Immigration policy and associated multicultural and settlement provisions have been driven through over the past thirty years with considerable success. But they have also been driven with the brake on. In all policy areas there has been resistance – either overt and destructive, as with One Nation and many conservative publicists – or quiet and subversive, as with reluctance to develop policies or to administer in accordance with multicultural principles. This strong undercurrent of resistance reflects the upbringing and collective culture of that generation of Australians born and educated before the abandoning of White Australia. It is based, however, on attitudes which are common in most societies, including xenophobia, assimilationism and lack of tolerance. These are not necessarily dominant, but they inhibit policies which must meet the realities of a globalising world, of declining fertility with consequent ageing, and of escalating human movement for business, pleasure, work, refuge and settlement.

The three aspects of immigration policy – intake, settlement and multiculturalism – have been subject to consistent controversy, often based on ignorance, prejudice and simple lies. However, immigration has only occasionally been judged a major concern of citizens in opinion polling, being secondary to such conventional issues as the economy, employment, health and education, if more important than Aboriginal affairs or foreign policy. While official policies have emphasised numbers and qualifications, popular reaction has usually been against ethnic change.