Less than half of new citizens are satisfied with Australian democracy, yet they are less critical of politics and politicians than other groups according to new research from the Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis.
Researchers at the University of Canberra's Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis (IGPA) are trying to understand why so few Australians trust politicians and the political process.
They say that despite satisfaction with Australian democracy being at an all time low, one group - new Australian citizens - are much more trusting of government institutions and politics.
They have found 49 per cent of new citizens who have been living in Australia since 2006 are satisfied with Australian democracy, compared with 39 percent of established Australians.
The new research is drawn from a 2016 Ipsos poll that has been undertaken by IGPA in conjunction with the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House.
The online survey into community attitudes on Australian democracy included a booster sample of 160 new Australian citizens in the 1244 respondents.
Professor Mark Evans is IGPA Director and lead researcher on the project. He told SBS that even though it is still less than half of new citizens who are satisfied with Australian democracy, this figure is "statistically significant".
They have more trust in politicians than most Australians, so 35 percent believe politicians can be trusted in contrast with 24 percent," Professor Evans said.
On the question of how they would rate the honesty and integrity of Australian politicians, only 35 per cent of new citizens responded "low" or "very low", compared with 59 percent of established Australians.
However, new citizens also expressed concerns about politics being run to benefit "big interests".
You can read the original article here.
