An 8-year long study, described as one of the most comprehensive studies on immigration in Australia, has found that Australians strongly support immigration and multiculturalism. Support for immigration is particularly strong among young Australians but it dwindles in regions outside capital cities.

Australia is a ‘stable and cohesive society’ with indicators of social cohesion improving particularly in recent years. This is the conclusion of researchers from the Scanlon Foundation, who tracked for 8 years, public attitudes on various social issues including immigration, multiculturalism, discrimination, and belonging, and mapped the national mood via the Scanlon-Monash Index of Social Cohesion.

“The upward trend in the social cohesion index shows that overall, Australia remains a stable and highly cohesive society,” noted the report’s author Professor Andrew Markus.

“It shows experience of discrimination based on ethnic background and religion has lessened from 18% to 15% since last year, and there continues to be a high level of acceptance of immigration and cultural diversity.

“Most people (86%) agree that multiculturalism has been good for Australia – almost the same proportion as in 2013 and 2014.”

The level of concern about immigration remains at the lowest point recorded by the Scanlon Foundation surveys – just 35% of respondents consider that the intake is too high.

In response to questions on integration, two thirds of respondents agreed that Australians should do more to learn about the customs and heritage of immigrants, while a similar proportion agreed that immigrants should change their behaviour to be more like Australians.

Professor Markus says that, “the survey found considerable support for the idea that both people born in Australia and immigrants needed to adapt to life in a changing Australia”.

Summary of findings by State and region:

• Residents in regional Australia have lower support for immigration, cultural diversity and the resettlement of asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australia than respondents living in capital cities.

• Residents in regional areas are more likely to consider Australia’s immigration intake to be too high with 44% of people holding this view, compared to 36% in capital cities - but in both areas, this is a minority view.

• Residents in Melbourne and Canberra have the highest level of support for cultural diversity, compared with those in Brisbane and Perth who are most negative.

• The lowest level of trust in the federal government was in Victoria, the highest level in Queensland and Western Australia.