A major survey of Australian-born and immigrant Australians into social cohesion has found mostly positive views towards migrants and widely shared values.
But the report also found that members of Muslim and African communities are reporting high levels of discrimination.
The major survey of 10,000 Australian born and immigrant Australians, called Australians Today has found most surveyed think Australia is a good place to live and have a strong sense of belonging.
Over half of Muslim Australian respondents born in Australia reported relatively high levels of discrimination over the past 12 months.
President of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, Keysar Trad says he's not surprised by the findings, and hopes policy makers will take the survey seriously - "Unfortunately I'm not surprised by the findings, I am very saddened by them, but I'm not surprised by them. We're seeing rising levels of discrimination against Muslims in a number of fields and I really hope that this report will be an eye opener.”
The report found a significantly higher proportion of Muslim women reported discrimination about 50 per cent higher than men.
Mr Trad says he doesn't think women are being specifically targeted, but he says Muslim women's faith is often more visible - "Muslim women are visible as Muslims through the way they dress. They may not all dress with a scarf, but those who do are clearly identifiable as Muslim."
Other groups also faced more hardship than others.
The report found that 23 per cent of South Sudanese surveyed said they're unemployed, and 77 per cent, the highest of any group surveyed, said they had experienced discrimination.
Founder of the South Sudan Peace Initiative, Nyok Gor says he hopes the survey's findings will be used to shape anti-discrimination policies, and target initiatives especially around getting young members of the South Sudanese community into work - "It's a very helpful data, it's a very helpful information, that should inform the institutions that are there. The government to be able to look into how to help the majority of young people that are looking for employment and this is one of the ways to minimise the other issues."
Trust in police is one of those issues the report highlighted.
It found only 26 per cent of South Sudanese surveyed trusted in the police.
Mr Gor says while South Sudanese immigrants to Australia bring with them an often negative view of police, more should be done to improve communication between migrants and security services - "Still the community is feeling that there has been less effort or relationship between community and police that are always the first to be involved if for instance an incident has occurred, how the investigation has happened and the level of information that police has that are either not communicated to the community and so it tends to leave quite a big gap and this is continuing to play a part in how a percentage would be not to trust police."
Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Senator Zed Seselja told the A-B-C, the report should be used to improve the experience of migrants coming to Australia - "No, I don't think it shows that we're a racist nation. But unfortunately like all nations we have some racist elements within us. And that's distressing when we see it. I certainly condemn it and for those who do experience that I think it is a very distressing thing and we need to speak out against that. What I will do is really engage with the South Sudanese community and get an understanding of some of what they're experiencing and how we can improve that experience in Australia."
Acting Chairwoman of the Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia, FECCA, Eugenia Grammatikakis says that while the report is mostly positive, it's clear there are areas for improvement - "While there is a significant within the community about multiculturalism, and continuing migration to this country, there is still work to be done collectively, and those individual community groups, to ensure that all members of our community, new migrants, established migrants, those of refugee background feel that they are part of the community and that they feel a sense of belonging."
