Alan Eggleston (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to make a comment on the report that Senator Marshall has just addressed. As I understand it, the origins of the White Australia policy were based not so much on blatant racism but on protecting the terms and conditions of Australian workers. The White Australia policy excluded from Australia cheap Asian and Pacific labour—people who might work for far less pay and lesser conditions than Australian workers. In fact, one could perhaps describe it as an industrial policy that came out of the early Australian labour movement. There is no doubt in my mind that, as the century progressed, it became very much a racist policy—and the kinds of remarks that Senator Marshall has just made about the way it was used were definitely racist. But the historic origins of the White Australia policy were more to do with the protection of the wages and conditions of Australian workers. When it comes to ending the White Australia policy, it was, as I understand it, Harold Holt, during his prime ministership, who at a cabinet meeting—it is in the cabinet papers, which have been released for public appraisal—