The Social Schism: How can we move forward as a more united country?

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Janice Petersen hosts The Social Schism, an SBS special forum

SBS Examines

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SBS Examines and SBS Insight brought together prominent leaders and community voices to discuss the state of social cohesion in Australia. They shared their ideas on how we can rebuild trust and connection.

Despite our sense of belonging dropping from 64 per cent in early 2020 to 46 per cent in 2025, there’s still hope within our communities.

The recent Scanlon Foundation’s Mapping Social Cohesion report found 82 per cent of adults agreed that people in their local area are willing to help their neighbours — a level that has remained consistently high over the past 15 years — and 80 per cent said neighbours from different national or ethnic backgrounds get on well together.

Western Sydney-based community leader Om Dhungel is testament to this, having played a vital role in his diverse community in Blacktown.

"We need to look at what’s common, and then we can always build from that common ground. We bring our diversity and differences on top," he told Janice Petersen, host of The Social Schism — a collaboration between SBS Examines and SBS Insight.

Coming from Pakistan in 2012, writer and comedian Sami Shah believes we need to learn to be more comfortable with people who have different opinions.

I come from a society where everyone in your family had different points of view and different beliefs, some quite extreme. And you just had dinner together anyway.
Sami Shah

Muslim community leader Hana Assafiri agreed there needs to be more platforms to have difficult conversations.

"I think if you find yourself uncomfortable, maybe sit with that discomfort for an extra minute ... turn assumptions into open curiosity," she said.

"Put your phone down," she added. "We’re all on this very divisive, toxic medium."

Research from the University of Canberra found heavy social media use is correlated with more polarised or extreme views.

CEO of Cheek Media Co. Hannah Ferguson wants the government to take more action to remove extremist and hateful content from online platforms.

"We need to consider how we hold our government to account, and how they can regulate platforms to actually prevent us from engaging with extreme material that is fundamentally breaking our social cohesion," she said.

In this episode of SBS Examines, we look at the steps Australians can take to foster a more cohesive society.

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The Social Schism

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Transcript

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SBS acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia.

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In last week's episode with our sense of belonging on the decline and division on the rise, we asked how did we get here? A cost of living crisis, the impacts of international conflicts, and a terror attack on our shores were some of the factors discussed on the social schism, a collaboration between SBS Examines and SBS Insight. The federal government was quick to pass hate speech laws targeting public incitement of hatred and violent extremism.

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And established a royal commission on anti-Semitism and social cohesion, but is that enough to mend the tears in our social fabric? In this episode, we look further and ask, where do we go from here?

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The social cohesion report from Scanlan found that yes, our sense of belonging has declined, but grassroots communities like neighbourhoods and their local initiatives provide an important source of connection. In 2025, 82% of adults agreed that people in their local area are willing to help neighbours, a level that has remained consistently high over the past 15 years.

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And 80% said neighbours from different national or ethnic backgrounds get on well together. Someone with firsthand experience is Om Dhungel, a Sydney-based community leader. Om fled the Kingdom of Bhutan and arrived in Australia as a refugee and student in 1998. I was

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stateless for 12 years, and I so much wanted to belong, belong somewhere.

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And Australian citizenship gave me that sense of belonging. I'm really grateful to Australia and all the people that have

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welcomed us. Now living in Blacktown in Western Sydney, Om says the diverse community there are Blacktown residents first.

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We bring our diversity and differences on top. We need to look at, you know, what's common, and then we can always build from that common ground.

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Otherwise with such a diverse population, you can't really expect to have, you know, a full multicultural society if we start focusing on our

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differences. Allegra Spender, independent MP for Wentworth, agrees.

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I actually think it is a moment for us to unite around Australian values and actually about being patriotic Australia, you know, we have a country, it is diverse. I think it's something that we should celebrate.

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Coming from Pakistan in 2012, writer and comedian Sami Shah says we need to learn to be more comfortable with people who have different opinions.

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I do come from a society where everyone in your family had different points of view and different beliefs, some quite extreme, and you just had dinner together anyway. I know it's a bit naive.

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But it is, I think, an important part of a society to be able to have conversations.

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Muslim community leader Hana Assafiri says we need to have more platforms for these kinds of difficult conversations.

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I think if you find yourself uncomfortable, maybe sit with that with that discomfort for an extra minute and turn assumptions to open curiosity, whether it be at schools, whether it be in public settings. We just don't do that anymore. We're all on this very divisive, toxic medium.

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Almost all of us use some kind of social media, and it's one of the main sources of news for Australians. Social media algorithms work by showing you content you're more likely to engage with. That might mean posts you agree with and like, or ones that spark outrage.

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Research out of the University of Canberra found that heavy social media use is correlated with more polarised or extreme views, and platforms allow for the rapid spread of misinformation faster and further than ever before. Hannah Ferguson, who runs a media company called Cheek, wants the government to enact a digital duty of care on social media platforms to remove extremist and hateful content.

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Ultimately, the responsibility should sit with them because the quality of information sits on quite a broad spectrum, and we need to consider how we hold our government to account and how they can regulate platforms to actually prevent us from engaging with extreme material that is fundamentally breaking our social cohesion.

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She also wants to see stricter laws around political advertising.

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It is completely legal for your leaders to lie to you, so these tangible things will improve.

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Of the way we're able to converse because right now the public square is a very unsafe place.

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Linda Ben-Menashe is the president of the National Council of Jewish Women Australia. She has another idea to build stronger community connection, volunteering.

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The families of the victims of Bondi actually called for a program of good deeds, and I think a national volunteering program of things like, work together to support

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the Flying Doctor service or build together homes in indigenous communities or go and paint a school or teach English to migrants.

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She says it will make Australians feel like they're part of something bigger. These

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things make us part of a cohesive whole and they make us feel ownership of this national project which is Australia, and I think it's about time we thought about

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that.

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You can watch the full episode of The Social Schism, a collaboration between SBS Examines and SBS Insight on SBS on Demand with subtitles in Arabic, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, and Vietnamese. To find out more, head to www.sbs.com.au/examines.

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