(Transcript from SBS World News)
An academic says refugee advocates are out of touch with popular opinion, which is overwhelmingly against asylum seekers who arrive by boat.
Professor Andrew Markus is a member of the Scanlon Foundation which has been mapping public opinion on this issue since 2007.
He says asylum seeker advocates need to take notice of the fact that their opinions about asylum seekers are not shared by the majority of Australians.
Peggy Giakoumelos has the details.
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Professor Andrew Markus from Monash University in Melbourne has researched widely in the areas of immigration and social cohesion.
He says in one recent survey of around 1000 people, border protection was rated as the second most important issue facing Australia after the economy.
Professor Markus adds that his own analysis suggests border protection is a growing public concern.
"I've done all sorts of analysis by every different demographic you care to find. And one of the very unusual features on the asylum issue, it's that normally by level of education or by age, there's a big division. If you're better educated you're much more likely to be receptive to cultural diversity. But on the asylum issue you don't get that just a marginal difference. Similarly young people are much more accepting and again we don't get that normal split that we would normally get."
The Scanlon Foundation has released a yearly report on immigration and social cohesion since 2007, based on surveys of around 2000 people.
Its most recent survey found that less than 20 per cent of Australians think asylum seekers arriving by boat should be given permanent residency.
Professor Markus says that's a reality that refugee advocates can't ignore.
"Let me look at the issue of asylum seekers because my take on this is that there is a number of different discourses, but the discourse within the advocacy groups is out of kilter with mainstream opinion and doesn't understand what drives mainstream opinion. If you're working in this space, you're working with advocacy groups you need to work with a reasonable understanding of what will work and what won't work. Because if you think 'I'm going to change public opinion on this issue, we've just go to get the right message across. We've got to tell people that these people are genuine, they're not just coming for a better life, they're in desperate circumstances, we're going to convince the public of the truth in that and that will shift opinion' there's no evidence to think that that will happen."
The Community Relations Commission of NSW has just held a public forum on immigration and asylum seekers.
A number of those attending spoke with SBS about why they think so few Australians support permanent residency for asylum seekers arriving by boat.
"I think it's all about safety, people are so afraid of the unknown. If people don't know about all of these asylum seekers whether they are genuine asylum seekers or not, they've got all these connotations that these people are just coming to Australia. Why are they coming to Australia through the backdoor rather than the front door if they are really going to be good citizens of Australia. I'm not so looking into the political, but I guess the culture of Australia is really looking after themselves and the people who are already here."
"In my opinion it's an important one from the humanitarian aspect, the other is to look at capacity and capability, how much can the system and the government support on an ongoing basis. The government can certainly support more but then the government has to abide by the public opinion as well."
"I think that Australians are put off by it because they believe in a fair go and they think that people are jumping the queue, they should go through the proper processes. We've had programs introduced since the post World War Two period and they've worked very well. People have come, we've opened up the doors populate of perish, and it was strategically planned and it worked out. Now we people jumping, we have people going overboard. They're worried about the wellbeing of all people concerned and it's not functioning as it has been and something needs to be done to clear it up and people are just throwing their hands up. They've had enough."
