From Chengdu to Wellington to Moscow: Australian Immigration Policy Through the Stories of Migrant Families

Immigration debates often focus on numbers – the size of net overseas migration, intake levels and backlog size. At the same time, consideration of Australian immigration demands us to evaluate its individual effects through their individual stories.

Immigration is both large scale and at the same time, incredibly personal and granular, making it a contested and emotional policy domain.

In this keynote, Anna Boucher sketches major immigration policy trends through public statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and Home Affairs, empirical studies of immigration, and the stories of her students’ and their families own migration pathways.

Collectively, they have written this Oration together. The stories include:

• Seeking refugee status in times of global tension;

• Gender caring challenges for international students who are mothers;

• Navigating COVID-19 while a temporary migrant;

• Naturalizing from New Zealand to Australian citizenship and

• Skill accreditation and the deskilling of new migrants to Australia.

Each migrant family story opens a lens for exploration of pressing themes in Australian immigration policy and multiculturalism.

Storytelling generates insights from which Anna Boucher and her students explore the broader policy, legal and regulatory contexts relevant to each immigration issue.