Nearly one in two people believe too many migrants are moving to Australia, even though the vast majority of Australians believe cultural diversity is a boon to the country.
A new Lowy Institute poll on Australian attitudes found 48 percent of respondents thought the total number of migrants coming to 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 lower than the 2018 peak, but still reflects an increase of 11 points since 2014, months after the government introduced its infamous Stop the Boats campaign launched. .
Nearly one in two Australians believe too many migrants are coming in as the housing crisis worsens
The number of people who believed that migration inflows were ‘about right’ also fell 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, while multiculturalism is a product of decades of immigration, according to report author Ryan Neelam.
“We find that people can have conflicting views in their heads at the same time, but this cannot be interpreted as contradictory,” he told AAP.
‘People see the country’s identity as multicultural, but when it comes to immigration figures it seems they are less open to that.
‘It’s such a big, complex issue… depending on what part of the issue you ask, people can have very different views on it.
This political debate is playing out now as the country faces a cost-of-living crisis, with the major parties introducing policies that link migration to economic impacts and housing problems.
The poll also found that Australians’ perceptions of China have overshadowed a broader stabilization of diplomatic relations.
In 2022, China’s favorability reached a record low, with only 12 percent of Australians trusting Beijing to some extent.
But the election of a Labor government has put a circuit breaker in tensions and Australian politicians have returned to talks with their Chinese counterparts as Beijing gradually lifts trade restrictions.
The 2024 polls have not returned to the highs of 2018, when more than half of Australians trust China, but they show that 17 percent of Australians now trust China to act responsibly in the world.
Despite this, nine in ten Australians still believe that the country’s culturally diverse population has been positive for Australia
However, a possible military conflict in the South China Sea and a conflict between the United States and China over Taiwan are seen as two of Australia’s biggest threats in the next decade.
At home, views on nuclear energy have changed.
By 2024, 61 percent of Australians support their use, while almost the same percentage of people opposed the construction of nuclear power plants thirteen years earlier.
Mr Neelam says contextual factors may have played a role in the Fukushima nuclear accident that was still fresh in Australia’s memory in 2011 and the federal opposition pushing for nuclear power in 2024.
“It’s a combination of some distance between the last disaster, the advancement of technology, the changing attitudes of the community and the ongoing threat of climate change,” he said.
