Indians surpass Chinese in Australia

Melbourne, Dec 31: India has surpassed China as the third largestsource of people settling in Australia as the South Pacific countrycontinues to be among the top destinations for migrants.

Around 11,286 Indians made Australia their home in 2005-06 which is up from 9,414 of the previous year.

Indian settlers also continue to be the largest single group to settle in the second most populous state Victoria.

More than 131, 000 people made Australia their new home during theperiod, according to the Department of Immigration and MulticulturalAffairs (DIMA) release, representing an increase of about 8,000 on theprevious year.

''That's 8,000 extra people who chose to make Australia theirhome, people who not only brought with them aspirations for a wonderfulnew life but also brought the experience and skills to help buildAustralia's future,'' Australian Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstonesaid.

''The great thing about our migration program is that new arrivalshave settled all over the country, in cities and in regional areas,meaning the wealth of their knowledge and experience is being spreadacross the community,'' she said.

While people from more than 200 countries settled in Australia,the largest number of settlers came from the United Kingdom with23,290, up by about 5000 on the previous year, the release added.

Neighbouring New Zealand continues to hog the second spot with 19,033 moving across Tasman Sea in search of new pastures.

Besides Victoria, Indians are also on upswing in South Australiawhere the South Asian country is now the second largest source country.India provided 909 migrants to South Australia this year.

Britain tops the list of settlers in the state known for its wineries and mines.

Overall, Indians continue to pour in large numbers in Melbourneand Sydney while ignoring the booming state of Western Australia wherethey are nowhere in the top five source countries.

As far as continents are concerned, Asia sent more than 50,000migrants this year while Europe (excluding Britain) departed with onlyabout 7000 migrants.

The majority of new arrivals entered Australia through the family and skill streams of the migration program.

''Our migration target for 2006-2007 is about 140,000, including97,500 in the skill stream and that number does not include the 13,000refugee and humanitarian entrants who will begin new lives in thecountry through our humanitarian program,'' Ms Vanstone said.

UNI