Australia is continuing to live up to its multicultural reputation, with ten years' worth of data from the Scanlon Foundation showing enduring support for the nation's policies on diversity and immigration.
Taking in demographic changes the report finds consistency in the level of acceptance of immigration and cultural diversity - but it also finds evidence of increasing concerns amongst a minority of the population.
Professor Andrew Markus is the report's author.
"That opinion doesn't change radically from one year to another unless there's some sort of major event which can actually produce change, like a global financial crisis. I guess I've been surprised over the course of the surveys that there's been very solid support for the country's immigration program, and for policies of multiculturalism. That's not to say there isn't a sizeable minority, say 35 - 40 per cent of the population, that is not happy with immigration."
Australia's overseas-born population makes 28 per cent of Australia's population - the highest proportion among OECD* countries with populations of one million plus.
Most have chosen to live in capital cities, with high concentrations in Sydney's west, and Melbourne's west and south-east.
In its tenth report, the Scanlon Foundation builds on previous surveys with over 42,000 respondents having taken part since 2007.
Chief Executive Anthea Hancocks says that while Australia has a long and storied history of immigration, it has not always been a smooth road.
"Migration has been a very important part of Australia and Australia's growth and it will continue to be so, but I think in some respects perhaps we took our ability to absorb the different waves of migration for granted, and it wasn't until certain things seemed to be more obviously disruptive that we decided we needed more knowledge, more information to help us look at what we should be doing."
Members of faith groups other than Christianity are on the rise, as are negative attitudes towards them, influenced by factors such as preconceived stereotypes and media coverage.
How a person is surveyed too, impacts results, with people less likely to express unfavourable views in person.
Little has changed in what Australians consider important - the economy still taking first place.
That's followed by quality of government and faith in political institutions, sitting at consistently low levels.
Though according to Professor Markus this isn't surprising.
He adds that party in-fighting, and events such as the postal survey on same-sex marriage, demonstrate the gulf between politicians and the public.
"The level of concern for the workings of Australian democracy have been there for a number of years now. The major change occurred between 2009 and 2010. This was the period when Prime Minister Rudd had made a number of promises to the Australian electorate and failed to deliver on those promises, or certainly that was the perception, so confidence in government, in Canberra nosedived, went from 48 per cent down to about 30 per cent. That level of trust has not recovered. It's probably at its lowest point and it can't actually get much lower."
Fears over national security and terrorism have risen, from close to zero in 2007 to around 10 per cent of those surveyed in 2015 naming it the second-most important issue.
In 2017, around 7 per cent of Australians ranked it third-highest.
Citizens report feeling less positive about their futures, with almost 20 per cent of respondents saying they expect their lives to worsen in coming years.
Garnering less concern was the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers held in offshore detention centres.
Professor Markus says despite the publicity around the closure of the Manus centre and the stand-off with former detainees, public sympathy isn't forthcoming.
"Recently the focus has been on the treatment of detainees in offshore centres or conditions in these offshore centres. Now that doesn't seem to have evoked concern, because we're actually looking for people saying 'I'm concerned about how people are being treated on Manus Island'. And relatively few people are saying that."
Ms Hancocks says she's proud of the influence the Scanlon surveys has had on public interest and awareness of complex topics such as migrants and political allegiances.
And she praises the foundation for encouraging people to talk openly about sometimes uncomfortable subjects.
"When I started, 'social cohesion' wasn't a very common term and I had to describe it to people and define it, so that they knew what I was talking about. Really over the more recent years, with the conversations around the boat arrivals and the changes in the activities that have occurred around that and the whole discussion, and the increasing prevalence of terrorism on a global scale, has really resulted in a lot more people having this conversation and I suspect that society is really seeking to try to recalibrate back to what is something cohesive, what is something I feel safe and secure in, and you're seeing that play out certainly with the elements within the index."
