There are around one million Australians living outside the country, according to figures from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. That’s more people than live in Adelaide, or twice the population living on Sydney’s North Shore. These far flung million are the great Australian diaspora. As a member of the diaspora, I am becoming increasingly curious about its nature and what it means for my homeland.
When the term diaspora is used, it is typically associated with the most dispersed people, the Jews. It has also been used in connection with the Irish, who were renowned for migrating to better lives. I have also seen it used for the great migration of blacks from the south to the northern cities of the US.
When you look at how the word has been used in the past, it has been mainly associated with people escaping persecution, poverty or other problems. Or perhaps those simply seeking better opportunities than their homeland can provide. The reality of the Australian diaspora is that it is poorly understood. The numbers now are so large in relation to the total Australian population that the diaspora is gaining more attention.
At one end of the spectrum, everyone knows about Joe or Jane Aussie who goes to London for two years, drinks warm beer, never quite becomes accustomed to the dreadful English weather and then does a six week jaunt around the continent at the end of it all (to see “Europe”). This is the classic “rite of passage” tour that has been going on for decades. The numbers now are a larger but that group is well understood and not of much interest. There are a couple of hundred thousand in that rather predictable but fun category. After two years they return to Australia using English slang such as “bollocks”, “cheers” and “chutney fairy”. It wears a but thin but it also wears off in 18 months and all is forgotten as they morph back into sunny suburban life. They are the Earls Court category. That still leaves 800,000 left unaccounted for.
The other end of the spectrum is the eminent scientist category. These are not large in number but at first glance would seem to represent a significant loss for Australia. They are those fitting into the most obvious “brain drain” category. They often seem to gravitate toward the US with its mega bucks research environment. They have opportunities there they couldn’t have back home. They are the boffin category. Well heeled boffins but a great loss to Australia. We should mourn their loss.
The largest number of members of the Australian diaspora are neither the Earls Court mob nor the boffin mob. I suspect many of them are people like me who are seen as valuable in global business but not in their home country. Many of them have no set plans to return to Australia but remain sentimentally attached to it and dream of one day returning for lifestyle and family reasons.
This may explain, Margo, why you get more than a few contributions from Australians living overseas. They are engaged people curious about the world and many remaining at least mentally attached to their homeland. They are also great in number.
The only good research I have seen on this is by Professor Graeme Hugo at the University of Adelaide. In May last year he presented a paper at Sydney Technology Park entitled “Emigration of Skilled Australians: Patterns Trends and Issues”. It’s a great 60 page read for anyone interested in the topic. It is revealing and impressive because he uses lots of numbers. I love numbers.
The only aspect that worries me about Professor Hugo’s work is a survey he conducted to try to get into the minds of the diaspora. Being based at a university himself I think he believed that university alumni lists could be of some value. In fact I understand this was a main source he used in tracking people down.
Yet most of the members of the Australian diaspora I know have university degrees but maintain no contact with their university. I had an affinity for my school but the university meant little. I don’t know a single person who is in a university alumni association or even remotely connected. We liked uni and the times we had there but the institution was too huge and impersonal to actually develop feelings toward it. That said, I am always happy to say where I went to university and strongly believe it is a good one. It’s the University of Queensland by the way!
Despite having some reservations about the above, I tend to agree with the Professor’s conclusions. Even though he loves his numbers too, the great thing is he looks beyond them. It has been argued by some that there is no brain drain. They argue that there is a net brain gain because that’s what the raw data on migration says. Simply stated we bring in more skilled people than those that leave. The Professor says “it is glib to simply state that Australia has a net brain gain so that one can ignore the outflow of skilled young Australians as a simple function of globalisation – why can’t the nation achieve the double bonus of attracting skilled foreign people while also retaining the best of our own talent?”
I agree. Perhaps I over value myself , but I think there is something sad about an Australian born and educated person leaving and never returning, except for holidays and perhaps retirement. It is not exchanging like with like.
Anyway, the diaspora may be gone but we are not forgotten. We still root for the home team. This is where we of the diaspora have our advantages. The empirical evidence is everywhere.
A good example would be a discussion I had on Friday night. I was talking to the US headquarters of the multinational I work for. The topic came up of “What to do with Asia”? We are reaching the conclusion that our Asia Pacific business is expanding so rapidly that it would make sense to have a regional headquarters in that region like we do here in Europe. It is only early days but we broached the topic of where to put such a headquarters. The only candidates were Singapore or Sydney. We already have business in Sydney but not Singapore.
I will have an influence on this decision and I have already pointed out some early advantages of Sydney. We would need people who speak all of the major Asian languages. Sydney delivers this in bucket loads. I was able to convince the key US based decision maker of this (he wasn’t aware of it). Sydney’s diverse multicultural nature and large Asian population is EXACTLY what my company wants to see. We would at a minimum need Korean, Mandarin and Cantonese. We may end up needing Japanese and some others as well. We would be dealing mainly via email, electronic bank transfers and phone customer service support. All this can be done from Sydney and on a large scale at good prices. Sydney is sleek, sharp and cost competitive.
I could also imagine the NSW government providing a tax break here or there (probably some kind of capped payroll tax holiday). On top of all that, Sydney costs less than Singapore at the top level. Salaries are less and rents are comparable for the CBD. So far Sydney is winning. Sydney has already attracted a few Asia Pacific regional headquarters. Depending on the business you are in, Sydney is not a hard sell. It has a hell of a lot going for it.
The thing that concerns me, and I mentioned this on Friday night, is the Australian federal taxes. My understanding is that the Commonwealth Government offers nothing – only lots of punishment and disincentive. I could see a series of problems if we wanted to shift management around. Australia is too inflexible in this regard and has extremely high income taxes at low (compared to global competition) salary levels. That would be a barrier that Singapore or other Asia Pacific capitals would not present. Thank you, Peter Costello?
I think it is only Singapore or Sydney. I don’t think Hong Kong or other parts of China would be in the running. Tokyo has already been dismissed on a cost and mono-cultural basis.
Singapore is in recession and would love to see us. I suspect Canberra wouldn’t do anything special for us. It never does. In the end our decision will be a business one. Either Sydney measures up or it doesn’t.
The point I am making is that here I am sitting in Europe, working for an American company and I am busily advancing Sydney’s interests. I do this because I am Australian. Quite simple really. It’s a real life example, millions of dollars are involved and jobs would be created in Sydney.
I could be interpreted as a low grade brain drain individual but I work for the homeland from afar.
This is where the diaspora pays back. We still call Australia home.
Why then have I lost my right to vote? Can someone tell me why? I suppose the problem is how to determine the electorate of the diaspora. That is where it gets hard. But it is a million Australian citizens!!!
By the way, for the first time ever the USA will do a census of its diaspora. Australia should too. It should remember the MILLION who look in from afar.