Australians don’t want high migrant intake, poll reveals

AUSTRALIANS have turned against high migrant intakes and show little support for helping Europe resettle Middle East refugees, a shock new poll has revealed.

Just 28 per cent of those polled believe Australia should increase its refugee intake. Picture: Daniel Leal-Olivas/i-Images

AUSTRALIANS have turned against high migrant intakes and show little support for helping Europe resettle Middle East refugees, a shock new poll has revealed.

In a blow for the ALP ahead of the July 2 election, just over a quarter of those surveyed trusted Labor to have the right ­immigration policies.

Of 1021 people polled by ­Essential Research, 59 per cent believe immigration levels over the past decade have been too high.

Just 28 per cent say Australia should increase its refugee intake amid Europe’s migrant crisis.

Australia accepts 13,750 humanitarian arrivals a year, but will take an extra 12,000 refugees from the Syrian war.

The Turnbull Government wants the refugee intake to reach 18,750 by 2018-19, while Labor plans for 27,000 within a decade and the Greens’ policy calls for a lift to 50,000.

Commissioned by SBS, the poll found that only 28 per cent of voters trusted Labor on immigration compared with 41 per cent backing the Coalition.

Australian Population ­Research Institute president Dr Bob Birrell said there was widespread disillusionment with the scale of migration, which accounts for 60 per cent of nearly 100,000 new arrivals to ­Melbourne each year.

“This negative attitude is much higher than other survey results in the past few years have indicated,” he said.

On the positive side, the poll found that 63 per cent of Australians agreed migrants had made a positive contribution to the nation.

But when asked if multiculturalism had failed and caused social division and religious extremism, almost half agreed.

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