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Up until 1989 Australian immigration policy was based on Ministerial discretion. This gave the executive the power to decide policy without review either by parliament or the courts. But during the 1980s the context changed. Many more would‐be immigrants were already on Australian soil on a temporary basis and, if they were rejected, they could appeal to the courts. Ministerial discretion was hard to defend in court and selection criteria were progressively widened by court judgments. The Hawke Government compounded these difficulties by a number of unwise policy decisions. By 1996 the immigration program that the Howard Government inherited lacked a clear economic rationale, was dominated by family reunion, brought in many migrants who needed welfare support and was open to fraud. It was also unpopular.The Howard/Ruddock reforms sharpened the program's economic focus, reduced the size of the family‐reunion component, restricted new migrants' access to welfare and increased the program's integrity. The new Government also took a firm stance on border control and tried to limit the role of the courts. Many of these reforms have been controversial but, by 2002, immigration was much less unpopular than it had been in 1996.

In both practical and subjective terms, birth control became more available in Victoria after 1971. During 1971 to 1975, this change seems to be more considerable than changes in social and economic factors affecting wanted births. Therefore it is hypothesized that, during this period, unwanted fertility declined more steeply than wanted fertility. Evidence of a growing use of more effective methods of birth control, and of the differential rates of change in various categories of births, appear to support this hypothesis. Births designated 'unwanted' declined more than those designated 'wanted', and within the 'unwanted' categories, declined most for those women who had best access to birth control.

Effective methods of birth control became more available in Victoria between 1971 and 1975. The possible effects of this on unplanned and unwanted fertility should be taken into account in explanations of the general decline in fertility of the period.However, all methods did not become more available for all people. Unmarried people, poorer people, and migrants were disadvantaged, especially in so far as contraception was concerned. Continuing problems in gaining access to suitable methods of contraception may help to explain a persistence of unwanted fertility, either aborted or carried to term.

The ovulation method of contraception is based on an interpretation of the patient's vaginal mucus discharge. The only major trial of it shows a failure rate of at least 25.4 pregnancies per 100 woman years: from these figures about 25 per cent of women using it in any one year would become pregnant. Despite this failure rate, the ovulation method continues to receive considerable government support.