News Release

FROM THE MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION

PRES S STAIE1'E  T ' LY '?' E MINISTER FO R I 8 1IrR ATI ON, THE HON._D.^':. SI T'DDE D . ^M.F

'Delinquency among young migrants tended to be lower than for juveniles generally,'" the I;?inister for

Immigration, Mr. Snedden, said today.

Mr. Snedden, who was addressing the annual

conference of the Probation Officers' Association of Victoria

in Melbourne, said migrant children compared well with Australian children.

Some time ago,a study was made by a special

committee of the Commonwealth immigration Advisory Council,

which gave guide lines on the situation.

The findings showed that charges against young

migrants averaged one a year for every 102 migrants. The

Victorian figures for all juveniles showed an average of

one charge annually for every 80 youngsters.

Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of the report

was that police and other authorities aiding the investigation

considered there was no particular problem as far as migrants generally were concerned.

Mr. Snedden said that the Lnerican experience was that the incidence of delinquency might be expected to be

greater among second generation children of migrants.

It seemed probable-, however, that the problem would be less acute in Australia as a result of planned immigration,

the screening and selection techniques employed, and the

relatively fewer migrant concentrations in high-population

metropolitan areas.

Mr. Snodden said that large-scale migration was an accepted part of our life.

In the year 2000, we would have a population between 20 million and 28 million.

"We will have programmes of 200,000 a year and as the century runs out we will have programmes of 300,000

a year, ,' he said.

"In that order of magnitude we will have not only

an increase in numbers but a change in composition. So far, we have had mainly Anglo-Saxons transferring to another Anglo-Saxon community.

2.

'In the future, more and more of our migrants will

not speak English and they will not be An lo-Saxons."

Mr. Snedden said that the social implications of

such programmes must be the concern of all Australians.

"We are doing our part as well as we can to prevent

migrants coming within the ambit of probation officers.

"We aim to increase our assistance by subsidising

suitable organisations to employ social workers..

"We are playing an increasingly vital role in

creating the right atmosphere for easier integration into

our community and at the same time lessening areas of

discontent from which misbehaviour might spring.

"In the past, we have felt that ethnic groups would be bad.

"Studies, however, have shown that the process of acclimatisation seems to be less difficult where an ethnic group has a well-established community in Australia.

"We may have to consider fostering ethnic groups.

The groups allow time for the adjustment to be made to the

Australian community,' he said.

Mr. Snedden said it was often difficult for migrant

parents and children of certain nationalities to adjust to the greater social freedom which Australians enjoyed.

"Migrant women and girls tend to be more restricted

socially than their Australian counterparts. Migrant boys

tend to assume more family responsibility, accept family

standards and be more home-centred than Australian boys.

"Children of different nationalities ca not be handled in the same manner," he said.

Mr. Snedden said that problems existed and would remain under successive migration programmes.

"But we must not overstate or understate them," he added.

Department of Immigration, CAITBERRA., A.C.T.

25 May 1968

