Australia’s immigration policy will be explored through the stories of migrant families at an event hosted by The University of Western Australia’s Public Policy Institute next week.

The 2024 Laki Jayasuriya Oration, to be held on Wednesday 17 July, will examine racism, migration, social and cultural diversity, and political reform.

Keynote speaker Associate Professor Anna Boucher, Chair of the Discipline of Government of International Relations at the University of Sydney, will deliver From Chengdu to Wellington to Delhi: Australian immigration policy through the stories of migrant families.

Associate Professor Boucher will discuss major immigration policy trends through the stories of her and her students’ migration pathways.

The stories include seeking refugee status in times of global tension; the gender caring challenges for international students who are mothers; navigating COVID-19 while a temporary migrant; naturalising from New Zealand to Australian citizenship as a long-term resident of Australia; and skill accreditation and deskilling for new migrants to Australia, leading to a gap between sending and receiving country.

Associate Professor Paul Maginn, Director of UWA’s Public Policy Institute, said each migrant family story opened a lens for the exploration of pressing themes in Australian immigration policy and multiculturalism.

“Storytelling generates insights which Associate Professor Boucher and her students have explored to gain perspectives into to immigration policy,” Associate Professor Maginn said.

The Oration is an annual event established to reflect and expand on the work of the late Emeritus Professor Laksiri (Laki) Jayasuriya who founded the UWA Department of Social Work and Social Policy.

Professor Jayasuriya was an intellectual, policy and campaigning pioneer and, under his appointment by the Whitlam Government to the Immigration Advisory Council in 1973, was a key contributor to Australia’s multicultural policy.

For more details and to reserve tickets click here.