Almost one in two people believe there are too many immigrants migrating to Australia, although the vast majority of Australians believe cultural diversity is a blessing to the nation.
A new survey released by the Lowy Institute on Australian attitudes revealed that 48 per cent of respondents said the total number of immigrants arriving in Australia each year was too high.
This result was only a slight increase from the last time it was asked in 2019 and remains six percentage points below its 2018 peak, but still reflects an increase of 11 points since 2014, months after the government launched his infamous Stop the Boats campaign. .
Nearly one in two Australians believe too many migrants are arriving as the housing crisis worsens.
The number of people who believed the arrival of immigrants was “about right” also dropped from 47 percent in 2014 to 40 percent in 2024.
Despite this, nine in 10 Australians still believe the country’s culturally diverse population has been positive for Australia, when multiculturalism is a product of decades of immigration, said report author Ryan Neelam.
“We found that people can have contradictory opinions in their minds at the same time, but this cannot be explained as a contradiction,” he told AAP.
‘People see the country’s identity as multicultural, but when it comes to the immigration rate they seem to have become less open to that.
‘It’s such a broad and complex topic… depending on which part of the topic you ask, people could have views that seem quite different.
This political debate is now unfolding as the nation endures a cost of living crisis, with major parties introducing policies that link migration to economic impacts and housing issues.
The survey also showed Australians’ perceptions of China have overshadowed a broader stabilization of the diplomatic relationship.
In 2022, preference for China hit record lows: only 12 percent of Australians trusted Beijing to some extent.
But the election of a Labor government has provided a circuit breaker in tensions and Australian politicians have reengaged with their Chinese counterparts as Beijing progressively lifts trade restrictions.
Opinion polls from 2024 have not recovered to the highs of 2018, when more than half of Australians trust China, but show that 17 per cent of Australians now trust China to act responsibly in the world.
Despite this, nine in 10 Australians still believe the country’s culturally diverse population has been positive for Australia.
However, a potential military conflict in the South China Sea and one between the United States and China over Taiwan have been identified as two of the biggest threats Australia will face over the next decade.
In our country, perceptions about nuclear energy have changed.
In 2024, 61 per cent of Australians support their use, when almost the same proportion of people opposed the construction of nuclear power plants thirteen years earlier.
Neelam says contextual factors may have played a role with the Fukushima nuclear accident fresh on Australian minds in 2011 and federal opposition pushing for nuclear power in 2024.
“It’s a combination of some distance between the last disaster, the advancement of technology, changing community attitudes and the continuing threat of climate change,” he said.