Overview

This research was commissioned by the Melbourne Social Equity Institute and undertaken by the Centre for Advancing Journalism, both at the University of Melbourne, to discover the drivers of attitudes among Australian voters towards asylumseekers and government policies concerning them. The purpose is to contribute to public debate on an issue that has been at the centre of political life in Australia since the so-called Tampa election of 2001. It was a qualitative research project entailing 10 focus group discussions in metropolitan, regional and remote locations across Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. The groups were conducted between 24 August and 3 September. No significant event that might be construed as affecting the findings occurred during that period. It preceded Malcolm Turnbull’s replacing Tony Abbott as Prime Minister, the shooting by an allegedly radicalised youth of a New South Wales Police employee at Parramatta, and the announcement by the Government of Nauru that it was releasing all the asylum-seekers being held in the detention camp on that island. The groups were recruited according to the variables of age, occupation (as a proxy for socio-economic status) and location. Participants were not screened for their pre-existing attitudes to asylum-seekers or related issues. Country of birth was not included as a recruitment specification, but participants came from a wide range of countries and only two of the groups consisted wholly of people born in Australia. Those born overseas came from the Britain, Europe, Canada, the Middle East, South Africa, India, China, South-East Asia and New Zealand.