In his response, the minister declared three things: there has not been a decline in Italian immigration in Australia; there is no discrimination towards Italian immigrants whatsoever; and current challenges related to Italian immigration in Australia are the responsibility of the Italian government.

We truly believe in the minister’s personal willingness to normalise a situation that is unsustainable in many ways, and which he inherited rather than caused.

A reform on immigration policies is essential and the hope is that Snedden can understand and convey this need.

Il Globo’s campaign is one of constructive criticism, in an aim to protect the dignity, and moral and economic values of present and future Italian immigrants in this country.

Now, we’ll clarify some statistics.

The number of Italians immigrating to Australia is, in fact, declining.

The official national figures for recent financial years are as follows:

  • 1961-62: 16,851
  • 1962-63: 13,528
  • 1963-64: 13,015
  • 1964-65: 10,543
  • 1965-66: 11,624

These figures don’t account for Italian immigrants who have since returned to their homeland.

They should also include those who have re-entered Australia after a prolonged stay in Italy.

Consequently, the most accurate statistics are those issued by the Italian Foreign Ministry because they’re based on the actual number of expatriation permits granted.

Below are the official statistics, per calendar year, published in the Italian ministerial report Problems of the Italian workforce abroad:

  • 1961: 15,680
  • 1962: 13,885
  • 1963: 10,827
  • 1964: 10,008
  • 1965: 9761

In his response, Minister Snedden also declared: “While immigrants pay to see an Italian doctor, health checks by Australian doctors are free. The selection process is naturally adapted to the local conditions of each country, but all share the communal goal of achieving a reasoned evaluation. That’s if immigrants comply with Australian standards related to health, personal character and general acceptability. Any allegations of discrimination towards candidates from southern Italy (or any other country) are completely false. The old practice of not revealing the reasons behind rejected candidacies applies to all categories and immigrants from every country.”

On our part, we can reaffirm that precisely in those vague “Australian standards”, the unclear criterion “general acceptability” and the “old practice of not revealing the reasons behind rejection” lie the crucial elements of a situation that lends itself so easily to errors and misunderstandings and which must therefore be clarified with greater precision.