Melbourne: Migrants, including Indians, face ‘high levels’ of discrimination in Australia on the basis of ‘skin colour, ethnic origin or religion’ but at the same time they are positive about life in the country, a recent study has suggested.
According to Mapping Social Cohesion Research released on Monday, 42 per cent of Indians and Sri Lankans have admitted to social discrimination in Australia.
Malaysians top the list, with 45 per cent immigrants admitting to have faced discrimination on these grounds. However, the survey found that over 80 per cent migrants from the world were satisfied with life in the country.
Other countries include Singapore (41 per cent), Indonesia (39 per cent), and China Hong Kong (39 per cent), whose respondents said they have faced discrimination on the basis of ‘skin colour, ethnic origin or religion’, ‘Mapping Social Cohesion’, involving two new reports, along with the national report 2013 said.
The study, authored by Andrew Markus of Monash University and produced by Scanlon Foundation provide the first detailed findings in the last decade on recent immigrant experience of Australia and detailed research into social cohesion in specific local areas outside Sydney and Melbourne.
The reports are based on a survey of 2,300 respondents and focuses on skilled and highly educated migrants who arrived between 1990 and 2010, with particular interest in the nature of contact with former home countries, and engagement with Australian society and identity.
About 4 out of 10 immigrants of non-English speaking background arriving between 2000 and 2010 reported relatively high levels of discrimination on the basis of ‘skin colour, ethnic origin or religion’.
It was found that there was an increase of seven percentage points in reported experience of discrimination from last year. “There is reported experience of 41 per cent of non-English speaking background immigrants, compared to the national average of 16 per cent,” report said, adding, despite this there was high take-up of citizenship by immigrants from many countries.
In findings consistent with estimates based on government records, the survey found that 92 per cent of participants from China or Hong Kong have become citizens, 89 per cent from India or Sri Lanka, 88 per cent from South Africa or Zimbabwe, 76 per cent from the United Kingdom or Ireland, and 66 per cent from the United States or Canada.
It also found that recently arrived immigrants did not find Australian people to be caring, friendly, or hospitable, a finding in contrast with those of earlier surveys. (PTI)
