Australians are less worried about immigration now than they have been at any point in almost a decade. That's according to the latest in a series of major national surveys on population issues.
The results challenge current media and political narratives about an apparent rise in concern about migration and its impact on Australian society.
The survey has found only 34 per cent of respondents regarded Australia's intake rate as "too high" - a result that shows little change from last year and is in line with other major surveys.
Researcher Professor Andrew Markus, from Melbourne's Monash University, said most of those surveyed also expressed support for Australia's humanitarian program, including the acceptance of refugees from Syria.
But he said that level of support doesn't extend to asylum seekers who try to reach Australia by sea.
"That's been a consistent feature, I would say, of polling for the last 15 or so years. People draw a distinction between an immigration program which is regulated by the government, and boat arrivals," he told SBS World News.
"They also draw a distinction between people who come on boats and people who are part of the humanitarian program recruited overseas," he said.
"This year when we asked people do they support a humanitarian program and we explained that took people from overseas, 80 per cent of respondents said 'yes' they support the humanitarian program, but when it comes to boat arrivals that proportion goes down to 32 per cent.”
The research found the view that multiculturalism has been good for Australia was held by most of the respondents - ranging from 83 to 86 per cent in the 2013-16 surveys.
Joseph Caputo is the chairperson of the national body representing migrant communities: the Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia, or FECCA.
He said the results overall paint a positive picture of Australian society's understanding of multiculturalism.
"On one hand the Australian population thinks that multiculturalism is good for this country, and so it should be because you're looking at almost seven million people in Australia that were born overseas," he told SBS.
But Mr Caputo said the fact that there is some increased negativity in views relating to cultural diversity shows Australia hasn't been immune to trends seen elsewhere.
In particular, he said, regarding Muslim Australians.
The Scanlon Foundation study confirms that strong negative views of Muslims in Australia, in particular, have increased from 11 to 14 per cent from last year.
But it stresses those changes are marginal and represent a minority of respondents.
It suggests a possible link to a rise in reports of discrimination experienced on the basis of skin colour, ethnicity or religion from 15 to 20 per cent in the past 12 months.
The Scanlon Foundation surveyed 1500 randomly sampled people nationwide in the weeks following the July federal election, asking 25 questions on a range of social issues.
