At least 46,000 immigrants “in a wide range of occupations” could have been absorbed by Austrlia since the end of the war, if there were sufficient ships to bring them to the country, Arthur A. Calwell, Austrlian Minister for Immigration, declared here today at a press conference at the Hotel Roosevelt.
This year, he announced, Australia will take 3,000 displaced persons, most of whom will be Balts, from the DP camps of Europe. Next year and every year thereafter, Australia will take 12,000 refugees from the camps, without distinction as to religion or nationality, providing the International Relief Organization supplies American ships to transport them, he added.
The Australian Minister declared that his country “does not believe that Jewish DP’s should be given special consideration.” He emphasized that Australia is seeking immigrants “who will become thoroughly assimilated into the community.” Nevertheless, he indicated that preferential treatment in the selection of DP’s for immigration to Australia will be given to those “who were persecuted on religious, racial or political grounds.”
DECLARES GOVERNMENT OPPOSES MASS SETTLEMENT OF JEWS IN KIMBERLEY
Admitting that there is anti-Semitism in Australia, Calwell said that racial intolerance was to be expected in a country where many ethnic and national groups remain to be assimilated into the life of the community. Explaining that Australia suffered from isolation, Calwell stated he believed that “part of the anti-Semitism could be attributed” to a general hatred of foreigners.
Asked if his government was doing anything about the plan for mass settlement of Jewish refugees in the Kimberley region of Australia, Calwell stated emphatically that his government was opposed to this scheme because the “country did not wish to have any foreign colonies” within its territory. “We want all the immigrants who come to our shores to become fully integrated into Australian life,” he said.
Mr. Calwell emphasized that anti-Semitic Australian publications which receive wide publicity in the United States, such as Smith’s Weekly, have little or no influence in the country.
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