Australia faces far-right rallies as Indian diaspora continues to grow

Far-right rallies target Indian migration in Australia, as govt condemns racism and diaspora emerges as nation's fastest-growing community

Thousands of Australians, on Sunday, marched in cities across the country under the banner of “March for Australia”, staging anti-immigration rallies in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart, and beyond, according to the group’s website.

 

Promotional material for the rallies singled out immigration from India, with flyers warning of what organisers claimed was a demographic “replacement”. One flyer read: “More Indians in 5 years, than Greeks and Italians in 100”, adding, “This isn’t a slight cultural change, it’s a replacement plain and simple.”

 

The Anthony Albanese government condemned the demonstrations in blunt terms, describing them as a “brand of far-right activism grounded in racism and ethnocentrism” that had “no place in the country”. In a statement issued on Thursday, it said: “All Australians, no matter their heritage, have the right to feel safe and welcome in our community.”

 

The numbers underscore the pace of demographic change. According to the Department of Home Affairs, citing Australian Bureau of Statistics figures, there were 845,800 Indian-born people living in Australia at the end of June 2023 -- more than double the 378,480 recorded a decade earlier in 2013.

 

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade study published in March 2022, Australia’s Indian Diaspora: A National Asset, drew on the 2016 Census to note that 675,658 people then claimed Indian ancestry, representing 2.8 per cent of the national population. Migration from India has surged since 2000. The Indian-born population doubled between 1996 and 2006, then more than quadrupled between 2006 and 2020.

 

Today, the Indian diaspora is the country’s fastest-growing large community.

 

By 2035, Australia’s Indian-born population is projected to reach 1.07 million, climbing to 1.4 million by 2045.

 

India was the largest source of skilled migrants to Australia in 2019–20, as well as the second largest source of international students. Over the past decade, most Indian migrants have arrived either as temporary skilled workers or as students. Between 2015–16 and 2018–19, enrolments by Indian students in Australian courses grew on average by 25 per cent each year.

 

India has also remained the single largest source of new Australian citizens for five consecutive years between 2015–16 and 2020–21. After the United Kingdom, the Indian-born population is the second largest migrant community in the country -- equivalent to 10.3 per cent of Australia’s overseas-born population and 3.2 per cent of the overall population, according to Australia’s Department of Home Affairs.

 

The profile of the community skews young, with a median age of 35.7 years -- 2.6 years below the national average -- and a gender split of 54.2 per cent male to 45.8 per cent female.

 

Ties between the two nations have deepened alongside migration. In May 2023, India and Australia signed a Migration and Mobility Partnership Arrangement, a bilateral framework designed to promote two-way migration and mobility.

 

India’s Ministry of External Affairs estimates the Indian community in Australia at about 976,000, according to the 2021 Census. It highlights the steady flow of students and tourists, as well as the increasingly visible celebrations of Indian festivals, as markers of the diaspora’s growing significance in Australia’s cultural and social fabric.  Home away from home  Permanent residencies granted to migrants from India across all categories: 

Year
2020-21	21,791
2021-22	24,324
2022-23	41,145
2023-24	49,848

   Source: Australia’s Department of Home Affairs