We begin with respect and truth: this is First Nations land, always was, always will be. The world’s oldest continuing cultures cared for this land for tens of thousands of years before Australia became a modern nation state.
Every person who lives on this continent today, whether their family arrived 60,000 years ago, 200 years ago, or last year, stands on land that has never been ceded. That recognition must sit at the heart of any honest national conversation.
From that foundation, the story of modern Australia is not one of replacement, but of joining hands. Migrants from every corner of the world, from Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, the Pacific and the Americas, and alongside First Nations peoples, built one of the most successful, multicultural and prosperous societies in the world.
This is Australia, our home, our country. It is a story of shared effort, resilience and vision, where people of diverse backgrounds have come together to contribute, innovate and strengthen the nation we all call home.
As of June 2024, about 31.5 per cent of Australia’s population, roughly 8.6 million people, were born overseas. That is nearly one in three Australians. Multiculturalism is not a fringe phenomenon. It is central to who we are. This is Australia.
Yet today, tired and divisive claims have resurfaced. We hear that migrants are taking jobs from locals, taking houses, draining resources, or changing the country. These claims are not new.
They were made against Irish migrants, Chinese miners, Greek and Italian workers and Vietnamese refugees, and they are now directed against Muslims, Africans and South Asians. History has proven them wrong every single time.
Migrants are not taking jobs. They are creating jobs. When people migrate, they bring labour, skills, ideas, capital and demand.
They start businesses, hire workers, expand services and pay taxes. They help grow the economy and keep essential services running. Without their contribution, many sectors would struggle to function as they do today.
From the earliest days of modern settlement, migrants have been the backbone of essential sectors such as healthcare, construction, education, technology, aged care, transport and agriculture.
They keep hospitals running, regional GP clinics open, schools staffed and critical infrastructure operating. Without them, much of what Australians take for granted would simply not function.
Research also shows that regions with larger migrant populations tend to have higher productivity and stronger wage growth. Analysis by the Grattan Institute, for example, finds that a ten percentage point increase in the migrant share of the workforce is typically associated with around a 1–2 per cent lift in average wages.
This is not a story of competition; it is a story of complementarity, of people working side by side to fill genuine gaps and create new opportunity.
The same principle applies to housing. Indeed, Australia is facing a serious housing crisis, but migrants did not create it.
The crisis is the result of decades of policy failure, including slow planning approvals, limited land release, underinvestment in social and affordable housing and insufficient incentives for large scale construction. Migrants do not take houses.
In many cases, they are among the very people building them, working on construction sites, in architecture and engineering firms and in the trades needed to deliver new homes. The real solution lies in better planning, faster approvals and sustained investment, not blame.
History reminds us how deeply migration is woven into Australia’s success. Afghan cameleers opened up the inland, linking remote communities and supporting exploration and infrastructure.
Malay and Indonesian pearl divers built early export industries in the north.
After the Second World War, Italian and Greek migrants powered nation-building projects such as the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme. Many later founded businesses that helped build suburbs, bridges, railways and public buildings.
Migrant workers have also contributed to the construction and maintenance of iconic structures, from the Sydney Harbour Bridge to the evolving skylines of our major cities.
In more recent decades, migrants from South Asia, Africa and the Middle East have strengthened Australia’s knowledge economy, staffing hospitals, laboratories, universities, government departments and boardrooms.
They work as teachers, engineers, programmers, economists, artists, researchers, doctors, public servants and entrepreneurs. Today, almost two in every five doctors and around one in three nurses practicing in Australia were born overseas, many from these regions. They are not on the margins of Australian life. They are at its center.
Australia’s world-renowned coffee culture is the direct legacy of Italian and Greek migration. Celebrations such as Lunar New Year, Diwali and Ramadan nights are now woven into the national calendar, embraced by Australians of all backgrounds in cities and regional centers alike.
This is not cultural erosion. It is cultural enrichment. It is living proof that diversity strengthens, rather than weakens, our shared identity.
Political stunts such as Pauline Hanson’s recent and past burqa performance inside the Parliament House are not harmless theatrics. They are designed to provoke, humiliate and divide.
In a nation that houses its democratic institutions in plain sight and claims to uphold fairness and equality, this kind of symbolism matters deeply. It sends a message about who belongs and who does not. It reduces complex, hardworking human beings to props for political attention.
This kind of politics dishonors the values that bind us together and the shared sacrifices made by generations of migrants and First Nations people alike.
Migrants are not taking from locally born Australians. Migrants are not replacing anyone. They have joined hands in the ongoing building of this country. Political theatre may generate headlines, but it does not change the truth.
If Australia wants to thrive in an uncertain global future, it must reject fear and double down on what has always made it strong: openness, fairness, hard work, multicultural cooperation and deep respect for the First Peoples of this land.
Migrants are not a burden.
They are builders.
They are carers.
They are innovators.
They are part of the Australian story.
And that story, grounded in First Nations custodianship and strengthened by migration, remains one of the greatest success stories in the modern Australia we proudly call home.
Comments