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Research dossier · History & Society

Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (2006–07)

Australian government department, 2006-2007

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
History and societyInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 8, 2026
Entity authorityQ16835010 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (also called DIMA) was an Australian government department that existed between January 2006 and January 2007. It succeeded the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, which had been in place since 2001. It was the second so-named Australian Government department.

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:

Entry, stay and departure arrangements for non-citizens

Border immigration control

Arrangements for the settlement of migrants and humanitarian entrants, other than *migrant child education

Citizenship

Ethnic affairs

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, Amanda Vanstone. The secretary of the department was Andrew Metcalfe.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (2006–07)” as australian government department, 2006-2007. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Department, Immigration and Multicultural.

Editorial reviewA strong contextual entry point for chronology, institutions and public events when official records are distinguished from later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2006, 2007, 2001, 1996—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Department, Immigration and Multicultural providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (2006–07)”, the useful work is to connect “australian government department, 2006-2007” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16835010. The first chronological checks are 2006, 2007, 2001 and 1996.

Critical limits

Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. 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.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (2006–07)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (2006–07) primary sources, Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (2006–07) archive and Department research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (2006–07)”?
  2. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
  3. Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (2006–07)” 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.