Australia's longest-running social cohesion study has found the country more fractured and more downbeat than at any point in its two-decade history, with financial pressure, distrust of government and hardening views on immigration all intensifying. The Scanlon Foundation's Mapping Social Cohesion report, now in its 20th year, surveyed 10,000 adults on topics including life satisfaction, household finances, multiculturalism and immigration, according to ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The report's opening describes the past year as a severe one for the nation, pointing to the Bondi terrorist attack, episodes of racism and intolerance, and sustained anxiety about money driven by rising interest rates and the Iran conflict.
Why it matters
The survey is one of the most closely watched measures of how Australians feel about each other and their institutions, and this year's edition records several highs and lows not seen before in the series. One in three respondents now expect their life to be somewhat or considerably worse in three to four years — three times the share who said the same in the first survey in 2006. Satisfaction has also drifted downward across the study's history, with fewer people describing themselves as happy or very happy.
Anthea Hancocks, chief executive of the Scanlon Foundation, said the findings reflect a widespread sense that opportunity has narrowed. "People are feeling there isn't a lot of opportunity for them to be able to achieve the things they want to," she said.
Hardship at the household level
The financial picture drawn by respondents is stark. Thirteen per cent said they had been unable to pay for meals at some point, and the same proportion had fallen short on rent or their mortgage. Twenty-one per cent reported going without medicine or healthcare, and 19 per cent had struggled to cover heating or cooling.
Young and middle-aged adults were the most likely to report hardship, with women and single-income households particularly exposed. Hancocks linked these pressures to a weakening sense of connection, saying that when people feel financially squeezed, their sense of belonging contracts.
Trust in the federal government has continued to slide from its pandemic-era peak. More than one in five respondents now believe the government will almost never act correctly. Forty-eight per cent said the country's system of government requires major change or outright replacement — the largest share since the question was introduced in 2014.
Hancocks said trust had been broadly steady for most of the population, but that the views of One Nation supporters, who are strongly distrustful of government, had pulled the overall figures lower.
Immigration attitudes harden
Disquiet about immigration has grown markedly since the pandemic. Fifty-nine per cent of respondents now say the intake is too high, the highest level recorded in the survey's history. The share who agree that accepting immigrants strengthens Australia has slipped from 78 per cent in 2022 to 64 per cent this year, though a majority still holds that view. Thirty-eight per cent — again a record — said immigrants take jobs.
One Nation voters stood out as the least supportive of immigration and were overwhelmingly of the view that newcomers do not adopt what the survey called "Australian values", a phrase the report notes carries different meanings for different people. Supporters of the party were also the most pessimistic about the country's future and the most likely to distrust others.
Hancocks said attitudes to immigration track political affiliation closely. "It's a perspective, not necessarily the actual situation," she said, adding that many people are absorbing narratives about large influxes of arrivals that do not match reality.
The report describes debate over immigration as legitimate but voices alarm that racial hostility and violence have become commonplace, putting pressure on the country's multicultural fabric.
A mixed picture beneath the headline
Despite the gloomy aggregate results, the survey's actual cohesion index has held roughly level in recent years. Hancocks attributed that stability largely to the strength of local neighbourhood ties. Sixty-two per cent of respondents nonetheless believe cohesion is deteriorating.
Amar Singh, a former Australian of the Year who founded the food relief charity Turbans 4 Australia, said the findings matched what he has observed, including a rise in slurs and attacks directed at Indian Australians. He said he has received online abuse himself, including a recent email telling him he needed to die. Demand for his charity's services has grown tenfold, he said, while donations have fallen.
The survey's release adds evidence to a debate likely to continue through the coming political cycle, with immigration levels, government trust and household costs all now measuring at or near record extremes.
