The belief that levels of immigration to Australia should be reduced is on the rise, with almost half of Australians in agreement. Only 21 per cent of Australians believe immigration should be increased, while 30 per cent believe immigration levels should be kept ‘the same’.
In the 2019 Australian Election Study (AES), 49 per cent of Australians thought that the level of immigration into Australia should be reduced.
This has been on the rise since the 2013 election of the Coalition government, when 41 per cent of Australians believed the level of immigration should be reduced.
21 per cent of Australians believe the level of immigration should be increased, down from a high of 26 per cent in 2016.
The highest level of opposition to immigration was in 1996, when 63 per cent of respondents believed immigration should be reduced.
The Australian Election Study has fielded questions on attitudes towards immigration since 1996. Presently, these questions show that Australians increasingly believe that levels of immigration to Australia should be reduced, and that this belief has been on the rise since the election of the Coalition government in 2013.
Alongside other questions on social issues, we ask respondents if they think ‘the number of immigrants allowed into Australia nowadays should be reduced or increased’. While opposition to immigration fell from a high point of 53 per cent in 1996 to a low of 35 per cent in 2004, the belief that levels of immigration to Australia should be reduced is again on the rise. Since 1996, no more than around a quarter of Australians have believed that immigration should be increased.
To further explore Australians’ attitudes towards immigration, the AES also asks about ‘the effects that immigrants have on Australia’: whether immigrants ‘are generally good for Australia’s economy’, ‘increase the crime rate’, ‘take jobs away from people who are born in Australia’, or ‘make Australia more open to new ideas and cultures’. Despite increasing numbers of Australians believing immigration should be reduced, a majority believe immigrants make Australia more open to ideas and cultures. Less than half of respondents believe that immigrants take jobs away from locals or increase the crime rate, and this has been the case since 1998. Similarly, just over half of respondents believe that immigrants are good for the economy.
If majorities believe that immigrants make Australia more open to new ideas and cultures, and minorities think immigrants affect employment or increase the crime rate, we can reasonably expect that opposition to immigration is driven by context, party cues or the news of the day.