Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (1996–2001)
Australian government department, 1996-2001
The Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (also called DIMA) was an Australian government department that existed between March 1996 and November 2001. Its slogan was "Enriching Australia through migration".
Scope
Information about the department's functions and government funding allocation could be found in the Administrative Arrangements Orders, the annual Portfolio Budget Statements, in the department's annual reports and on the department's website.
According to the Administrative Arrangements Order made on 11 March 1996, the department dealt with:
Migration, including refugees
Citizenship
Ethnic affairs
Post-arrival arrangements for migrants, other than migrant child education
Multicultural affairs
Structure
The department was an Australian Public Service department, staffed by officials who were responsible to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Philip Ruddock. The Secretary of the department was Helen Williams (until February 1998) and then Bill Farmer. In 2000, the department had approximately 3600 staff.
The public source identifies “Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (1996–2001)” as australian government department, 1996-2001. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Department, Immigration and Multicultural.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (1996–2001)”, the useful work is to connect “australian government department, 1996-2001” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16835005. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1996, 2001, 1998 and 2000.
Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (1996–2001)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (1996–2001) primary sources, Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (1996–2001) archive and Department research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (1996–2001)”?
- Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
- What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (1996–2001)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.