The War-time Refugees Removal Act 1949 was a piece of Australian legislation that formed part of the White Australia policy.

[2] The act was created in response to O'Keefe v Calwell (1948), a High Court decision that found in favour of an Indonesian woman, Annie O'Keefe, who had been issued a deportation order under the Aliens Deportation Act 1948.

[3] The government wished to expel the 800 or so foreign non-whites who had entered Australia during World War II, and formulated a new act to eliminate the loopholes that the High Court case had uncovered.

Calwell made extensive use of his new powers up until the December 1949 federal election, where the Labor government was defeated.

Harold Holt, the immigration minister in the incoming Menzies government, opposed the White Australia policy and declined to make use of the act's provisions, accepting the refugees as a "wartime legacy".