Victorians support ethnic diversity,

Cultural diversity survey: Victorians support ethnic diversity, but half believe some groups 'do not fit in'

Updated 23 minutes agoMon 8 Dec 2014, 9:14am
PHOTO: Almost all respondents said it was important to treat people of all backgrounds fairly.(ABC News: Tony Trung)
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MAP: VIC
Victorians support the idea of cultural diversity, but over half of people believe there is at least one ethnic group that does not fit into Australia society, a survey has found.
The VicHealth Race and Cultural Diversity Survey said 78 per cent of Victorians were in favour of cultural diversity, but one third of respondents thought certain minority ethnic groups posed a risk to their way of life.
It also found 54 per cent of people believed certain race groups did not "fit in" with Australia's way of life.
The research, conducted by Deakin University and the University of Melbourne, involved 1,250 Victorians over the age of 18.
The last survey was taken in 2006 and VicHealth chief executive Jerril Rechter said not a lot had changed.
"Victorians have a really strong record of nurturing cultural diversity and working towards equality for all," she said.
"However we have seen some areas where we do need to strengthen our understanding of cultural diversity and the benefits."
One in five people said certain race groups threatened the economic security of other Australians by taking jobs away.
Victorian attitudes towards diversity

• 78 per cent are in favour of cultural diversity
• 54 per cent say certain race groups did not 'fit in'
• 70 per cent have positive contact with other ethnic groups
• 9 per cent feel uncomfortable around those of other backgrounds.

But 95 per cent of those asked believed it was important to treat people of all backgrounds fairly, and 70 per cent said they had frequent, positive contact with members of other ethnic groups.
Only 9 per cent of those who took part in the survey reported feeling uncomfortable around people from other racial backgrounds.
Of those who expressed prejudiced attitudes about certain groups, more were likely to feel negative towards people from Muslim (22 per cent), Middle Eastern (14 per cent), African (11 per cent) and refugee (11 per cent) backgrounds.
The Indigenous population "held a special place as the first Australians" according to 83 per cent of respondents, but one in four said current levels of government support for Aboriginal people were too high.
Ms Rechter said discrimination and poor attitudes towards minority groups can have profound health effects.
"Racism hurts more than just feelings. It can affect people's mental wellbeing and people that are the subjects of racism can suffer from anxiety and depression," she said.
"So it's incredibly important that as a community we stamp out racism whenever we see it, and we don't just stand by and watch it occurring.
"It can also lead to reduced self-esteem, increased stress, drug and alcohol use and self-harm.
"We also know that people who use unhealthy coping mechanisms are more likely to be obese, have high blood pressure and develop other health problems, such as stroke and heart disease."
Topics: race-relations, community-and-society, vic


http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-08/victorians-support-ethnic-diversity-report-finds/5950352