asylum seekers, boat people, Essential Report, Polling, Processing Asylum Seekers
Q. Thinking about the issue of asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat, which of the following alternatives do you think is the best way to process those arriving:
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | 50% or more | About 25% | About 10% | About 5% | 1% or less | |||
| Offshore, in any other country | 11% | 17% | 11% | 5% | 17% | 12% | 10% | 8% | 9% | ||
| Offshore, but only in a country where human rights are protected | 31% | 31% | 37% | 25% | 27% | 41% | 36% | 40% | 30% | ||
| Onshore (in Australia) | 21% | 24% | 11% | 58% | 4% | 7% | 19% | 27% | 42% | ||
| Turn the boats around | 28% | 21% | 36% | 6% | 51% | 39% | 30% | 23% | 15% | ||
| Don’t know | 9% | 8% | 6% | 6% | 1% | 1% | 5% | 3% | 4% |
The most favoured method of processing asylum seekers was ‘offshore, but only in a country where human rights are protected’ (31%), followed by ‘turn the boats around’ (28%).
Respondents then favour processing ‘onshore in Australia’ (21%) over processing asylum seekers ‘offshore in any other country’ (11%).
Coalition voters are more likely to prefer processing asylum seekers offshore where human rights are protected (37%), as well as turning the boats around (36%).
Greens voters are much more likely to prefer onshore processing in Australia (58%). Labor voters are more likely to prefer processing offshore in any other country (17%) and somewhat more likely to prefer processing ‘onshore in Australia’ (24%).
Respondents that believe the proportion of boat arrivals constitute ‘50% or more’ of the annual immigration intake are far more likely to favour ‘turning the boats around’ (51%).
Conversely, respondents that believe the proportion to be ‘1% or less’ are far more likely to be in favour of processing onshore in Australia (42%).
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Q. Thinking about asylum seekers arriving in Australia, how important do you think each of the following features are for a good refugee processing system?
| Very important | Important | Not very important | Not at all important | Don’t know | Total Important | Total Not Important | ||
| Stopping the boats | 52% | 22% | 11% | 8% | 7% | 74% | 19% | |
| Keeping costs down | 47% | 34% | 11% | 2% | 6% | 81% | 13% | |
| Protecting human rights | 42% | 38% | 9% | 5% | 6% | 80% | 14% | |
| Avoiding prolonged detention | 35% | 33% | 13% | 12% | 8% | 68% | 25% | |
| Making sure children have their claims processed in Australia | 26% | 32% | 18% | 13% | 11% | 58% | 31% | |
| Allowing Australian courts to review claims | 22% | 34% | 16% | 16% | 12% | 56% | 32% | |
| Approval from the United Nations | 22% | 32% | 20% | 16% | 11% | 54% | 36% | |
| Making sure asylum seekers are not returned to the countries they have fled | 20% | 29% | 18% | 20% | 13% | 49% | 38% |
Please note: ‘Total Important’ is an aggregate figure achieved by adding ‘Very Important’ and ‘Important’ together. ‘Total Not Important’ is an aggregate figure that has been achieved by adding ‘Not very important’ and ‘Not at all important’ together.
The most important feature of a ‘good refugee processing system’ is ‘keeping the costs down’, with 81% of respondents regarding this to be either very important or important, followed by ‘protecting human rights’ (80% total important).
Seventy four per cent (74%) of respondents believed that ‘stopping the boats’ is an important feature and 68% regard ‘avoiding prolonged detention’ to be an important feature.
Amongst the least important features of a good refugee processing system is ‘approval from the United Nations’, with only 54% regarding this to be important and 36% viewing it as not important.
Making sure asylum seekers are not returned to the countries they have fled was the least important attribute, with only 49% believing it to be important and 38% regarding it as not important.
approach to asylum seekers, asylum seekers, boat people, Essential Report, Polling, Processing Asylum Seekers
Q. Thinking about the issue of asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat – do you think they should be processed in Australia or should they be sent to another country for processing?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Process in Australia | 36% | 44% | 27% | 73% |
| Sent to another country | 53% | 44% | 65% | 15% |
| Don’t know | 11% | 12% | 8% | 12% |
53% favour sending asylum seekers to another country for processing and 36% favour processing them in Australia. Liberal/National voters strongly favour sending them to another country (65%), Greens voters strongly favour processing them in Australia (73%) and Labor voters are split (44%/44%).
Respondents aged under 35 are split (43% Australia/41% another country) but older respondents strongly favour processing overseas (aged 55+ = 62% another country/32% Australia).
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Q. Actually, the number of asylum seekers reaching Australia by boat has fallen by more than half in 2011 compared to 2010. Based on that information, now how concerned are you about the number of asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Very concerned | 33% | 24% | 43% | 9% |
| Somewhat concerned | 25% | 27% | 30% | 11% |
| A little concerned | 20% | 23% | 17% | 26% |
| Not at all concerned | 19% | 25% | 8% | 50% |
| Don’t know | 3% | 2% | 1% | 3% |
When told that the number of asylum seekers arriving by boat had fallen by more than half, 33% said they were very concerned (down 10% from the earlier question), 25% somewhat concerned (up 1%) and 39% a little or not concerned (up 9%).
The shifts were similar across all demographic groups.
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Q. The Government has recently made an agreement to send asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australia to Malaysia for processing, and in return Australia will take a fixed number of refugees from Malaysia. Do you support or oppose this agreement?
| 16 June 11 | Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Total support | 40% | 31% | 50% | 25% | 19% |
| Total oppose | 39% | 53% | 31% | 67% | 60% |
| Strongly support | 13% | 6% | 9% | 4% | 3% |
| Support | 27% | 25% | 41% | 21% | 16% |
| Oppose | 22% | 23% | 17% | 24% | 35% |
| Strongly oppose | 17% | 30% | 14% | 43% | 25% |
| Don’t know | 21% | 16% | 18% | 9% | 21% |
31% support the agreement to send asylum seekers to Malaysia for processing and 53% oppose. This represents a significant increase in opposition to this scheme from that recorded 6 weeks ago – support is down 9% and opposition up 14%.
This shift is mainly due to changed opinions of Liberal/National voters. Support from Labor voters is up 3% to 50% while opposition from Liberal/National voters has increased by 22% to 67%. Opposition from Greens voters has also increased by 9% to 60%.
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Q. The Government has announced two possible agreements with Malaysia and Papua New Guinea on asylum seekers. Under these agreements, asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australia will be sent to either Malaysia or PNG for processing, and in return Australia will take a fixed number of refugees from Malaysia.
Do you support or oppose the Government’s plan to send asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australia to PNG and Malaysia?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Liberal/ National | Vote Greens | |
| Total support | 40% | 55% | 40% | 29% |
| Total oppose | 40% | 25% | 49% | 53% |
| Strongly support | 11% | 16% | 12% | 5% |
| Support | 29% | 39% | 28% | 24% |
| Oppose | 20% | 16% | 19% | 33% |
| Strongly oppose | 20% | 9% | 30% | 20% |
| Don’t know | 19% | 20% | 12% | 17% |
Respondents were divided over the Government’s plan to send asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australia to PNG and Malaysia – 40% support and 40% oppose. Labor voters were more likely to support the plan (55%) while Greens voters were most likely to oppose it (53%).
There were no substantial differences by demographic groups.
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Q. Do you support or oppose the Government’s plan to send asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australia to PNG and Malaysia if it means it will cost taxpayers substantially more than it would if we just processed asylum seekers on the mainland in Australia?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Liberal/ National | Vote Greens | |
| Total support | 24% | 35% | 23% | 15% |
| Total oppose | 60% | 49% | 66% | 69% |
| Strongly support | 6% | 8% | 6% | 3% |
| Support | 18% | 27% | 17% | 12% |
| Oppose | 29% | 31% | 25% | 35% |
| Strongly oppose | 31% | 18% | 41% | 34% |
| Don’t know | 16% | 16% | 11% | 16% |
Respondents were more likely to oppose the plan to send asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australia to PNG and Malaysia if it means it will cost taxpayers substantially more than it would if we just processed asylum seekers on the mainland in Australia – 24% support and 60% oppose.
Labor voters showed the largest shift in opinion if increased cost to taxpayers was taken into account – their opposition increased from 25% to 49%.