The trope of a threatening body invading Australia has been present in past fears of Japanese invasion or an economic threat by Pacific island workers in the infamous “Kanaka deportations”, and this legacy is still present today. My lecture will address the major themes in these discourses, including the fear of invasion and the post-9/11 desire to redraw and strengthen borders. In Australia, recent efforts to combat people smuggling under Operation Sovereign Borders have drawn international criticism, with legal scholars claiming a breach of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Alongside these criticisms has been a new desire to attract wealthy migrants. I shall analyse the question of wealth and poverty as terms that influence mobility in Australia.

 

Matthew Leroy was born in Sydney, Australia. After completing degrees in Communication Sciences, and Anglophone Literatures and Cultures he is now a lecturer and doctoral candidate at the Department of English and American Studies at the University of Vienna. His fields of research are migration, and cultural studies with a particular interest in Australian studies. 

He is also the president of the Australian Academic Circle – a Vienna based network devoted to the exchange of knowledge as well as support among academics with connections to Australia.