The continued support for multiculturalism in Australia is welcome news, the Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria (ECCV) says.
The seventh Scanlon Foundation Mapping Social Cohesion national survey, released this week, provides evidence that 85 per cent of people (up from 84 per cent last year) have strong support for multiculturalism, and think that it has been good for Australia.
ECCV chairperson Eddie Micallef said the continued high percentage vindicated the work that ECCV does to promote the benefits of multiculturalism.
“The results of this survey show that there is good aspiration for ‘integrated’ communities and positive sentiments towards immigration,” Mr Micallef said.
“But our community needs to take note of the findings that show there has been a large increase in the reported level of discrimination because of skin colour, ethnic origin or religion. As three out of 10 respondents reported discrimination at least once a month, we need to keep working on combating racism in our community.
“We are also concerned by the negative perceptions towards Muslims, almost five times more than the negative perception people have towards those of Christian and Buddhist faiths.
“There is no excuse for racism. ECCV rejects all forms of racism, and everyone in our community should be free to live without harassment, fear, intimidation or violence” Mr Micallef said.