As Australians prepare to vote, a new survey has revealed a declining national identity.
Australians are identifying less with their country and community, and for some, life in Australia has become a battle to belong, according to The Inclusive Australia Social Inclusion Index 2021–22 which was released last Monday.
Key findings of the report are that people on a low income had lower levels of well-being compared with other groups studied; half of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples surveyed had experienced major discrimination (such as being unfairly fired) in the past two years and ‘everyday’ discrimination (such as being treated with less respect) at least weekly, and; LGBTIQ+ people had lower levels of identification with being Australian.
Religious and racial minorities
Religious and racial minorities were targeted by some of the highest levels of prejudice in Australia, although this has been declining since 2017.
Another trend emerging is the decline in our identification with our local and wider community, which has been steadily dropping since 2017. However, our identification with people all over the world has remained mostly unchanged.
While Australians showed some resilience to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in some areas, 80 per cent of respondents thought Australians didn’t demonstrate our national values of fairness, tolerance, respect, or equal opportunity ‘a lot’, which had deteriorated by the second year of the pandemic.
The declining identification with Australian values was a major factor in belonging and well-being dropping to its lowest level (62 out of 100) since the start of the Index in 2017. The biggest declines in well-being in the past year were for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, LGBTIQ+ people and religious minorities.
Inclusive Australia CEO Andrea Pearman said identification with Australia, local community and humanity, are all important parts of promoting a socially inclusive society, where people care about and feel a sense of connection with others. ‘We are also seeing a trend towards disillusionment as well as activism, which could be an indication that people are no longer content with the status quo and are increasingly willing to act to support disadvantaged groups, which may play out in the election.’
Downward trend in prejudice
Another positive sign from the report is the downward trend in prejudice towards some groups across the last six periods surveyed by the Index.
Ms Pearman said a positive step all Australians can take is to actively connect with more diverse groups of people. ‘More contact is associated with less prejudice. When we listen to people’s experiences, beliefs, and ideas, we learn to recognise our similarities and celebrate our differences.’
Surveyed over 11 thousand Australians
Professor Liam Smith, Director of Monash Sustainable Development Institute’s BehaviourWorks Australia, said organisations are increasingly using diagnostic tools to measure social inclusion in their workplaces and communities. ‘This is the sixth release of the Social Inclusion Index and we have surveyed over 11 thousand Australians in total over the course of five years. It is unique in that it measures social inclusion as a whole, capturing numerous different groups and their experiences in one place.
‘Until the development of the Social Inclusion Index, governments, NGOs, and businesses had very few tools available to measure Australia’s progress towards social inclusion overall. Through this all-encompassing data we have access to real-time data and a “snapshot” of the nation’s wellbeing to help inform and shape policies and practises, that address discrimination.
‘As an applied behaviour change research organisation, we are committed to providing behavioural solutions to real-world problems, and if we want to tackle social inclusion, it is vital that we give stakeholders the tools they need to make change happen’.
The Inclusive Australia Social Inclusion Index is an annual survey conducted since 2017 by Inclusive Australia and BehaviourWorks Australia – a Monash Sustainable Development Institute (MSDI) enterprise – to measure the country’s social inclusion performance.
Well ! What do you expect ?
“Australians are identifying less with their country and community” the last figures I remember 30% of the population were born else-where and 50% have parents born over-seas. The inconvenient truth is Australians are being out numbered by immigrants who have greater affiliation with foreign countries and foreign cultures . What is perhaps even more concerning is the level of government spending, encouraging this toxic trend.
If there was any real attempt to tackle social inclusion, I believe it must start by asking Australians do they still support the immigration that was meant to save Europeans from the devastation inflicted by WWII . The people have never been asked, it has been forced on us and minority pressure groups will never be satisfied but have been given ridiculous levels of consideration in what are supposed to be democratic decisions.
Cheers, G”)
Dead right Ken.
I was a sign writer forced into Canberra Public Housing when Robots took over ANOTHER of my trades.
All Jobs here are filled Chinese and Indians that hate us and treat us huge rudeness once they have a position of power over us. I literally live in Concentration camp drug Ghetto and have an Indian called “Nick” working in Housing a threatening me to pressure me into signing a document that would of negated my medical transfer from a flat FULL of black mould, pigeons in the stair wells and Roof no damp course, water runs down the walls in a ground floor flat of 3 stories.
It IS LITERAL HELL AND YOU MISS THE FACT THE INDIAN PUBLIC SERVANT THREATENS ME TELLING me I’ll never get out of here, an illegal building by Australian standards. It’s a literal Ghetto full the meanest kinds of human beings where we are all just jammed together without any concern for demographics. Come and have a look if you don’t believe me and taken a walk through the black mould flats and pigeon shit. I can why Nick the Indians d family came here, Now it’s just like Calcutta! I’m a62 year old bullied this vicious 6’3” Indian thug and I won’t be scared into being quiet as life can’t be any worse. Our leaders have sold us out. First to Federalism and it Central bank scam. In fact not one promise has ever come true from a Politician, and resulted in the death of my child.
I am so depressed I wish I could pass quickly.
Forget all the multicultural lies. THEY HATE US and rejoice in my depression.
We are out on a limb since the ‘tree’ has been shifted.
Talk about lost-in-space! It’s now nowhere country.
It’s not called a tree, it’s called the Overton Window.
It’s not just the genocide by displacement and wealth transfer, there is also the culture of critique being use to deconstruct Australianess.
Those who control the past, control the future. If you want to destroy a country, rewrite it’s history into something that makes them villains.
Tell the group that built the country they are greedy and evil for having built it.
Tell them that they must hand it over to others or the demonisation will continue.
Former KGB agent Uri Bezmenov calls it the “demoralisation stage”. Next one is “crisis stage”, then “normalisation stage” (aka the new normal).
Since it was part of his job to stage communist take overs of countries, I figure he knew how it was done.
He gave interviews in English explaining it all, you can find them on youtube.
I have to admit I’m agreeing with you there. It’s not very green if the place is overcrowded. There’s enough of us here now. How big is Sydney suburbia going to get. It wouldn’t hurt to slow down immigration. It would help.