(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Close to two-thirds of people in Australia think fewer refugees should be allowed to enter the country, according to a poll by Essential Research. 62 per cent of respondents believe the flow of refugees arriving into Australia each year should be decreased, while 24 per cent would keep it at the same level.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Close to two-thirds of people in Australia think fewer refugees should be allowed to enter the country, according to a poll by Essential Research. 62 per cent of respondents believe the flow of refugees arriving into Australia each year should be decreased, while 24 per cent would keep it at the same level.
In addition, 55 per cent of respondents think the policies on asylum seekers set by the government of Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd are too lenient.
Australia currently accepts close to 13,000 asylum seekers per year. The country has recently seen a sharp increase in the number of refugees attempting to arrive by boat.
Last September, Rudd—leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP)—ended the so-called Pacific Solution, a program introduced by his conservative predecessor John Howard which set up detention centres in the Pacific nation of Nauru and on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island where refuge seekers were kept until their cases had been processed.
Earlier this month, Malcolm Turnbull, leader of the opposition Liberal Party, accused the Rudd administration of "going soft" on asylum seekers, saying, "There cannot be any serious argument about that now. (…) It has failed to stop the dreadful business of people-smuggling."
Polling Data
Over the last few years, Australia has accepted about 13,000 refugees per year. Do you think Australia should increase the number of refugees we take in, decrease the number of refugees or should the number of refugees we accept stay about the same?
|
Increase |
10% |
|
Decrease |
62% |
|
Stay the same |
24% |
|
Don’t know |
5% |
Do you think the Rudd government’s policies on asylum seekers are too tough, too soft or about right?
|
Too tough |
4% |
|
Too soft |
55% |
|
About right |
26% |
|
Don’t know |
15% |
Source: Essential Research
Methodology: Online interviews with 1,066 Australian adults, conducted from Apr. 28 to May 3, 2009. No margin of error was provided.
