Australia resettled 13,000 refugees last year, second only in number to the United States and more per capita than any other country.
Refugee visas formerly were fairly evenly spread among Africa, Asia and the Middle East and Europe. But in August, Andrews said that the distribution would be changed to give extra places to applicants from Asia and the Middle East and to cut the African allocation.
Andrews said then that the change was made to take account of the increased number of refugees generated by the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and continuing problems in Myanmar and Bhutan.
But on Wednesday, he said that another factor in his decision was that African immigrants are having problems integrating with Australian society.
"We do have a responsibility to the Australian community to ensure that when people come to Australia they’re able to adequately settle in this country," Andrews told reporters.
"We have detected that there have been additional challenges in relation to some of the people that have come from Africa over the last few years," he said, adding that Africans "have on average lower levels of education than almost any other group of refugees that have come to Australia."
Andrews also cited concerns about race-based gangs, and "reports of a developing trend of young African males congregating in parks at night, often to consume alcohol."
However, the police in the states of Victoria and New South Wales, which have large numbers of migrants from Sudan, especially from the war-torn area of Darfur, said there are no particular law enforcement problems with this group.
Andrews rejected charges of racism. "This notion that somehow we’re seeking to demonize people from particular countries is just wrong," he said. "What we’re trying to do is actually help. It’s a false compassion to say we just keep on bringing more and more people when we know we’ve got challenges."
The government has allocated 210 million Australian dollars, or $186 million, in the current federal budget to assisting the integration of refugees, and Andrews said much of this money would go to African migrants.
Australia agreed to take some 4,000 African refugees for the 12-month period beginning in July, and all available slots have already been allocated.
Immigration is a controversial topic here, particularly with a general election expected this year.
With more than 1 in 5 of the country’s 21 million citizens born overseas, some feel migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East are irrevocably changing the nature of Australian society.
The hard line taken on immigration by Prime Minister John Howard has been credited with helping him win the past four elections, and some assume Andrews’ comments were aimed at influencing voters by again raising the specter of Australia being overrun.
"There is a minority of Australians with racist views, a larger minority that is committed to a multiracial society, and a lot of people in the middle who might be swayed by this sort of thing," said Paul Power, CEO of Australia’s Refugee Council, an umbrella group for nongovernmental organizations looking after refugees.
In an editorial on Thursday, The Australian newspaper said Howard risked deepening the divisions in society. "We are deeply concerned that Mr. Andrews’s comments seem calculated to provoke community outrage and undermine support for migrants and refugees," it said.
This is not the first time the Howard government has run into trouble over immigration. In the 2001 election, his administration asserted that migrants trying to enter Australia illegally by boat were throwing children overboard to pressure officials into picking them up. After the election, officials conceded that there was no evidence of children being thrown overboard.