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The chapter overviews the key features of the current Australian immigration strategy: a set of relatively stable and consistent long-term goals and general principles that guide specific immigration policies, as well as the process of immigration governance by the Australian political elites. Special emphasis is placed on the dominant role of the Australian state ("migration state") elites in managing the tension between the economic, socio-demographic and security principles (imperatives) and on the evolution of the immigration strategy over the last half a century. One distinctive feature of the Australian immigration strategy is its close integration with economic growth and labour market policies, sustaining national cohesion (integrative multiculturalism), mitigating the effects of population ageing, maintaining broad access to health services, safeguarding national security, and further strengthening political Integration in the SE Asia region. The chapter highlights some general features of the Australian immigration strategy: its regulation and control by the state, "supra-partisan" (bi-partisan) character, pragmatic focus, flexibility, as well as its strong links with the demographic (population ageing) and national integration policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the early 1980s Australian public policy has undergone the most major transformation since Federation. This transformation has been underwritten by two key principles: liberalism--the view that citizens are autonomous individual actors whose interests are best served when they are free from coercive government interventions into individual action; and marketisation --the belief that free markets are arenas which best enable individual autonomy and produce efficient economic outcomes. These principles define 'neoliberalism' or 'hard liberalism'. After summarising the major policy changes identified with neoliberalism in Australia, the paper introduces a new research project that examines its impact on socioeconomic inequality, gender inequality and politics and culture. Inspection of relevant data indicates that there are important trends in inequality, public opinion and political behaviour that warrant this investigation. Keywords: Neoliberalism, Inequality, Politics, The 1980s and 1990s saw the most profound transformation of Australian public policy since World War II and one that fundamentally reworked a framework in place since Federation (Castles et [...]