Australia's Peril



Part Four


Australia: Trade With Asia and Europe



The following tables show up patterns in Australian trade; how trade with European/Western countries (UK, continental Europe, USA, Canada, and New Zealand; although South Africa and some other European/Western countries have not been specifically included) has decreased (from 88.9% in 1905, down to 54.2% in 1995), while trade with Asian countries (Japan and the rest of Asia) has increased (from 9.2% in 1905, up to 41.7% in 1995).

These tables are relevant insofar as to demonstrate the background to the explanation about how increasing economic ties with Asia has increased economic, political, and diplomatic pressures for Australia to increase the level of Asian immigration into our country.



TABLE 25

IMPORTS BY COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
AUSTRALIA 1905-1995
(62)

(1905-1945: values given in millions of pounds)
(1950-1990: values given in millions of dollars)


Note: The statistics given below are of every fifth year (i.e. not every year), giving an indication of the trends of Australian trade.

Year      United        Other                             New
(a)       Kingdom       Europe       U.S.A.     Canada    Zealand

         £m     %     £m     %     £m     %    £m    %    £m    %

1905   18.4  54.9    5.7  17.0    4.6  13.7    0.3  0.9   0.8  2.4
1910   27.7  51.6   10.6  19.7    7.0  13.0    0.7  1.3   1.1  2.0
1915   29.5  50.7    7.3  12.5    9.9  17.0    1.1  1.9   1.4  2.4
1920   35.0  38.9    5.8   6.4   21.7  24.1    2.5  2.8   1.7  1.9
1925   62.8  47.1   14.6  10.9   30.1  22.6    3.1  2.3   1.9  1.4
1930   49.3  41.5   14.0  11.8   27.6  23.2    3.2  2.7   1.4  1.2
1935   35.1  42.5    8.5  10.3   12.6  15.2    4.7  5.7   1.5  1.8
1940   50.1  38.0    9.1   6.9   22.9  17.4   10.4  7.9   1.2  0.9
1945   70.3  33.1    0.4   0.2   81.3  38.3   10.2  4.8   2.0  0.9

         $m     %     $m     %     $m     %     $m    %    $m    %
1950    557  51.9    111  10.3    104   9.7     27  2.5    10  0.9
1955    757  45.0    257  15.3    204  12.1     48  2.8    15  0.9
1960    660  35.7    308  16.7    299  16.2     59  3.2    31  1.7
1965    761  26.2    508  17.5    692  23.9    117  4.0    47  1.6
1970    845  21.8    712  18.4    965  24.9    151  3.9    86  2.2
1975   1213  15.0   1708  21.2   1668  20.7    217  2.7   184  2.3
1980   1648  10.2   3017  18.6   3577  22.0    446  2.7   547  3.4
1985   2012   6.7   5820  19.4   6816  22.7    620  2.1  1115  3.7
1990   3356   6.5  10409  20.3  12373  24.1   1228  2.4  2173  4.2
1995   4439   5.9  15159  20.3  16048  21.5   1277  1.7  3554  4.8




Year                    Other       All
(a)        Japan         Asia       Other          Total

         £m     %     £m     %     £m    %        £m    %

1905    0.3   0.9    2.8   8.3    0.6  1.8      33.5  100
1910    0.7   1.3    4.5   8.4    1.4  2.6      53.7  100
1915    1.3   2.2    5.4   9.3    2.3  3.9      58.2  100
1920    3.8   4.2   15.1  16.8    4.3  4.8      89.9  100
1925    3.8   2.8   14.1  10.6    2.9  2.2     133.3  100
1930    3.8   3.2   14.2  11.9    5.4  4.5     118.9  100
1935    5.3   6.4   10.5  12.7    4.4  5.3      82.6  100
1940    6.6   5.0   24.5  18.6    7.1  5.4     131.9  100
1945      0     0   32.5  15.3   15.4  7.3     212.1  100

         $m     %     $m     %     $m    %        $m    %

1950     14   1.3    182  17.0     67  6.2      1072  100
1955     37   2.2    285  16.9     79  4.7      1682  100
1960     83   4.5    306  16.5    102  5.5      1848  100
1965    259   8.9    396  13.7    118  4.1      2898  100
1970    481  12.4    455  11.7    180  4.6      3875  100
1975   1418  17.6   1361  16.9    301  3.7      8070  100
1980   2527  15.5   3834  23.6    623  3.8     16219  100
1985   6645  22.1   5974  19.9   1020  3.4     30022  100
1990   9872  19.2  10288  20.0   1634  3.2     51333  100
1995  12779  17.1  18380  24.6   3002  4.0     74638  100

Notes:
(a) 1905-1910: year ending 31st December. 1915-1945: year ending 30th June. 1950-1985: year ending 31st December. 1990- 1995: year ending 30th June.




TABLE 26

EXPORTS BY COUNTRY OF DESTINATION
AUSTRALIA 1905-1995
(63)

(1905-1945: values given in millions of pounds)
(1950-1990: values given in millions of dollars)


Note: The statistics given below are of every fifth year (i.e. not every year), giving an indication of the trends of Australian trade.

Year      United     Other                                New
(a)       Kingdom    Europe (b)     U.S.A.     Canada     Zealand

         £m     %     £m     %     £m     %    £m    %     £m    %

1905   22.4  49.3   13.4  29.5    1.1   2.4     -    -    1.3  2.9
1910   35.5  50.8   22.6  32.3    1.6   2.3   0.1  0.1    1.7  2.4
1915   38.2  66.0    3.3   5.7    4.7   8.1   0.3  0.5    2.2  3.8
1920   80.8  56.0   14.8  10.2   11.1   7.7   0.3  0.2    7.7  5.3
1925   69.1  42.9   46.3  28.7    9.2   5.7   0.7  0.4    5.8  3.6
1930   43.4  44.2   25.1  25.6    4.2   4.3   0.7  0.7    3.6  3.7
1935   53.7  51.8   14.4  13.9    2.8   2.7   1.5  1.4    3.6  3.5
1940   96.0  64.2   13.5   9.0    4.9   3.3   3.4  2.3    6.5  4.3
1945   52.1  33.5    2.5   1.6   30.8  19.8   3.8  2.4    7.1  4.6

         $m     %     $m     %     $m     %    $m    %     $m    %

1950    475  38.7    326  26.6    100   8.1    18  1.5     43  3.5
1955    571  37.5    396  26.0    105   6.9    21  1.4     76  5.0
1960    476  25.7    460  24.8    152   8.2    28  1.5    109  5.9
1965    516  19.6    552  21.0    264  10.0    40  1.5    158  6.0
1970    488  11.9    637  15.5    556  13.5   113  2.7    199  4.8
1975    450   5.2   1380  15.9    832   9.6   289  3.3    526  6.0
1980    949   5.0   3234  17.1   2044  10.8   339  1.8    864  4.6
1985   1006   3.3   4506  14.7   3598  11.7   303  1.0   1591  5.2
1990   1736   3.5   7176  14.6   5426  11.6   760  1.5   2616  5.3
1995   2267   3.4   5957   8.9   4633   6.9  1132  1.7   4768  7.1




Year                  Other       All
(a)       Japan       Asia        Other         Total

         £m     %     £m     %     £m     %       £m    %

1905    0.6   1.3    3.0   6.6    3.6   7.9     45.4  100
1910    0.7   1.0    2.9   4.1    4.8   6.9     69.9  100
1915    2.0   3.4    3.1   5.3    4.1   7.1     57.9  100
1920    7.2   5.0   10.9   7.5   11.5   8.0    144.3  100
1925   11.6   7.2    7.2   4.5   11.2   6.9    161.1  100
1930    6.6   6.7    8.4   8.5    6.2   6.3     98.2  100
1935   12.1  11.7    7.6   7.3    8.0   7.7    103.7  100
1940    5.5   3.7   10.2   6.8    9.6   6.4    149.6  100
1945      0     0   23.6  15.2   35.4  22.8    155.3  100

         $m     %     $m     %     $m     %       $m    %

1950     48   3.9    144  11.7     73   5.9     1227  100
1955    117   7.7    153  10.1     82   5.4     1521  100
1960    269  14.5    231  12.5    129   7.0     1854  100
1965    441  16.7    455  17.3    207   7.9     2633  100
1970   1021  24.9    683  16.6    410  10.0     4107  100
1975   2455  28.3   1864  21.4    893  10.3     8689  100
1980   5083  26.9   4822  25.5   1536   8.1    18871  100
1985   8043  26.2   8842  28.8   2854   9.3    30743  100
1990  12781  26.0  15235  31.0   3348   6.8    49078  100
1995  16286  24.3  27347  40.8   4646   6.9    67036  100

Notes:
(a) 1905-1910: year ending 31st December. 1915-1995: year ending 30th June.
(b) "Other Europe" 1905-1945 includes only the major European export countries of Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands.