The 2022 Mapping Social Cohesion survey indicates Australians continue to strongly support ethnic diversity and multiculturalism, in line with a long-term positive trend.
But people also continue to experience discrimination based on their skin colour, ethnic origin, or religion. Negative perceptions also persist in Australia about different groups, including Muslim Australians and non-European migrants. While 90% of respondents have positive views about migrants from Europe or the United Kingdom, this drops to 70% for Indian immigrants, and about 60% for arrivals from Ethiopia, Lebanon, China, Iraq and Sudan.
While the problems persist, the overall trend is positive. In 2020, 52% of respondents reported having positive feelings towards Chinese immigrants. In 2022, that increased to 61%. During that same time-frame, respondents with negative attitudes towards Muslims decreased from 40% in 2020 to 29%.
Discrimination and prejudice
Discrimination and prejudice towards groups from different backgrounds persists despite high levels of support for immigrant diversity and multiculturalism. About one-in-six people (16 per cent) reported experiencing discrimination in the 12 months to July 2022 based on their skin colour, ethnic origin, or religion. This was similar to the proportion last year and in 2019. Almost one-in-four people (24 per cent) born overseas, and more than one-in-three people (35 per cent) who speak a language other than English, reported discrimination in 2022.
The proportion of people reporting discrimination based on their skin colour, ethnic origin, or religion increased significantly between 2007 and 2017, from 9 per cent to 20 per cent. Reported discrimination has declined somewhat since then but remains above where it was before 2013.
Discrimination is mirrored by a concerning level of prejudice directed towards people from different backgrounds. In particular, people report negative perceptions and feelings towards Muslims and people immigrating from non-European countries.
Prejudice remains a problem
Several questions in the 2022 Mapping Social Cohesion survey gauge the extent to which people hold prejudicial views of people from different ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds. The results suggest that despite very high and growing levels of support for multiculturalism, prejudice remains common in Australia. Encouragingly, though, levels of prejudice are declining on several indicators.
Support for a discriminatory immigration program is low and has been declining. The proportion of people who agree that it should be possible to reject immigrants to Australia on the basis of their race, ethnicity, or religion has declined from 19 per cent in 2018 to 11 per cent in 2022.
➤ On a positive note, positive attitudes towards non-European immigrant groups have become significantly more common over time. The proportion of people with positive feelings towards immigrants from China, for example, increased from 52 per cent in July 2020 to 61 per cent in 2022.
The Mapping Social Cohesion survey also asks people whether their personal attitudes are positive, negative, or neutral towards people from six religious groups – Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and Jews.
➤ Negative attitudes were most commonly directed towards people of Muslim and Christian faiths. The survey showed that 29 per cent of people expressed a negative attitude towards Muslims compared to 15 per cent towards Christians. Encouragingly, the proportion expressing a negative attitude towards Muslims has declined from 39 per cent in 2019 and 40 per cent in 2020 (see Table 24). However, negative attitudes towards Christians have not declined.
Younger and higher-educated Australians are more likely to support diversity
The 2022 Mapping Social Cohesion survey shows levels of agreement among different demographic and socio-economic groups with the statement ‘accepting immigrants from many different countries makes Australia stronger’.
The proportion of people who agree or strongly agree that diversity makes Australia stronger is highest among young adults (86 per cent for 18-24 year olds), people with a Bachelor degree (89 per cent), people who are financially prosperous or very comfortable (86 per cent), Greens voters (92 per cent), and foreign-born populations who speak a language other than English (89 per cent).
Older and lower-educated people along with those who say they are financially struggling, are less likely to agree. However, agreement has increased over time among all groups and particularly among people aged 65 and older.
Source
Image Source
