Terrorism, Immigration, and Multiculturalism
| Published date | 01 September 2006 |
| Date | 01 September 2006 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200606100311 |
| Author | James Jupp |
| Subject Matter | Article |
James Jupp
Terrorism,
immigration, and
multiculturalism
The Australian experience
| International Journal | Summer 2006 | 699 |
Three defining events have shaped public policy in Australia towards the
“war on terrorism.” The September 2001 attack on New York was obvious-
ly the first. This prompted legislation in the following year that expanded
the powers of the main intelligence body, the Australian Security and
Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), and expedited its move from intelligence
collection to security operations. The second was the bombing attacks in
London in July 2005, which shifted the emphasis from immigration control
to domestic vigilance. The third was the major race riot at Cronulla, Sydney
in December 2005. This alerted authorities to the deterioration in ethnic
relations created by these previous events and led to increased penalties
against violence. No terrorist attacks have happened in Australia. Only a
handful of arrests have been made, most awaiting trial. Loss of life has
been confined to the Bali b ombing of October 2002, which was not direct-
ed specifically against Australians. This resulted in greatly improved coop-
eration between Indonesian and Australian security and police, something
that had started to develop in response to the prevention of unauthorised
asylum seeker arrivals, most of whom came through Indonesia. Thus the
major policy shifts were from border protection to internal security. But the
public debate was more concerned with immigration, multiculturalism,
James Jupp is a visiting fellow at Australian National University.
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