British High Commission, Canberra, 31 October 1972
Confidential
Australia and the Immigration Act 1971
1. As you know, there has been considerable correspondence at departmental level about the Australian attitude over the conditions governing their entry into Britain. When the Regulations for control on or after entry were tabled in Parliament on 25 October, they inevitably gave rise to a flurry of comment […] I hope that our reports have made it clear that, however illogical it may be, the Australians have strong emotions about restrictions on their entry and, in particular, resent anything which equates them with aliens […]
2. These sensitivities are well known but, as seen from this end, they seem to have been overlooked at the original Home Office briefing on the question of the new regulations. Indeed, if it is true that, as we have been told by the AAP-Reuter office in Sydney, a Home Office spokesman said categorically that Commonwealth citizens would be classified as aliens, we gratuitously landed ourselves in a storm. Certainly, there was a flood of inaccurate and critical reports from Australian correspondents in London to such an extent that we were caused to wonder whether there had been alterations in the draft regulations at a late stage of which we were unaware […]
3. We have written separately to the Department about the action we took at this end but we were rather out on a limb until, to our relief, the answers from the Department showed that there had been no such changes.
4. I do not know whether it was fortuitous or due to reports of reactions at this end of the world but the next day’s stories from London showed evidence of more effective (and less incendiary) briefing by the Home Office […] On the whole, the press has now settled down to a fairly responsible line of comment though one which still has critical undertones. For the moment, however, I think that we are out of that particular wood. The House and Senate have risen, and everyone, including the media, will be devoting themselves to the more absorbing business of the election campaign. But any incident could start off criticism again. I cannot stress too strongly, from the point of view of this parish, the necessity for competent and sensitive action on this difficult subject whether it be in handling people at points of entry or briefing correspondents in London. Needless to say, one can never entirely repair the damage done by a sensational and alarmist first story. I hope therefore that we can be kept aware of any hidden pitfalls.
[ matter omitted ]
10. I can only conclude by saying that entry into Britain will continue to be a thorny problem as far as Australians are concerned. Over the.past 18 months, it has been the biggest single bone of contention in our relations. It can and does sour relations in other fields. However infuriatingly inconsistent the Australians may be, given their own regulations about immigration, the fact remains that many sons and daughters of ‘the Australian Establishment’ want to have a reasonable period in Britain, probably as a working holiday. Their parents are, accordingly, sharply and articulately critical if anything goes wrong. We have to give evidence to back our assertion that the new Regulations do not alter the position over working holidays. We can do this by ensuring that the entry regulations are seen to be applied in a humane and sympathetic way.
[UKNA: FCO 2411314]