A Greater Australia: Population, policies and governance - CEDA

Section 3.1The Environics Research Group polling between 1977–2010 tested opinion in responseto a negative proposition: “Overall there is too much immigration to Canada.” Askedin this form, the question attracts a high negative response, but the changing patternevident in the tracking and Gallup polls was replicated. From the late 1970s to the early1990s, there was majority agreement that immigration was too high; opinion was closeto evenly divided in the 1990s; since 2000, majority opinion disagrees that there is toomuch immigration. The latest survey, conducted in 2010, registered a small increasein those of the view that there is too much immigration, up from 33 per cent to 40 percent, compared with 56 per cent in disagreement. 22Australian polling, like Canada, has established increasing support for immigration,although there was a marginal decline after 2007. While opposition to immigration hasdecreased, the low numbers recorded in Canada are not matched: at the low point,33–34 per cent considered the intake to be too high, compared to 23–26 per centin Canada. Further, there is greater volatility in Australian opinion. The high point ofnegative sentiment towards immigration was reached in five polls conducted between1991–1993, which registered an average of 73 per cent who considered the intake tobe too high. 23 In contrast, the average low point of 33 per cent was registered by twopolls in 2007.Opinion since 2007There is evidence of an increase in negative sentiment towards immigration between2007–2010. While movement is within a narrow range, and does not approximate thenegative levels of the early 1990s, there is a common pattern evident in commercialpolling and three time series: the Australian Electoral Study, AustraliaSCAN and theScanlon Foundation surveys.The Australian Electoral Study recorded an increase in the proportion favouring a reductionin 2007–08 and 2010, from 35 per cent (in 2004) to 46 per cent to 52 per cent.Table 5Survey results – Do you think the number of immigrants allowed inAustralia nowadays should be reduced or increased? 1996–20101996 1999 2001 2004 2007–08 2010Increase a lot/increase a littleand keep levels the same36% 52% 63% 65% 54% 48%Reduce a little/reduce a lot 63% 48% 37% 35% 46% 52%Source: McAllister, Ian and Juliet Pietsch 2011, Trends in Australian political opinion. Results for the Australian election study, 1987–2010, The AustralianNational University.AustraliaSCAN, conducted annually since 1996 by Quantum Market Research, includesseveral questions on immigration. In response to the proposition that “our population islarge enough and we should stop all further immigration”, the level of strong agreementdeclined from just under 40 per cent in 1996 to close to 26 per cent in 2004. Since2004 there has been an increase and in 2010 the level of strong agreement was 36 percent, the highest since 1996. 24The Scanlon Foundation surveys, conducted in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011, recordedstatistically significant increases in the proportion indicating that the immigration intakewas too high in 2010 (from 37 per cent to 47 per cent), and a statistically significantdecrease between 2010 and 2011.A Greater Australia: Population, Policies and Governance120