This guide provides an overview of the drivers of Australia’s growing population and an introduction to the key concepts and terminology used.

Overview Australia is considered to be one of the world’s major ‘immigration nations‘(together with New Zealand, Canada and the USA). Since 1945, when the first federal immigration portfolio was created, over 7.5 million people have settled here and Australia’s overseas-born resident population—estimated to be 28.2 per cent of the population in June 2015—is considered high...

This paper provides a summary of some of the key statistics on permanent and temporary migration to Australia. Overview Australia is considered to be one of the world’s major ‘immigration nations‘ (together with New Zealand, Canada and the United States of America (USA). Since 1945, when the first federal immigration portfolio was created, over 7.5...

This paper plots, by agency and year, identifiable Commonwealth expenditure in the area of Indigenous affairs over the 44 years from 1968 to 2012. The paper attempts to plot trends in the above expenditure—expressed in both the nominal and real terms, expressed as a percentage of total Commonwealth outlays and Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and...

Determining the size of the Commonwealth public sector is complex. There are three major sources of statistics - Australian Public Service Commission, Treasury and Australian Bureau of Statistics - producing four different staffing counts, each using different definitions resulting in data that are not comparable. This paper provides a short summary of the different methodologies...