Forty-nine per cent of Australians support a ban on Muslim immigration, survey finds

A NEW survey has found almost half of Australians support a ban on Muslim immigration. The results even included a third of Greens voters.

A survey has found almost half of Australians support a ban on Muslim immigrants.

A NEW survey has found almost half of Australians support a ban on Muslim immigration.

The Essential poll asked more than 1000 respondents whether they would support or oppose Pauline Hanson’s proposed ban on Muslim immigration.

Sixty per cent of Liberal voters, 40 per cent of Labor voters and 34 per cent of Greens voters said they would support the ban.

More than 40 per cent of people who favoured this ban said it was an “integration” issue, saying they fear Muslims “do not integrate into Australian society”.

The second-highest reason was “Terrorist threat”, at 27 per cent.

The race discrimination commissioner, Tim Soutphommasane, is expected to address community division at a forum at the Australian National University today.

According to speech notes obtained by The Guardian Australia, Soutphommasane will say: “Some would say that just as the Irish, Italians, Greeks and Asians copped ugliness, so too will Muslims. That immigrants must show grit and forbearance, become part of the mainstream, and then be free to have a go at the next lot who arrive.

“While we may never eradicate racism and bigotry, it isn’t good enough to say its targets must grin and bear it, or that there’s nothing we can do. Doing so amounts to normalising racism, to suggesting that it should be tolerated.”

This morning, Labor’s Tim Watts addressed the poll on Twitter, saying Pauline Hanson’s “xenophobia” could hinder Australia’s relationship with its largest Muslim-majority neighbour, Indonesia.

What kind of response would you get if you asked about a ban on immigration from Indonesia? https://t.co/KCy0UjzdJq

— Tim Watts MP🐶🔴⚪️🔵 (@TimWattsMP) September 20, 2016

Imagine if Hanson's xenophobia caused us to cut ourselves off from China in the 90s? Now she wants to make the same mistake with Indonesia?

— Tim Watts MP🐶🔴⚪️🔵 (@TimWattsMP) September 20, 2016

Imagine how much this would cost us in lost economic growth and reduced strategic security alone - national self-sabotage writ large.

— Tim Watts MP🐶🔴⚪️🔵 (@TimWattsMP) September 20, 2016