Integration of migrants the key concern - The Centre for Independent Studies
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Integration of migrants the key concern

The sad reality is that we live in an age of global Islamist terrorism from which Australia is not immune. Incidents such as the tragic attack in Melbourne’s Bourke St must surely influence the attitude Australians take to assessing the costs and benefits of immigration.

Political leaders routinely promote the economic benefits of a large immigration program. But to maintain public support for immigration, they also need to address how Australia can successfully integrate migrants into the community.

This is one of the key implications of the CIS’s polling of the attitudes to immigration of Australians who live in the top 10% of metropolitan postcodes by income and education and the bottom 10% of metropolitan postcodes.

The research revealed Australians are overwhelmingly more united than divided on immigration especially regarding the most contentious immigration-related questions: the size of the intake, social cohesion, and border protection.

Importantly, where we saw the greatest consensus was regarding integration. When asked if migrants should be required to have a minimum standard of English before being granted permanent residence 80% in the top postcodes and 86% in the bottom agreed.

Similarly, when asked if migrants should be required to attend a course on Australian values before being granted permanent residence 75% in the top and 82% in the bottom agreed. Our polling indicates a high level of public concern about the social cohesion of our communities.

These attitudes are consistent with the longstanding principles that have underpinned our immigration program: promoting immigration by those willing to support core Australia values such as rule of law, respect for the individual and parliamentary democracy.

However, what our polling indicates is that concerns about social cohesion have reached the point that most Australians want to see a more formal approach to promoting integration.

This strongly suggests that governments will need to address these concerns to ensure public support for immigration is maintained. And that simply talking up the economic benefits of immigration is not enough to guarantee public confidence in the program.