Older Aussies embrace overseas influx but national snapshot reveals pride on the slide

While there is growing understanding that immigration is good for both society and the economy, Australians are suffering from a collective loss of national pride, a new survey finds.

The proportion of people who agree that ‘accepting ­immigration from many different countries makes Australia ­stronger’ has climbed from 63 per cent to 78 per cent since 2018.

More older Australians now ­view immigration as good for the country, a new study reveals, with numbers rising sharply over the past five years.

But the national survey also finds Australians’ overall sense of belonging and national pride is lower than at any time in the past 15 years.

And any boost to the nation’s social cohesion experienced during the Covid pandemic is now on the wane, the report concludes, with economic uncertainty and cost-of-living pressures contributing to the decline.

The findings from the Scanlon Foundation Research Institute’s latest Mapping Social Cohesion Report, based on responses from almost 6000 people, reveal a complex picture of the national mood, with neighbourhood cohesion remaining high post-Covid despite a broader decline due to an uncertain economic and geopolitical ­climate.

But there is increasing acceptance of the social and economic value of immigration and multiculturalism across all ages, states and political persuasions.

The proportion of people who agree that “accepting ­immigration from many different countries makes Australia ­stronger” has climbed from 63 per cent to 78 per cent since 2018. In the same time frame the proportion who agree that “immigrants are good for Australia’s economy” jumped from 74 per cent to 87 per cent.

“The increase has been even more striking for older Australians,” report author and ANU ­demographer James O’Donnell said. “Among over 65s, while 46 per cent agreed ‘immigrants from different countries make Australia stronger’ in 2018, the percentage increased to 74 per cent in 2022.

 

“It may be that older people are simply having more experience of people from different backgrounds. There has also been a big increase in acceptance of immigration as a positive in regional areas, which generally have a higher proportion of older people. This may be a consequence of growing cultural diversity in these regions.”

While immigration is increasingly seen as a positive, there ­remains an issue with how people feel about living in Australia, with both their sense of belonging and national pride falling to the lowest point in the survey’s 15-year ­history.

Just over half of Australians (52 per cent) feel a “great sense of belonging in Australia” in 2022, down from 63 per cent in 2020.

The proportion of people who take “great pride in the Australian way of life and culture” has ­declined to just 37 per cent, compared to 48 per cent in 2020.

“People who are financially struggling and pessimistic about the future report substantially lower levels of national pride and belonging, happiness and social inclusion,” Dr O’Donnell said. “This demonstrates how economic inequalities, exacerbated by the current economic climate, seem to be giving rise to social ­inequalities that, in turn, drag down overall social cohesion in Australia.”

More than one in three people in 2022 reported being dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their ­financial situation (35 per cent), compared to 29 per cent in 2021.

At a local level, two in three people say there is a strong sense of community in their neighbourhood, the survey shows.

“Indicators of interpersonal trust and neighbourhood ­cohesion remain high and resilient in 2022, possibly reflecting a lasting benefit of the way in which communities came together in ­response to the Covid-19 crisis,” Dr O’Donnell said.