Although Australia dismantled its ethnically discriminatory, immigrant-selection policy in the early 1970s, ethnicity remains--implicitly and unofficially--a significant consideration in its immigration policies and practices. The paper outlines the traditional White Australia policy before describing the operation and impact of the new selection policies and the associated official commitment to multiculturalism. The causes, regional pattern and acceptability of the modern Asianization of immigration are then assessed. The final section indicates how ethnic-origin preferences continue to operate in an apparently non-discriminatory selection policy, largely through the management of demand by placements of Australian migration officers in particular locations overseas.