The quest for ‘wriggle room’: Australia and the Refugees Convention, 1951–73

Abstract

The extent to which the Pacific Solution and other refugee policy developments under the Howard government were contested within Canberra circles will not be known until cabinet files are opened many years hence. However, if recent research into the White Australia policy is anything to go by, the files may shed unappreciated nuance on the context and reasoning behind such developments. We cannot pre-empt this research, but we can explore documents to which we do have access to deepen insight into Australia's refugee policy foundations, and to prepare the ground for more informed assessments of recent developments. Using archived policy files, this article examines the internal debates that surrounded Australia's accession to the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees. The picture that emerges challenges simplistic assessments as to the motives of policy makers of the time. It also shows how different government departments—in this case Immigration and External (now Foreign) Affairs—can support policy changes for different reasons, at different speeds, and not always in the order that might be expected.

Notes

1. MacKellar, Minister for Immigration, Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates (CPD) (Reps), 24 May 1977, vol. 105, p. 1714.

2. Forsyth, 22 January 1954, National Archives of Australia (NAA) A1838 855/11/11, Part 5.

3. Handwritten note from Horgan to Secretary, Department of Immigration (DI), 8 May 1950, NAA A446 1960/66509.

4. Heyes to Secretary, Department of External Affairs (DEA), 22 May 1950, NAA A1838 855/11/11, Part 2.

5. Heyes to Secretary, Department of External Affairs (DEA), 22 May 1950, NAA A1838 855/11/11, Part 2.

6. Heyes to Secretary, Department of External Affairs (DEA), 22 May 1950, NAA A1838 855/11/11, Part 2.

7. Australian Mission to UN to Secretary, DEA, 5 December 1950, NAA A1838 855/11/11, Part 2.

8. UN Section to Pyman, 23 May 1951, NAA A1838 855/11/11, Part 3.

9. UN Section to Pyman, 23 May 1951, NAA A1838 855/11/11, Part 3.

10. File note by Tange on phone call from Heyes, 1 June 1951, NAA A1838 855/11/11, Part 3.

11. Tange to Minister for External Affairs, 25 June 1951, NAA A1838 855/11/11, Part 3; Heyes to Minister for Immigration, 4 June 1951, NAA A446 1960/66509.

12. Tange to Minister for External Affairs, 25 June 1951, NAA A1838 855/11/11, Part 3; ‘Brief for the Australian delegation, Conference of Plenipotentiaries’, July 1951, NAA A1838 855/11/11, Part 3 (henceforth ‘Brief for delegation’).

13. Burbidge to Secretary, DI, 4 July 1951, NAA A446 1960/66509.

14. Cable from delegation, 8 July 1951, NAA A1838 855/11/11, Part 3; Shaw and Burbidge, ‘Report of the Australian delegation to the Conference on the Status of Refugees’, 7 August 1951, NAA A1838 855/11/11, Part 3 (henceforth ‘Report of delegation’).

15. Burbidge to Secretary, DI, 11 July 1951, NAA A446 1960/66509; ‘Report of delegation’.

16. ‘Report of delegation’.

17. Cable from delegation, 17 July 1951, NAA A1838 855/11/11, Part 3.

18. Burbidge to Heyes, 11 July 1951, p. 1, NAA A446 1960/66509.

19. ‘Report of delegation’.

20. ‘Report of delegation’. See Article 3, Refugees Convention.

21. Cable from delegation, 13 July 1951, NAA A1838 855/11/11, Part 3 (emphasis in original).

22. Article 31, Refugees Convention.

23. Cable from delegation, 12 July 1951, NAA A1838 855/11/11, Part 3. See also Burbidge to Secretary, DI, 11 July 1951, NAA A446 1960/66509; cables from delegation, 8 July 1951, NAA A1838 855/11/11, Part 3.

24. Article 32, Refugees Convention.

25. ‘Brief for delegation’.

26. ‘Report of delegation’.

27. Cable from DEA to delegation, 11 June 1951, NAA A1838 855/11/11, Part 3.

28. ‘Report of delegation’.

29. ‘Report of delegation’.

30. Cable from delegation, 20 July 1951, p. 2, NAA A1838 855/11/11, Part 3.

31. Article 28, Refugees Convention, including the related Schedule and Annex.

32. Cable from delegation, 12 July 1951, NAA A1838 855/11/11, Part 3.

33. ‘Report of delegation’ (emphasis in original).

34. Handwritten note by Shann, 28 July 1952, NAA A1838 855/11/11, Part 4 (emphasis in original).

35. Handwritten comment on Shaw to Secretary, DEA, 3 March 1954, NAA A1838 855/11/11, Part 4.

36. Rowe, Director General of Social Services, to Secretary, DEA, 23 March 1954, NAA A1838 855/11/11, Part 4.

37. Casey, minute paper for the Executive Council, ‘Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees’, 14 December 1953, NAA A1838 855/11/11, Part 5.

38. Shaw to Minister for External Affairs, 23 November 1953, NAA A1838 855/11/11, Part 5.

39. ‘Report of delegation’.

40. Heyes to Acting Minister for Immigration, 18 August 1954, NAA A446 1960/67512.

41. McIver to Secretary, DEA, 31 January 1962, NAA A1838 932/3/1, Part 6 (emphasis in original).

42. Heydon to Secretary, Attorney-General's Department (AG's), 22 May 1963, NAA A432 1974/11015, Part 1.

43. Lyons to Secretary, DI, 3 June 1963, NAA A432 1974/11015, Part 1.

44. Lyons to Secretary, DI, 4 June 1963, NAA A1838 932/3/1/1, Part 2, where AG's is commenting on an identical provision in the 1954 Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons.

45. Cabinet Decision No. 483, ‘Review of Non-European Policy’, 15 September 1964, and related Submission No. 407, 1 September 1964, NAA A4940 C3966.

46. Coles, internal DEA minute, 11 February 1965, NAA A1838 932/3/1/1, Part 2.

47. Opperman, CPD (Reps), 12 October 1965, vol. 48, p. 1714.

48. Secretary, DEA, to Secretary, DI, 24 June 1965, NAA A1838 932/3/1/1, Part 2.

49. Conybeare to Goig, 23 August 1965, NAA A1838 932/3/1, Part 6; background notes by Conybeare for meeting, 23 August 1965, NAA A1838 932/3/1/1, Part 2.

50. Heydon to Secretary, DEA, 5 October 1965, including attached record of meeting, 1 September 1965, NAA A432 1974/11015, Part 1; Heydon to Secretary, DEA, 29 October 1965, NAA A432 1974/11015, Part 1.

51. Booker to Minister for External Affairs, 27 October 1967, Annex 2, NAA A1838 932/3/1, Part 7.

52. Handwritten note on Booker to Minister for External Affairs, 27 October 1967, NAA A1838 932/3/1, Part 7; Booker to Minister for External Affairs, 17 November 1967, NAA A1838 932/3/1, Part 7.

53. Armstrong to Minister for Immigration, 28 November 1968, NAA A1838 932/3/1/3.

54. Secretary, DEA, to Secretary, Department of External Territories, 28 July 1969, NAA A1838 932/3/1, Part 7.

55. Shann to Minister for External Affairs, 26 August 1970, NAA A1838 932/3/1/5, Part 3.

56. Article 1B(1)(b) of the Convention.

57. See, for example, Armstrong to Secretary, DEA, 21 December 1965, NAA A1838 932/4/10, Part 1; Booker to Minister for External Affairs, 20 October and 30 November 1966, NAA A1838 932/4/10, Part 1.

58. Article 3, 1967 UN Declaration on Territorial Asylum.

59. Armstrong to Minister for Immigration, 28 November 1968, NAA A1838 932/3/1/3.

60. See, for example, DEA record of meeting, 26 July 1956, NAA A6980 S250089.

61. Handwritten DEA file note, 29 April 1968, NAA A1838 932/3/1/5, Part 2.

62. Booker to Minister for External Affairs, 21 August 1968, NAA A1838 932/3/1/5, Part 2.

63. CPD (Reps), 22 August 1968, vol. 60, p. 443.

64. Cable from Consulate General, Geneva, to DEA, 22 January 1969, NAA A452 1968/5721.

65. Body, note for file after discussions with Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, 21 May 1971, NAA A432 1974/11015, Part 3.

66. Secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs, to Secretary, AG's, 25 January 1973, NAA A1838 932/3/2, Part 2.

67. Handwritten note on Woolcott to Minister for Foreign Affairs, 18 July 1973, NAA A1838 932/3/1/5, Part 3.

68. Whitlam to Minister for Foreign Affairs, Don Willesee, 5 December 1973, NAA A1838 932/3/1/5, Part 3.

69. Heydon to Minister for Immigration, 23 April 1970, p. 7, NAA A6980 S250089.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David Palmer

David Palmer, University of New South Wales, Sydney. A former senior adviser in the refugee area of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Dr Palmer is currently working with the Jesuit Refugee Service in Southern Sudan