REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Tuesday, June 12, 1984

FEARS over illegal immigration are nothing new.

More than 17 years before the Tampa crisis sparked Australia’s ongoing interest in border control, the Bulletin revealed that the region was a favourite for people who had entered the country illegally.

The Gold Coast was discovered to be a haven for illegal immigrants to find work, send money back to their families and hide from detection.

The startling news came from the Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs, which conducted a series of raids across the Gold Coast.

A swoop on the Glitter Strip and Tweed Heads picked up 18 people who did not have visas.

Authorities said many more went into hiding after news of the raids became public. Alberto Corboz, a department spokesman, said more than $2 million was spent each year by the Hawke Government on the detention and deportation of illegal immigrants.

“As is often the case with this type of operation, there were indications that quite a few others had left or gone into hiding as soon as the department’s activities became public knowledge,” he said.

“There are some indications that many illegal immigrants send money from Australia to their home countries. The work of finding illegal immigrants is difficult and time consuming.”

In 1984 between 6000 and 10,000 people overstayed their visas, with about 60 per cent located by the department.

Meanwhile there was a touch of the old colonial Queensland that most appealed to children at a family concert day at Carrara.