'It Would be Okay If They Came through the Proper Channels': Community Perceptions and Attitudes toward Asylum Seekers in Australia

McKay, Fiona H.; Thomas, Samantha; Kneebone, Susan

doi:10.1093/jrs/fer010

Cited by 138 publications

(120 citation statements)

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“…Such increases in racist incidents have coincided with a (failed) political attempt to amend/repeal Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act-a legislative protection from 'offensive behaviour because of race, colour or national or ethnic origin' (Racial Discrimination Act 1975, s.18C). Australia's formal humanitarian intake of asylum seekers and refugees coexists alongside its policy of indefinite detention in offshore centres for asylum seekers arriving by sea, and government and media discourse that vilifies asylum seekers and feeds anti-asylum seeker sentiments (Augoustinos and Quinn 2003; Pedersen et al 2006;Every and Augoustinos 2007;McKay et al 2012, Trounson et al 2015. Our anticipation is that these contradictory political discourses and the demographic realities will be reflected in contradictory attitudes on Australian multiculturalism.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Australians’ Views on Cultural Diversity, Nation and Migration, 2015-16

et al. 2017

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Between July and August 2015, and in November 2016, the Challenging Racism Project team conducted an online survey to measure the extent and variation of racist attitudes and experiences in Australia. The survey comprised a sample of 6001 Australian residents, which was largely representative of the Australian population. The survey gauged Australians’ attitudes toward cultural diversity, intolerance of specific groups, immigration, perceptions of Anglo-Celtic cultural privilege, and belief in racialism, racial separatism and racial hierarchy. In this paper we report findings on respondents’ views on cultural diversity, nation and migration. The majority of Australians are pro-diversity. However, we also acknowledge conflicting findings such as strong support for assimilation and identification of ‘out groups’. The findings paint a complex picture of attitudes towards cultural diversity, nation and migration in Australia. The attitudes reflect contradictory political trends of celebrated diversity, triumphalist claims about freedom, alongside pro-assimilationist views and stoked Islamophobia. This is within the context of a stalled multicultural project that has not sufficiently challenged assimilationist assumptions and Anglo-privilege.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Australians’ Views on Cultural Diversity, Nation and Migration, 2015-16

et al. 2017

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“…In a recent study, the vast majority of participants reported a lack of accurate knowledge about asylum seekers and asylum-seeker issues; interestingly, the knowledge that participants did have corresponded with media reporting on the issue (McKay et al, 2012). This brings us to our next point -the role of the media in the reporting of false beliefs.…”

Section: False Beliefs About Asylum Seekersmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Thus, asylum seekers are considered as 'undocumented immigrants'; they have no access to basic human rights such as work rights, education, or healthcare, and are constantly vulnerable to being arrested and indefinitely detained by authorities (Mathew & Harley, 2014). Such false beliefs continue to be a common fixture in the discourse surrounding asylum seekers (McKay, Thomas, & Kneebone, 2012;Sulaiman-Hill, Thompson, Afsar, & Hodliffe, 2011). It is beyond the scope of this article to outline all false beliefs about asylum seekers to Australia.…”

Section: False Beliefs About Asylum Seekersmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…It is beyond the scope of this article to outline all false beliefs about asylum seekers to Australia. However, there are a number of other resources that interested readers can access; for example, Andrew and Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law (n.d.), Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (n.d.), and Buckmaster and Guppy (2014).In a recent study, the vast majority of participants reported a lack of accurate knowledge about asylum seekers and asylum-seeker issues; interestingly, the knowledge that participants did have corresponded with media reporting on the issue (McKay et al, 2012). This brings us to our next point -the role of the media in the reporting of false beliefs.…”

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confidence: 93%

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False Beliefs About Asylum Seekers to Australia: The Role of Confidence in Such Beliefs, Prejudice, and the Third Person Effect

Pedersen

Hartley

2017

Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology

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T here has been much controversy about the treatment of asylum seekers in Australia in recent years, with the Australian Government continuing to enforce a very hard-line stance on asylum seekers who arrive to Australia by boat. The present study examined attitudes towards asylum seekers using 164 Australian community members during June 2015 by way of questionnaire. Our primary research question involved how five variables predicted false beliefs about asylum seekers. Specifically, we measured prejudice, the third-person effect, and confidence in the answers given to false beliefs about asylum seekers. Regression results indicated that the main predictors of false beliefs were right-wing political orientation, prejudice, confidence in espousing false beliefs, and the third-person effect (politicians). Furthermore, most of our community participants accepted a large number of false beliefs as being true, with approximately two-thirds of our participants scoring above the midpoint. This reflects similar findings over the last decade or so. Our results indicate that, if one believes in bottom-up change, a more nuanced approach needs to be undertaken with community anti-prejudice interventions.Keywords: asylum seekers, refugees, false beliefs, confidence, prejudice, third-person effect There has been much controversy about the treatment of asylum seekers in Australia in recent years, with the Australian Government continuing to enforce a very hardline stance on asylum seekers who arrive to Australia by boat. While community sentiment is mixed, with some Australians feeling compassion for asylum seekers (Surawski, Pedersen, & Briskman, 2008), many Australians have highly negative or prejudiced attitudes towards them (Markus, 2015). This is despite the fact that their arrival by boat does not violate any international or national law. Indeed, Markus (2015) found that many respondents of a community poll (approximately one-third) believed asylum-seeker boats should be turned back without asylum claims being assessed. We do not go into great detail about Australia's asylum-seeker policies as these can be found elsewhere (e.g., Fleay, 2010); however, suffice to say that they are extremely harsh, designed to both deter and punish asylum seekers who attempt to enter Australia by boat (Penovic, 2016). Furthermore, the fact that Australia's asylum-seeker policy regime (e.g., mandatoryAddress for correspondence: Anne Pedersen, Centre for Human Rights Education, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, Perth WA 6102, Australia. Email: anne.pedersen@curtin.edu.au detention) is harmful both psychologically and physically to people seeking asylum cannot be disputed (Coffey, Kaplan, Sampson, & Tucci, 2010;Davidson, Murray, & Schweitzer, 2008;Steele et al., 2004). In response to various aspects of Australia's asylum-seeker policy, there has been considerable outrage from some quarters, including the Australian Human Rights Commission (2014). Relevantly, psychology's peak body strongly opposes Australia's immigration detention ...

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“…While an annual quota is set by the Australian Government for this component, since 1996 a link has been made between the onshore and offshore components. This means that an increase in visa numbers granted to people found to be refugees who arrived onshore results in a decreased number of visas offered to offshore refugees (McKay, Thomas, & Kneebone 2012).…”

Section: Policy Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

People Seeking Asylum in Australia and their Access to Employment: Just What Do We Know?

2016

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Public and political claims about the employment of people from a refugee background in Australia do not always reflect the research findings in this area. For example, recent claims by a senior Coalition Government Minister about people seeking asylum who arrived to Australia by boat during the previous Labor Government's terms in office posit that many have limited employment prospects. However, given there is little research or government reporting on the experiences of asylum seekers who arrived during this time, and none that focuses specifically on their employment, there is no evidence to support this. A review of research on the employment experiences of people from a refugee background, and Australian policies, suggests a more nuanced picture. This includes research that found while initially people from a refugee background are more likely to be unemployed, have temporary jobs and lower incomes than other newly arrived immigrants, over the longer term second-generation refugees have higher levels of labour market participation than the general population and refugees and their families make significant economic and community contributions to Australia. Research also highlights that refugees may experience a range of barriers to accessing employment, including discrimination, and a review of Australian policies indicates these are likely to have exacerbated some of these barriers for asylum seekers who arrived to Australia by boat. In addition, given previous findings that public attitudes can be influenced by representations made in public and political discourses, the public statements of senior Ministers may be further deepening barriers to accessing employment faced by asylum seekers who arrived by boat.

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'It Would be Okay If They Came through the Proper Channels': Community Perceptions and Attitudes toward Asylum Seekers in Australia

Cited by 138 publications

References 25 publications

Australians’ Views on Cultural Diversity, Nation and Migration, 2015-16

Australians’ Views on Cultural Diversity, Nation and Migration, 2015-16

False Beliefs About Asylum Seekers to Australia: The Role of Confidence in Such Beliefs, Prejudice, and the Third Person Effect

People Seeking Asylum in Australia and their Access to Employment: Just What Do We Know?

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