“People are concerned that the present rate of population growth is not sustainable and is going to make Australia a poorer place to live rather than a better one.” Monash University migration expert Bob Birrell.
New asylum seeker boats arrive at Christmas Island
More than half of Australians want our borders closed and immigration ended.
New research, provided exclusively to The Daily Telegraph, reveals a dramatic swing against border issues, with 51 per cent in favour of saying no to all migrants – a 10 per cent jump since 2005.
Fears over falling job security and the burgeoning population putting more strain on infrastructure are two reasons for the shift in attitudes. The federal opposition said yesterday the anti-immigration sentiment was due to rising public anger about the number of asylum seekers attempting to enter the country.
Just a third of the 2000 people questioned by Quantum Market Research for AustraliaSCAN believed overseas migration made Australia “a more interesting and exciting place”, down from almost half in 1995.
Almost two thirds said they believed migrants should try to “adopt the Australian way of life” when they arrived.
The number who believe the country has room to accommodate more people also plunged to less than a third, down from 42 per cent a decade ago.
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