Migration is in our DNA

The awarding of the 2022 Nobel Prize in medicine to Svante Pääbo highlights that migration was essential to the development of the homo sapien, the modern human being. The Nobel Prize citation records that:

“Anatomically modern humans, Homo sapiens, with skeletons like those of present-day humans, first appeared in Africa around 300,000 years ago. Around 60,000-70,000 years ago, migration from Africa into the Middle East led to an expansion of Homo sapiens across Eurasia.”

So, for about 250,000 years, generally Homo sapiens made Africa their home but at some point, it is thought that there was a ‘food’ corridor which saw a group of Homo sapiens start the move ‘Out of Africa’ into Eurasia, this was probably the first wave of migration.    

Once established in Eurasia, Homo sapiens made their way east and south east into Asia and eventually to Australia to establish the oldest longest continuous culture being the Australian Indigenous people. Another group headed directly east and made their way into what is now modern day Alaska and they proceeded to populate the whole of the north and south America’s. From south America, tribes moved west to populate Polynesia and New Zealand.

Within north western Australia, there is evidence of trade, contact and inter-relationships between Indonesian and Aboriginal people dating back for hundreds of years. Without the urge to move and migrate, Homo sapiens would not have populated the world. It is fair to say therefore that migration is in our DNA.

Returning to Svante Pääbo, his research revealed that there is Neanderthal blood in Homo Sapiens! Whilst it is correct, that there was a break out group of Homo sapiens that went ‘Out of Africa’ to Eurasia some 60,000-70,000 years ago, they probably weren’t the first humans to venture forth ‘Out of Africa’.

It is just that the Homo sapiens of the breakout group survived, multiplied and dominated. At some point, some Homo sapiens and some Homo neanderthalensis did interbreed so much so that the Nobel Prize citation states:

“The data suggested that between 1 and 4% of the genomes of people in Eurasia are derived from Neanderthals.”

All of the above demonstrates that it may be churlish to vilify some people who decide to set forth and move to another country. The term ‘boat people’ is often used as a derogatory term describe these people.

Whether that term is derogatory can depend on one’s cultural, racial and historical perspective. One controversial example, of course, is the boat people who arrived in what is now Circular Quay in Sydney on 26 January 1788. None of these people had valid visas for entry, let alone visas for permanent residence. Most of them would not have passed Australia’s current character tests would have been detained immediately had the current rules applied.

Of course, Australia is in no position to accept a population infusion of millions of people overnight. Some orderly process of permission is necessary. However it is important to acknowledge and record that the history of Homo sapiens is based on migration to different lands! That thought can temper what could be considered as xenophobia.

Read the Nobel Prize citation here

All law is influenced by and is often defined by context. Migration law in Australia has become complex. The Migration Act and the associated regulations are a complex beast, the Act itself consists of 1050 pages and the Migration Regulations 1994 are 1713 pages. There are then hundreds upon hundreds of Legislative Instruments and similarly hundreds of pages of externally incorporated documents like the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classifications for Occupations (the ANZSCO).

Svante Pääbo’s work reminds us that we need to look at migration regulation through prism of human history. In my own small way, I like to think that my regular migration law webinars and workshops give context to the laws and regulations of Australian migration.

My next full day 10 CPD point workshop is Saturday 22 October 2022. Essentially I run these once a month. I also do regular 2 hour Monday afternoon webinar workshops. All my workshop webinars qualified for continuing education points for both lawyers and migration agents.