Australia Fair

Australia is often touted as one of the 'most successful multicultural countries on the planet' - but are we really? While today more than half of all Australians have a parent born overseas, Australia has a weird and troubled immigration history that dates back to The White Australia Policy and beyond. Host Janak Rogers takes a look at key moments in Australia’s migration story and unpacks the nation's thorny relationship with race.

Episodes

Australia Fair: The Long Tail of the White Australia Policy

October 6, 2024 • 4 mins

Australia is often touted as a multicultural success story, but what does that really mean? And how did we get here? With more than half of all Australians having a parent born overseas, we are indeed a nation of immigrants today. But this isn't the full picture. In this series Janak Rogers explores key moments in Australia's migration history, unpacking Australia's colonial past and our troubled relationship with race. Drawing on ...

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1. 'Alien and Servile Characters'

October 20, 2024 • 30 mins

In the debut episode of Australia Fair, host Janak Rogers examines the contradictions in Australia's identity as a multicultural nation with a history of racism. Drawing from his experiences growing up in 1980s Sydney, Janak explores how Australia's colonial past and policies like the White Australia policy have shaped the country's approach to race and immigration. Featuring insights from experts like Jacqui Katona, Tim Soutphomma...

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2. 'The Golden Race'

October 20, 2024 • 28 mins

How did we get to the White Australia policy in the first place? In Episode 2 of Australia Fair, host Janak Rogers dives into the long and turbulent history of Australia’s relationship with China. From today’s sensational media coverage stoking fears of Chinese invasion to the discriminatory fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, the episode explores how these issues intersect with Australia's historical prejudices and contemporary anxi...

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3. The White Australia Game

October 20, 2024 • 29 mins

Episode 3 of Australia Fair looks at the halcyon period of the White Australia. Once the White Australia Policy kicked in after Federation in 1901, things sailed along until the Second World War. Most Australians firmly believed that maintaining a homogeneous White population was crucial, and mechanisms like the dictation test were notoriously rigged to prevent non-white individuals from entering Australia. But the White Australia ...

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4. 'Populate or Perish'

October 20, 2024 • 34 mins

The Second World War changed everything — or mostly everything. In Episode 4 of Australia Fair, host Janak Rogers dives into the complexities of Australia's post-war immigration policies and their impact on diverse migrants. Janak’s parents were a British ex-soldier and an Indian diplomat’s daughter who met on a trip to the Taj Mahal and later migrated to Australia. But their journey to Australia was thanks to the benign-sounding, ...

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5. 'Boat People'

October 20, 2024 • 29 mins

By the 1970s, things are changing rapidly. Australia finally abandons the official White Australia policy, and start welcome in significant numbers of people from Asia. In episode 5 of Australia Fair, host Janak Rogers delves into the complex journey of Vietnamese refugees and their impact on Australian society. In the tumultuous days of April 1975, as Saigon fell to North Vietnamese forces, countless Vietnamese fled. The arrival o...

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6. 'We Will Decide'

October 20, 2024 • 30 mins

In Episode 6 of Australia Fair, host Janak Rogers tackles the tumultuous evolution of Australia’s refugee policies, tracing their origins back to the 2001 Tampa affair and the events of 9/11. This episode captures the heated protests at Woomera Detention Centre during Easter 2002, when activists clashed with authorities, and examines how these moments of crisis catalysed harsh new immigration policies under Prime Minister John Howa...

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7. 'Ganging up'

October 20, 2024 • 30 mins

In recent years, African Australian communities have become one of the more visible newly arrived migrant communities in Australia. With their arrival has come a heated narrative about African ‘gangs’ and crime waves, stoked by familiar fears with roots in Australia’s racist past. In Episode 7 of Australia Fair, host Janak Rogers chats with activist and storyteller Bol Mayan, who runs the Seed Network to amplify African Australian ...

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8. Now what…

October 20, 2024 • 33 mins

In the season finale of Australia Fair, host Janak Rogers tackles the profound effects of the Israel-Gaza conflict on Australia's social fabric. This episode highlights the surge in anti-Semitic and Islamophobic incidents, focusing on the fallout from former Labor Senator Fatima Payman’s outspoken criticism of Israel, which led to her resignation from parliamentary committees and departure from the Labor Party. The discussion exten...

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