Fallacy: Australia is being flooded with refugees

...the Government must now view the flood of illegal immigrants as a major crisis and a possible threat to national security

-Con Sciacca, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Shadow Minister assisting the Leader of the Opposition on Multicultural Affairs,
Speech in Federal Parliament: GRIEVANCE DEBATE: Illegal Immigrants

The increase in unauthorised boat arrivals to Australia in recent months has placed great pressure on the capacity of Australia to assist with resettlement of people in need overseas.

-Philip Ruddock, Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs,
Media Release on Humanitarian Intake for 2000-2001.

The bar-chart below measures the pressure on each country's humanitarian program as the number of refugees and asylum seekers in the country at the end of 2000 per 100,000 of population¹. It shows that there is vastly less pressure on Australia's humanitarian program than on the United Kingdom's, less than half that on Canada's and virtually a third of the pressure on the United States.

Information sources

1. Refugee statistics - US Committee for Refugees http://www.refugees.org/

2. Population statistics - Population Reference Bureau

3. Further information: Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Background Paper on Unauthorised Arrivals Strategy

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