Why anti-immigration rallies, targeting Indians, are taking place in Australia
What's the story
Australia recently witnessed a series of anti-immigration protests, especially aimed at the Indian migrant community. The rallies were held in major cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide, and Perth on Sunday. The Australian government has condemned the protests and linked them to neo-Nazi groups. "All Australians, no matter their heritage, have the right to feel safe and welcome in our community," said Murray Watt, a senior minister in the Labor government.
Protest turnout
'Cultural replacement' warning in rally
The "March for Australia" rally in Sydney drew between 5,000-8,000 people, with protesters carrying Australian flags and demanding an end to mass immigration. The group's manifesto claimed that there were "more Indians in five years than Greeks and Italians in 100." "This isn't a slight cultural change; it's a replacement," the group said. Their website also carried a similar message, saying, "This march is....for the people, culture, and nation that built Australia—and for our right to decide its future."
Others
'Our kids struggling to get homes, hospitals'
Talking to the media, participant Glenn Allchin said, "It's about our country bursting at the seams....Our kids struggling to get homes, our hospitals—we have to wait seven hours - our roads, the lack of roads." In Melbourne, protesters gathered outside Flinders Street Station with Australian flags and anti-immigrant slogans before marching to the state parliament. Thomas Sewell, a neo-Nazi figure, claimed "his men" had led the march and declared, "If we do not stop immigration, then our death is certain."
Government
We will not be intimidated: Government
The Anthony Albanese government opposed the protests, with Murray Watt, a senior minister in the Labor government, telling Sky News TV that rallies like this are "about spreading hate and that are about dividing our community." Minister for multicultural affairs Anne Aly had also slammed the planned protests, saying, "We stand with all Australians, no matter where they were born....We will not be intimidated. This brand of far-right activism grounded in racism and ethnocentrism has no place in modern Australia."
Population growth
Second-largest migrant group in Australia
Indians are now the second-largest migrant group in Australia, after the British. The 2021 census recorded around 976,000 people of Indian descent in Australia, making up over three percent of its total population. The Indian community grew rapidly after the White Australia policy was scrapped in the 1970s. After that, the demand for skilled labor in Australia saw a wave of Indian engineers migrate to the country.
Skilled labor influx
Indian ancestry growth since 2001
The trend continued with the arrival of IT workers in the 1990s and further accelerated when the John Howard-led government made it easier for Indian students to obtain permanent residency in 2006. By 2022, the number of people with Indian ancestry in Australia grew to 783,000, from 156,000 in 2001, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.