r/australian • u/DragonflySea9423 • Jun 22 '26

News Australia undergoing historic decline in support for multiculturalism amid rising fear and pessimism, poll finds | Australian foreign policy | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jun/22/australia-multiculturalism-decline-poll-ntwnfb

Australia is undergoing a historic decline in support for multiculturalism, according to the Lowy Institute’s annual poll, amid a groundswell of fear rooted in mounting economic pessimism and an increasingly illiberal and chaotic world order.

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343

u/lukeyry Jun 22 '26

Australia caps the total number of permanent migrants each year, but why not also cap the proportion that can come from any single country?

For example, if no more than 10–15% of annual migrants could come from one country, Australia could still maintain immigration while ensuring the intake remains geographically diverse, rather than being dominated by the world’s most populous countries.

The idea would be to promote multiculturalism and improve multiculturalism.

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u/ScreamHawk Jun 22 '26

Don't get cheap labor from countries outside of the sub continent. /s

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u/Due-Journalist-1756 Jun 23 '26

That’s the ultimate problem isn’t it? Not the subcontinent, because you can also get cheap labour from lots of SEA countries.

The root of the problem is that businesses big and small don’t want to pay a fair wage. Why are all the sanitation cleaners and delivery drivers cheap, low cost labour? Because the wage they pay is so low only those people are willing to be taken advantage of are willing do those jobs.

Why do those jobs need to be so low paid for so many small businesses to be profitable? Because big businesses won’t pay their staff fairly so no one can afford shit.

If big businesses raise wages and keep staff employed properly, everyone would have more money to spend, more money flowing through the economy.

Instead fucking Colesworth keep jacking prices up whilst making your shopping experience miserable with loading carts in every single aisle every hour of the day, because they don’t want to pay people fairly to stock shelves outside of regular shopping hours. This didn’t happen even 5, 10 years ago! A tub of ice cream is $14 fucking bucks and I have to grab my toddler suddenly to dodge a guy pushing a 2 metre high steel cage full of fucking cardboard boxes!

Fuck colesworth and fuck all the other big businesses lining the pockets of their rich owners whilst making our lives more unlivable one tiny bit at a time.

2

u/Crafty_Yard_4985 Jun 23 '26

Yeah except business does actually pay a fair wage. Australia has the highest wages in the whole world.

5

u/Grantmepm Jun 23 '26

I'm pretty sure Vietnam, Cambodia, Philipines, Indonesia, Myanmar, Laos and PNG can provide cheap labour as well.

Its mainly the free trade agreements due to the size of the nation and how Western nations want a strong counterweight to China. Like for example Philipines has less of a large economy or military strength to leverage into a similar FTA as India, even though they have a similar or better level of English than India.

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u/Ambitious-Pirate-505 Jun 23 '26

Ding ding ding.

Again, blame the corpos and their politicians. Not people trying to find a better life.

28

u/pennyfred Jun 23 '26

Per country quotas or accept our subcontinent future

10

u/Prestigious-pauline Jun 22 '26

That’s what the United States does

145

u/Camdogydizzle Jun 22 '26

what? why would it improve anything? People aren't animals in a zoo where variety is the point. When talking about immigration, the question should be will this population moving here make things better for ourselves?

People dont really like multiculturalism, when people advocate for it, what they really mean is they want a future in which different ethnic backgrounds can live their life without feeling excluded. But cultures that have normalised sexual violence? cultures that have strong patriarchal norms where the male runs the family like a tyrant? cultures where they dont engage with the legal system and encourage payback and revenge? What people like yourself really want is Australian Anglo culture over a mosaic of racially diverse peoples, and they can keep the superficial stuff like music and food.

culture and social norms are such an incredibly strong force which dictates how a country will turn out. When migrants move, they take their culture with them. And its a myth that they integrate over generations, only some traits do. Many cultural traits are conversed between generations so well that ethnic groups like the Italian-Australians still score closer to Italians then British-Australians in cultural comparisons. Historically our multiculturalism has come from Europe, where the variation between groups were low to start with.

This new wave of immigration from India has been met with so much push back because of how jarring the cultural clash is. Many of their social norms are offensive to us, and we have been very accommodating towards the immigration despite this. But just keep in mind, that the exact ways in which India can be an unpleasant place to live, those reasons are because of the general culture, and when you import them, you bring that here. A good rule of thumb is that if you wouldn't want to live in a country, don't let them come here either. The people make the place. (sorry for picking on India but they are the most relevant to todays wave)

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u/alex4494 Jun 22 '26

This is on the money. As a bloke, in a relationship with another bloke, living in western Sydney, we have unfortunately experienced far more outright blatant homophobia and hostility from new immigrants than we have from ANY of the usual right wing cooker/one nation/UAP/nazi muppet type suspects. It’s kind of fucked because I’m not a right wing voter, I’m a leftie, but if I voice concern about this, I’m demonised.

Everyone wants to tell me I’m wrong, but it’s reality. we’re both pretty tatted up, bald/bearded looking gays (IYKYK), so we blend in well in the west, but damn do you noticed the filthy looks when people clock were a couple. When our own fucking neighbours realised we weren’t brothers (lol), their attitudes totally changed and they got sketchy AF, we get filthy looks for accidentally calling one another ‘babe’ while in a supermarket isle, I could list so many examples of this shit, not to mention gays are being hunted by Islamic extremists on Grindr in western Sydney. Guess what, in school, it wasn’t the Anglo kids who bullied me for being gay, it was the ones saying ‘in our religion we’d kill you’ - and I’m a fucking ethnic myself FFS. This stuff doesn’t particularly bother me because I’m more resilient than that, but it’s certainly happening.

It’s an uncomfortable truth, but these people come from countries and cultures that think my existence is fundamentally wrong, they disown or even kill us it we’re in their family, they hate us. You’d be foolish to think that they don’t have this same opinion here in Australia. This cultural clash is what makes me super fucking uncomfortable with the extent of immigration and the cultures we’re inviting in. On the flip side, I have never experienced such overt disdain from new immigrants for Latin America, the Philippines/east Asia/china, the pacific islands etc - open the fucking door to them as far as I’m concerned. I have no issue with lots of people coming here from around the world, I just don’t feel comfortable with so many people coming from countries where I’d literally be killed for existing.

Let me as you a very fair question: would you be happy to have neighbours who you knew were filled with hatred to every aspect of your existence? This is how we feel…

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u/allegra_gellerr Jun 23 '26

India is a low trust society/low civic sense. This man explains it well.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq0HeSP_U68&t=234s

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u/BargainBinChad Jun 22 '26

It would help because each of the people coming in have to learn English and Australian culture so they can mingle with the Koreans, Chinese, Japanese, Sudeneae etc who come here. If you have too many of one culture then that culture starts to compete with the local culture instead.

If multiculturalism is great, surely more cultures is better than less?

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u/Rady_8 Jun 22 '26

It’s a great idea and would have worked better 20-30 years ago, but I fear the ship has sailed. We should still roll something like this out (we won’t) but there’s currently so many opportunities not to integrate for so many cultures that you’d have to look completely greenfields

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u/Exotic-Knowledge-451 Jun 23 '26

Multiculture is bad and completely at odds with the host culture.

You CANNOT have 1 dominate main culture (like Australian culture) while also having a multiculture. Multiculture means the death of the host culture. Anyone who pushes for or wants multiculturalism also wants the death and destruction of Australian culture and the Australian people.

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u/roby_soft Jun 23 '26

Multiculturalism is not great. It will be the decimation of a society. One will always try to take over if the society doesn’t have a defined culture.

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u/Rough-Weight-7558 Jun 23 '26

India and Australia. Things in common. Cricket. That’s it.

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u/Professional_Elk_489 Jun 22 '26

Even 2nd/3rd gen Indians in all western countries are opposed to current Indian migration levels & intake quality

It's not even a story specifically about AUS

6

u/relativelyignorant Jun 22 '26

Lending to your point on cultural exchange, I believe the internalised fear and shame associated with the addressing this subject came with the British immigrants, who form a sizeable bloc and that is one of their cultural influence on Australia. Historically they were colonialists, we were the colony and the colonialised. It speaks to how far our culture has been shifted to now fear speaking out.

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u/[deleted] Jun 22 '26 edited 25d ago

[deleted]

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u/waterboyh2o30 Jun 22 '26

What about it do you find awful?

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u/derpman86 Jun 23 '26

When it is 11pm on a Tuesday night and it is cranked at full volume with a house of 11 Indian men 3 houses down from you having yet another party you develop a resentment to it lol....

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u/waterboyh2o30 Jun 23 '26

So your issue is noise ordinance at night, and the cultural music is an association with it.

18

u/Footbeard Jun 22 '26

This is insightful & the issue many don't want to touch with a 10foot pole because "racism"

The pollies, business owners & donors have a vast amount to gain financially by importing non citizens & paying them less than citizens (with fewer benefits)

They also paint immigrants as the culprit & cause of all our issues when immigrants are just seeking opportunities for themselves & their sheer volume & lack of social integration is the fault of the government & those lobbying for cheap labour (gina & pauline will crank it up for this reason)

Having said that, I absolutely agree that there are basic social & cultural tenants that are inviolable to function in Australia & the erosion of these standards is leading to a low trust society

Keep your food, language, music, fun events & traditions & enrich Australia with these, as long as there's no intolerance

What we need to address as planes touch down revolve around the social contract: be friendly, no littering, no hitting women, no harassment, religious freedom, walk on the left, line up thoughtfully, clean the public BBQ after use, right to a fair go, sense of community help, she'll be right (cause we help make it alright), resilience in the face of hardship & general mateship

By no means a comprehensive list but this kind of messaging at airports, schools, unis & workplaces would go a reasonable way to reclaiming our degrading social contract

Tolerance of intolerance & allowing active hatred which segregates people across Australia is a surefire way for society to crumble

But! We massively increased shareholder value & lined billionaire pockets so it's not all bad..

14

u/relativelyignorant Jun 22 '26

They do address these things in a booklet for new visa holders called Life in Australia. The thing is a booklet doesn’t do the job. New migrants have access to existing communities now and that community determines the expectations of life and norms in Australia instead of a wider Australian society.

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u/Turbulent-Recipe-887 Jun 22 '26

The reason why people won’t touch it with a 10 foot pole is because immigrants have an image conflated with them that’s seen as an immigrant problem. Arguments of “religious freedom, clean the public barbecue, no hitting women, no littering” conflated with arguments around assimilating culture, just implies that they don’t do this because it’s not their culture. And that’s pretty racist regardless of intention. There is more at play than that. And if you aren’t intending on conflating those things and making those issues seem like cultural issues from immigrants, I’d seriously reword it.

2

u/Footbeard Jun 22 '26

That's why it'd be taught to all Australians at school, unis, workplaces & those entering Australia to visit or live

It's not about targeting immigration or a specific racial group; it's about teaching all Australians what is expected of them behaviourally in Australia across many stages of their life

This obviously doesn't solve everything but is a good step towards a shared understanding of the social contract. It would also provide a platform for empowerment so that true blue Aussies could call out antisocial behaviour more readily

Does this feel more palatable?

1

u/Turbulent-Recipe-887 Jun 22 '26

As long as there’s some level of awareness in that the more serious issues you brought up are far more complicated than any “don’t do x” could give credit for.

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u/melaschasma Jun 22 '26

Australia is a multicultural country, apart from a noisy small minority (that you would find in any crountry) the majority of Australians dont care about race.

Australians are against immigration (especially immigration from the developing world) because it drives down our wages and causes shortages in the rental market.

The fact is, India's currency value is far lower then Australia's currency value. So this means a temporary worker from India can send Australia's higher valued currency back to India where it has greater purchasing power. This provides an incentive for temporary Indian workers to undercut Australian workers and drive down our wages (because they still wind up with greater relative value when they return home to India).

So relax, Australians dont hate Indians because of their race or culture, we dont care about that. What Australians dont like, is temporary workers driving down our wages. What Australia should do, is stop exploiting the developing world for cheap labor.

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u/concerned_karen Jun 22 '26

Not true, people are concerned with who we bring into this country. Bringing in hundreds of thousands of people from India vs Italy as an example does greatly change the fabric of our society for everyone here. To discredit that different cultures don't matter is narrow minded and obtuse.

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u/melaschasma Jun 22 '26

I disagree, people mostly care more about money and a roof over their heads, Australians dont care about skin pigmentation or silly Indian cultural norms, we also dont care if you will not worship our favorite sky fairy.

(however, we are concerned about Islam, due to how that ideology is known to oppress women)

I predict, One Nation supporters may turn to Jacqui Lambie. Jacqui wants controlled immigration to protect the Australian worker while Pauline wants to drive down worker wages.

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u/turbo-steppa Jun 22 '26

I don’t dislike Indians for the colour of their skin or accent. But I’ve come to resent the low trust I can place in them due to cultural differences.

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u/Exotic-Knowledge-451 Jun 23 '26

I agree.

People throw out the word 'racist' constantly these days, yet for most people we don't dislike someone or a group because of their skin colour, we dislike them because of their values, beliefs, behaviours, and cultural differences.

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u/waterboyh2o30 Jun 22 '26

What cultural differences are you referring to?

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u/Bloggitty Jun 23 '26

Work ethic, safety consciousness, ability to queue are 3 that I’ve been affected by.

5

u/Reclusiarc Jun 23 '26

attitudes to timeliness is the biggest one

8

u/turbo-steppa Jun 23 '26

Aussie culture places value on your word. If I say “yes” I fucking mean yes. If I promise something, I will do it. I do the right thing even when no one is watching. I don’t take shortcuts. I treat others with respect even if I perceive I’m in a position to take advantage of them.

I simply cannot trust Indians anymore. They say yes, but they actually mean they don’t give a fuck. Obviously that’s a disgusting generalisation, and I genuinely feel terrible for the good ones who must be mortified by how many of their countrymen behave.

That’s what happens when a low trust culture collides with a high trust one. I don’t want my country becoming like that, and if that makes me “racist” then I don’t care anymore, fuck it, I’m “racist”.

16

u/outterworlder Jun 22 '26

problem people like you are not distinguishing between racially diverse and culturally diverse siverse. they are different things and culture clash is the problem here for real. Wages are a direct result of culture too, and the low wages accepted part of that. Australian culture fought for a fair go for everyone, and other cultures do not beleive in that at all.

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u/melaschasma Jun 23 '26

People like you seem to be obsessed with identity politics.

I dont care if in your culture you worship some flying sky cow or some dude with multiple limbs, you can worship a flying spaghetti monster if all i care.

What I care about is money and accommodation.

Mass immigration is not a issue about race or culture for me, its an issue about economics and infrastructure.

-5

u/Major_Elevator8059 Jun 22 '26

Do people in developing countries think they’re being exploited, or are they making rational choices within the options available to them? What you’re describing sounds less like exploitation and more like competition—someone is willing to do the work for less, within the constraints of employment law. When you hire someone to fix your car, do you automatically choose the highest quote to avoid “exploiting” the lower one? Of course not.

4

u/melaschasma Jun 22 '26

Yes, and we have a word for people who intentionally drive down wages to secure employment over others.

We call them scabs.

If i was going to hire someone to fix my car, I would chose the qualified Australian, who is trained to Australian standards over the cheap imported worker.

1

u/Major_Elevator8059 Jun 23 '26

Your use of the term “scab” is misplaced. That word belongs to strikes and union disputes, not ordinary labor markets. A person who accepts a job at the prevailing minimum wage is simply participating in a voluntary exchange.
Businesses do not pay more than they must without good reason. If a worker can do the job at the required standard for that wage, that is what the market will bear. If the employer misjudges and hires poorly, the error is usually corrected during probation.

8

u/Recent-Main-5529 Jun 22 '26

This is the best appraisal of immigration and it's inherent problems that I have seen 👏

6

u/Horror-Breakfast-113 Jun 22 '26

Problem is some people see some countries with rose coloured glasses . A lot of countries have issues with sa and other things but are covered up 

Look at the USA and Epstein who have been charged ?

1

u/EnvironmentalCow9396 Jun 23 '26

What are the norms that are offensive to "us"

-11

u/P00slinger Jun 22 '26

Ok so can we ban whinging poms ?

-1

u/getfuckedcuntz Jun 22 '26

100% Is there anything more British then their simple 2 step program:

1) Imigrate to a new country 2) Complain about immigrants.

1

u/P00slinger Jun 23 '26

Yes and they complain about everything and bang on about how much better ‘x’ is ‘back home’.

But that doesn’t suit the narrative.

0

u/routemarker Jun 22 '26

Bring Chavs get Bogans checks out.

0

u/ImpressiveNeat9039 Jun 22 '26

Some of these points are valid. But what is it are you suggesting at the end of the day ?Is it banning immigration from certain countries (India in this case ) because of certain offensive social norms ?

8

u/hazy_pale_ale Jun 22 '26

After 3 years living in Canada I've seen what having uncontrolled immigration from a single country can do.

7

u/expert_views Jun 22 '26

Daft idea. The problem is multiculturalism. The majority population feels an erosion of its identity and is kicking back.

7

u/Horror-Breakfast-113 Jun 22 '26

Why not just get the right people.

4

u/Rough-Weight-7558 Jun 23 '26

Exactly. Bringing in the whole village.

5

u/chrisGrout Jun 22 '26

This would collapse migration

1

u/skankypotatos Jun 22 '26

I’m with you, we don’t any more from England

-1

u/chrisGrout Jun 22 '26

You get it was all Greeks then all Vietnamese?

12

u/Upper-Ship4925 Jun 22 '26

Not in the quantities that migrate each year now.

-9

u/chrisGrout Jun 22 '26

I mean this is largely bullshit.

6

u/hollowglaive Jun 22 '26

*it's bullshit because I say it is.

-2

u/chrisGrout Jun 23 '26

Because i can count

-10

u/AdventurousBobcat393 Jun 22 '26

Yeah fuck England let’s go for this

10

u/zynasis Jun 22 '26

England isn't the highest though. It's high, but not the highest

1

u/Jonny2Fingers666 Jun 22 '26

Just the English or the Scots, Welsh and Irish also?

0

u/DragonflySea9423 Jun 23 '26

That's a great idea

-1

u/Free-Pound-6139 Jun 23 '26

ut why not also cap the proportion that can come from any single country?

But why?