See also : Our namesake | Resources on Alfred Deakin
Alfred Deakin’s most obvious and significant legacy can be seen in the nation of Australia; in the way a group of disparate self-governing states were brought together to form a united nation, and to keep this nation united and functional. The constitution provided a framework for the nation, but it needed laws and institutions to make it operate successfully. Interest in Federation had waned in the early years of the new nation of Australia and received ongoing resistance from some states, but Deakin worked hard for federal laws to be passed and federal institutions to be established so that Australia could continue to develop and function successfully as a nation.
A legislative legacy
It was during the middle years of the first decade of Federation that Deakin’s government was at its most productive and, with the assistance of the Labor Party, established many of the laws and institutions that helped to define Australia. The High Court was established, despite opposition over its cost, as was a Court of Conciliation and Arbitration and the public service. A system of old age pensions was introduced, and laws relating to immigration restriction, a protectionist tariff, copyright and a trade agreement with Great Britain were brought into being. Matters relating to defence, including preparations for an Australian Navy, were considered, as were other Australia-wide issues, such as a survey for a trans-continental railway, the gathering of national statistical and meteorological data and the selection of a national capital.
Whilst federal institutions such as the High Court are still with us, many aspects of Deakin’s legislative legacy have been gradually dismantled during the twentieth century. Deakin’s governments were governments of protection, utilizing tariffs on imported goods to protect Australian industry and Australian jobs. Today free trade and open markets dominate Australia’s economic policies.
Many of Deakin’s laws were focused on aspects of social justice; he believed in the intervention of the State and the necessary centrality of its role to protect the vulnerable, and to oversee and operate in areas such as industrial relations and arbitration. Although some aspects of this legacy can still be seen in Australia’s system of old-age pensions for instance, many other elements of this legislative ethos have been dismantled in favour of more local and individual rights to negotiation and settlement.
White Australia Policy
Deakin was one of the chief architects of the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 – otherwise known as the White Australia Policy. The intent of this restrictive immigration policy was to create a ‘White Australia’ – a deeply racist concept that was argued strenuously for by Alfred Deakin throughout his career. The role of the state as the arbiter of who may be permitted to live in Australia comes into play here, as did the consideration that as a ‘new’ nation, the established small and homogenous white population needed protection. The ‘risk’ of this white population being outnumbered by people of a non-English speaking culture or race who therefore would not be able to participate as equal citizens was considered too great a risk.
‘White Australia’ had been one of the motivating factors behind federation and was widely accepted by most of the white population, except for Queensland’s sugar planters who wanted to continue their program of importing indentured labour from the Pacific islands. It was not a new idea, and a precedent had already been established with the restriction of Chinese immigration during the gold rush.
At the time of Federation, Australia’s population numbered approximately four million white people, and the logic of protecting the jobs, wages and conditions of those white people from a perceived influx of cheap foreign labour seemed incontrovertible. Other reasoning behind immigration restriction included the prevention of inter-racial violence, as had been seen in the United States of America, and the concern that a large population of foreign nationals could lead to external foreign influence in Australia’s affairs. Emotive and racist arguments such as the possibility of miscegenation were also utilised against non-white immigration by some proponents of the White Australia policy.
At that time, Deakin considered First Nations Peoples to be a dying race that needed to be managed to achieve the 'White Australia' ideal. While Deakin acknowledged that Australia’s First Nations people had been dispossessed by the colonists his ideas of racial classification which were used to justify his 'dying race' proposition ultimately set the stage for some of Australia’s most damaging and racist policies in subsequent decades such as the Stolen Generation.
A product of their time, the restrictive and racist policies of the early days of Federation have now been largely dismantled – though their effects are still visible in today’s Australia. While Australia is now a diverse multicultural democracy, many racist ideas that have their roots in the early Federation period still permeate public discourse.
Deakin is certainly one of Australia’s most significant Prime Ministers, having played a pivotal role in the creation of the Australian Federation and the establishment of many institutions that are central to Australia’s democracy. However, Deakin’s legacy is a very complex one, and while his achievements were significant, it is important to recognise that his ideas around race and the 'White Australia' ideal have had long-lasting, and in many cases, deeply damaging, consequences for the First Peoples of Australia.