Arabic version: استطلاع يرصد تزايد التشاؤم والانقسام في أستراليا
According to ABC News, the latest Scanlon Foundation Mapping Social Cohesion study found Australians are becoming more divided, less trusting and more pessimistic as cost-of-living pressures grow. The annual survey, now in its 20th year, questioned 10,000 adults on immigration, multiculturalism, life satisfaction and household finances.
One in three respondents said their life would be a little or much worse over the next three to four years, three times the level recorded in the first survey in 2006. Financial stress left households unable to pay for meals and rent or mortgages, both at 13 per cent, while 21 per cent reported difficulty affording medicine or healthcare and 19 per cent struggled with heating and cooling.
Scanlon Foundation chief executive Anthea Hancocks said people could become more insular when they felt financially compromised. More than one in five respondents said the federal government would “almost never” do the right thing, while 48 per cent said Australia’s system of government needed major change or should be replaced, the highest result since that question was introduced in 2014.
The survey also recorded growing disillusionment with immigration. The share of respondents who considered immigration levels “too high” reached a record 59 per cent in 2026. Although a majority said accepting immigrants made Australia stronger, that proportion fell from 78 per cent in 2022 to 64 per cent this year. The report said 62 per cent believed social cohesion was worsening, though Ms Hancocks said the survey’s social cohesion index had remained flat in recent years and described Australia’s cohesion as resilient because of strong neighbourhoods.
Former Australian of the Year Amar Singh said he had seen increased racist slurs and attacks targeting Indian Australians. Singh, who runs the food-relief charity Turbans 4 Australia, said demand had risen “tenfold” while donations were declining. He said financial strain was affecting everyone but was no excuse for intolerance.
