More Australians view opposition leader Peter Dutton’s stance on banning Gaza refugees as a necessary national security measure rather than a political ploy, a new poll has shown, underscoring the growing public anxiety over immigration and its impact on national unity.
Dutton, the leader of the conservative party coalition, has for the past two weeks pushed to stop issuing Australian visas to refugees fleeing the war to prevent the admittance of Hamas sympathisers and criticised the Anthony Albanese government for its screening of such visa applications. Other lawmakers have decried his efforts as racist and divisive.
The controversy comes as public sentiment over Canberra’s stance on the Gaza war deteriorates in the lead-up to a federal election, amid an outcry over Islamophobia and antisemitism.
The latest Essential poll, which was released on Tuesday and focused mainly on Dutton’s refugee ban and immigration, found that 54 per cent of Australians believed the opposition leader “genuinely cares about national security” while 46 per cent said “he is more interested in driving division for political purposes”.
The poll also found that around 44 per cent of respondents supported a pause on Palestinian refugee arrivals, while 30 per cent were opposed and 26 per cent were undecided.
Almost six out of 10 respondents acknowledged there was “tension between people of different races and nationalities” in Australia.
About 37 per cent of respondents said Australia was a racist country, a similar number to the same poll five years ago, while four in 10 agreed that Australians from an Anglo or a European background enjoyed “a privileged position in our society”.
At the same time, attitudes towards immigration have worsened, with more Australians – about 42 per cent of those surveyed – saying it is a negative for Australia. That is a significant increase over the 35 per cent who thought it was a negative five years ago.
Immigration’s biggest negative impact is pushing up house prices, according to 69 per cent of respondents, much more than the 51 per cent who thought immigrants were taking jobs.
The high cost of living – which includes steep house prices – remains a key concern among Australians, according to new findings released on Tuesday by another pollster, Roy Morgan.
Mortgage stress was only marginally better than a month ago, and fewer than one in 10 Australians expected “good times” for the Australian economy over the next year, it said.
As Dutton sought legal advice over being labelled a racist by independent minister Zali Steggall, other observers said he was right to defend Australia amid worries there were insufficient security checks on potential Hamas supporters.
But Australian spy chief Mike Burgess had confirmed rhetorical rather than ideological support for Hamas should not stop Palestinians receiving visas.
Dutton did not oppose issuing visas to those fleeing the war in Ukraine, and had previously supported a special refugee intake for white South African farmers in 2018 after watching televised footage of rural crime in the country.
While he claimed the number of Palestinians arriving in Australia on tourist visas had been unprecedented, a fact-check by the Australian Associated Press showed Ukrainian nationals were approved for the same class of visa following the Russian invasion in February 2022.
Since the start of the Gaza crisis in October, 2,922 visas for refugees from the conflict have been approved and more than 7,000 rejected, according to Australia’s Department of Home Affairs. Only 1,300 of those have arrived in Australia, mainly because exit points such as the Rafah crossing remain closed.
In comparison, countries including Canada had expanded their visa caps, Amnesty International said.
An analysis by The Conversation two weeks ago found that the discussion on Gaza refugees in Australia piled “dangerous fuel onto an already incendiary local divisions the Middle East conflict has generated”.
“At the core is the balance this country should strike between national security and national compassion,” University of Canberra professorial fellow Michelle Grattan wrote in the analysis.
Parliamentarians including Foreign Minister Penny Wong continue to call for the opposition leader to stoke less division.
Last week, Chinese-Australian member of parliament Sally Sitou delivered a speech in Canberra saying Australia had provided refuge to people like her parents who fled conflict, while appealing to Dutton’s “better angel” to unite and not divide.
