New research has found Australians who were born overseas are more likely to support same-sex marriage than not.
More than 1,000 people took part in the Essential Media online survey, which asked them to agree or disagree with a number of statements about same sex marriage.
It found 61 per cent of all respondents believe people of the same gender should be allowed to marry, and the results from migrants and migrant-background respondents revealed an interesting pattern.
Of those born overseas, 54 per cent said they agreed with same-sex marriage, compared to 66 per cent of those whose parents were born overseas.
Peter Lewis from Essential Media said it was the first time they had asked questions about the issue, which took into account where respondents and their parents came from.
These questions were commissioned by SBS, and formed part of a broader Essential Media poll.
"It appears that on these issues that people who are born overseas... they're a little less likely to agree than the rest of the population, but their children are more likely to agree," he said.
"Once you're second generation Australian, in a way you're more integrated into that particular debate."
'Not a conservative issue'
Mr Lewis says while the 54 per cent figure is lower than Australia's overall support, it doesn't suggest that same-sex marriage is a more conservative issue among migrants.
In October last year, Liberal Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells told a Press Club luncheon that migrants would be opposed to same-sex marriage because of their cultural beliefs and traditions.
"I argued strongly that a Coalition policy that directly supports same-sex marriage could place under threat some of our most marginal seats which have disproportionately high religious and migrant communities," she said at the time.
Dr Shirleene Robinson from Australian Marriage Equality said the Essential Media poll is one of several that has contradicted the senator's claims.
"Members of migrant communities, they have gay and lesbian people in their families (and) they have gay and lesbian people in their workplaces, so there's no reason to suggest they would be particularly opposed to it in significantly different numbers to the rest of Australia," she said.
"We're the last part of the former British world that doesn't have marriage equality, where a huge chunk of people are from.
"That certainly does make us stand out a little bit, and I think certainly a lot of people are comparing Australia to those other countries they're from and thinking it's time to get this done here."
However, Dr James Jupp, a migration analyst from Australian National University, said a much bigger sample size would be needed to paint an accurate picture of the country's various migrant groups.
"The category overseas is a very broad one, which includes people who come from very strongly religious countries, like the Philippines for example, and then the very largest number of people come from Britain, which is not a particularly religious country," he said.
"Is there a difference between the overseas born and the local Australian born? The answer seems to be 'not really'.
"I don't see any evidence in these results at all that you could talk about overseas people being different from people who are born here, and none of them seem to be terribly excited by the issue."
The poll indicated that same-sex marriage won't be playing such a big role in the upcoming election, with 55 per cent of all respondents disagreeing that the issue is important to them.
