Support for immigration and multiculturalism in Australia has fallen to its lowest levels recorded in the latest survey, with the sharpest shift among people who say they would vote for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.
The findings, from the Scanlon Foundation’s annual assessment of social cohesion with the Australian National University, suggest that anti-establishment views are becoming more widespread alongside declining trust in government and politicians.
More than 10,000 people took part in the survey, which examined how Australian society had responded to last year’s Bondi attack, the war in the Middle East and deteriorating economic conditions.
The report found that people expressing opposition to immigration were disproportionately Australian-born, homeowners and those without university education. Hanson’s supporters were also identified as the group showing the steepest fall in confidence in political institutions.
Its authors said long-term pressures on social cohesion had been intensified by more recent divisions. Australians had already been reporting weaker feelings of belonging and less involvement in their communities for much of this century, they said, but the past three years had brought particularly sharp falls in support for immigration, diversity and institutions.
The latest figures come as protesters have rallied against migration in Melbourne, reflecting a broader hardening of public attitudes towards immigration and multiculturalism.
