Ecological succession and Asian immigrants in Australia

In recent immigration policy debates in Australia, it has been asserted tha t Asian immigrants concentrate in ethnic ghettos, thus posing a threat to t he social cohesion of Australian society. This assertion has been based mai nly on selective observations made by anti-immigration groups. Nevertheless , it is more or less consistent with expectations of an ecological successi on model that has guided studies on patterns of ho using consumption behavi our of new immigrants in the West. The ecological succession model contends that new immigrants concentrate in ethnic ghettos or low-cost housing areas and will move to good neighbourho ods only after they improve their socio-economic position in the host socie ty. Using data from the 1991 Housing and Location Choice Survey conducted in Me lbourne and Sydney, the article shows that the assertion concerning the poo r housing condition of Asian immigrants in Australia is unfounded. There is no ecological succession among them because they lived in good neighbourho ods in Melbourne and Sydney shortly after their arrival in Australia. The ecological succession model is a valid framework for poor immigrants fr om Indo-China, but it does not apply to patterns of housing consumption beh aviour among well-to-do immigrants from North and South-East Asia.