Voters think it’s more important to consider whether migrants can speak English before accepting them into Australia, rather than where they’ve come from or their religion, an exclusive SBS commissioned Essential Media poll has found.
SBS asked voters how important it is to consider various issues when accepting migrants to Australia. Of those polled 81 per cent said it was important that migrants be able to speak English. 83 per cent said a migrant’s skills and qualifications were important, while 67 per cent said whether or not they are refugees is important to consider.
“It is the ability to speak the English language and their job skills,” Essential Media analyst Peter Lewis told SBS.
“So while there is a lot of white noise about other issues, those are the top two.”
Father of two, Ramesh Thapa migrated to Australia from Nepal in 2007. Mr Thapa told SBS his skills as a chef made the transition easier.
Source: SBS
“Australian people are very friendly and you have lots of opportunities here,” said Mr Thapa.
“But if you have skills or if your English is better you can do much better than you expected.”
Only 47 per cent of voters polled by SBS and Essential Media said a migrant’s religion was important to consider when accepting them to Australia. The age of migrants was also less of an issue, with 55 per cent of voters considering it important.
"Issues like religion, race and age are seen as less important than those language and skill levels," Mr Lewis said.
"Being a refugee is also seen as something that's important, so these findings are not sending the message that Australia wants to close its doors to migrants."
