What Compelled Aussies to Take to the Streets on Immigration?

MELBOURNE, Australia—Bel Jane, 56, never thought she would take to the streets in protest.

But on Aug. 31, the daughter of a Vietnam War veteran joined thousands in Melbourne, saying unchecked migration was pushing Australia’s infrastructure and social fabric to the breaking point.

Tens of thousands took to the streets concerned high migration was putting a strain on traffic, hospitals, schools, rental availability, and housing prices. In some instances, marchers said issues like youth crime and Israel-Palestine tensions, were a result of poor assimilation.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the country experienced an estimated net increase of 446,000 migrants in 2024.

“Immigration isn’t my problem—I’m happy with immigrants,” Jane told The Epoch Times.

“I’m happy with the ones who come here, are happy with our country, and want to be part of our country as much as we do.”

Jane’s father fought and died for Australia during the Vietnam War.

“My father knows all about communism because he fought it, and he helped a lot of non-communist Vietnamese come to this country until the day he died,” she said.

“And my father taught me to love anyone who loves this country. To this day, I still go and see the people who he smuggled out of South Vietnam.”

She was concerned that immigration policy was too loose and did not consider issues like successful assimilation and the broad difference between cultures—an issue the previous Morrison government tried to address by adding extra “values”-focused questions to the citizenship test.

“I don’t want someone who wants to come here and destroy my country from within because they love their country more,” Jane said.

She also rejected claims of racism levelled against attendees of the protest leading up to the event.

“I’m a quarter-Aboriginal. I’m a white Australian as well, and I’m an Aussie and I’m multicultural.

“And I love all my brothers and sisters who are willing to put in, have a go and love the country they live in.”

She said thousands of peaceful Australians–or “sleeping giants”–were compelled to act given the seriousness of the situation.

Initially, political leaders were harsh in their assessment of the event with Victoria’s Labor Police Minister Anthony Carbines calling rallygoers “absolute grubs” conflating the involvement of a small band of self-proclaimed neo-Nazis in the event.

“We know what they’re there for. They’re there to promote hate in the community, to blame people for their gripes and their complaints and their whinges, and they’re just unhinged grubs,” Carbines said.

What Did Other Melbournians Say?

Jason Bryant, a former federal policeman of 35 years and current chair of the Liberal Party’s Essendon police branch, said bureaucrats needed to listen closely to their constituents.

“We should celebrate immigration. As [former Prime Minister] John Howard said—and I totally agree with it—we should bring in the people that we want to bring in, and not mass immigration,” he told The Epoch Times.

“We choose who comes to our country.”

Paul O’Brien attended the Melbourne rally alongside his wife.

“I think for too long the government has been too loose on immigration. This is not about racism, it’s about common sense,” he said.

“I look at my wife who is from Indonesia, who’s proud to be living here in Australia with Australian values.”

Craig Bishop, 73, said this was the first public rally he had ever attended.

He also believes too many immigrants are being let in to Australia at present, pushing the nation’s current infrastructure to breaking point.

“I’m here for my kids, and I’ve got grandkids,” he said.

“I grew up with immigrants from all over the place. My closest friend is Lebanese. I grew up around Italians and Greeks, but the amount of people this government is letting in, we can’t cope with it.”

And Mike, 41, said immigrants to Australia needed to bring something to enrich the nation, instead of embedding social tensions from overseas in local Australian neighbourhoods.

“I’m happy for them to come if they bring something—gold, money, jobs, coal,” he said.

“There was nothing wrong with the way we grew up, and these people want to change it. I don’t understand it.”