Department of Immigration and Citizenship

Department of Immigration and Citizenship
Agency overview
Formed	2007
Superseding agency	Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA)
Jurisdiction	Commonwealth of Australia
Employees	8,000[1]
Annual budget	A$1.7 billion[2]
Agency executives	Chris Bowen, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Andrew Metcalfe, Secretary Bob Correll PSM, Deputy Secretary Kate Pope, A/g Deputy Secretary Peter Hughes, Deputy Secretary
Website
http://www.immi.gov.au

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) is an Australian Government department. It is responsible for immigration arrangements, border control, citizenship, ethnic affairs, multicultural affairs. For the 2008-09 financial year, DIAC had an annual operating budget of A$1.7 billion.

History

After World War II, Australia launched a massive immigration program. The Minister for Immigration, Arthur Calwell promoted mass immigration with the slogan "populate or perish" and established the Department of Immigration in 1945.^[3]

"Machinery of Government" changes following government reshuffles in the 21st century:

• 26 November 2001 the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA) and the Department of Reconciliation and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs merged to form the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA).
• 27 January 2006 the Indigenous Affairs responsibility moved to the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.
• 23 January 2007 the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs was renamed the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.

DIMA and its successors were the centre of controversy from 2001 because it was primarily these departments that implemented the Australian government's policies of mandatory detention of unauthorised arrivals and the Pacific Solution. The Department was also accused of mistreating asylum seekers at Australian immigration detention facilities.

The Rudd Labor government announced the end of mandatory detention in Australia in July 2008, unless the asylum seeker was deemed to pose a risk to the wider community, such as those who have repeatedly breached their visa conditions or those who have security or health risks.

See also

• Immigration to Australia
• Minister for Immigration and Citizenship
• List of Australian Commonwealth Government entities
• Cornelia Rau
• Vivian Solon
• Migration Agents Registration Authority

References

1. ^ http://www.immi.gov.au/about/department/who-we-are.htm
2. ^ http://www.immi.gov.au/about/reports/budget/budget08/pbs/2008-09-pbs-05-overview-resources.pdf Agency Resources and Planned Performance
3. ^ "Immigration to Australia During the 20th Century – Historical Impacts on Immigration Intake, Population Size and Population Composition – A Timeline" (pdf of 7 pages). Department of Immigration and Citizenship (Australia). 2001. http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/statistics/federation/timeline1.pdf. Retrieved 2008-07-18. 

External links

• Department of Immigration and Citizenship Website