters at the time, the white Australia policy mandated who could immigrate to Australia based on the colour of their skin, their language, their religion, creed, and culture. There is, however, one critical difference.
Rather than resort to mass deportations of non-White Australian citizens in the country—which Trump and Musk propose for the US—the Commonwealth mandate also sought to assimilate any non-white Australians, meaning that they had to speak English, "act British", and pledge an allegiance to the Crown and the British Empire.
Before and after the 1967 referendum—which recognised Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander First Nations Australians in the census—strict Commonwealth and state laws eroded our Indigenous right to self-determination, with governments interfering with our personal freedoms and liberties, betraying the foundational principles of liberal democracy.
However, after the post-war period of reconstruction, Australians turned a distinctive corner. Since the introduction of the Racial Discrimination Act in 1975, the last remaining formal elements of white Australia had finally come undone. Australia's economic outlook in the 1980s, soared. However, an attempt to resurrect white Australia policy came soon thereafter.
In the 1980s, former Prime Minister John Howard—then opposition leader--sought to introduce what he called the One Australia Policy. Howard's policy sought to deny any concept of First Nations sovereignty and restrict Asian immigration to Australia.
Unlike Trump and Musk's policy today, Howard's policy proved unpopular among the electorate, and his own party. The promotion of the One Australia Policy by the opposition leader led to a decline in Asian business investment through Australian markets, and Howard was dumped as Liberal Party and Opposition leader in favour of Andrew Peacock.
If governments care about our economy, and about freedom in Australia—though it is on the decline among our oldest allies— the White Australia policy should never be repeated in any form. The Australian people have continued to stand up to politicians and their attempts to wreck our economy and interfere with our personal freedoms, and long may they continue to do so.
Jesse J. Fleay is a Noongar writer and research specialist across major policy areas. His doctoral thesis explores a model for an Australian republic, along with calls to enact a Voice to Parliament for First Nations Australians. He believes in justice, and fairness in society and only works with people committed to First Nations people, and their self-determination. Views expressed are his own.
