The results challenge current media and political narratives about rising concern over immigration and its impact on Australian society.
An annual national survey by the philanthropic Scanlon Foundation has found that while four in five Australians see benefits to immigration, a rising number think the intake is too high, up from 37 per cent last year to 43 per cent in the 2018 survey.
That's the highest it's been since 2010, when the number concerned the rate was too high peaked at 47 per cent following the Coalition's vow to cut migration after Kevin Rudd's speech supporting a "Big Australia".
Despite this, the 2018 Mapping Social Cohesion survey finds more than half of Australians consider the current intake of migrants either good or too low. The survey canvassed the views of 1,500 randomly chosen Australians on issues such as social cohesion, immigration and population issues.
Researcher Andrew Markus, from Melbourne's Monash University, says, despite concerns about population management, 82 per cent of those surveyed believed immigrants improve Australian society.
Professor Markus says, on the question of whether multiculturalism has been good for Australia, support remains steady from previous years.
Most respondents saw multiculturalism as a two-way process of change, involving adaptation by both those people already in Australia and those arriving from overseas.
In the survey, 54 per cent felt migrants should change their behaviours to be more like people already in Australia.
Meanwhile, 37 per cent said ethnic minorities should receive government assistance to maintain their customs and conditions. Ethnic Communities Councils of Victoria chairwoman Kris Pavlidisis says, overall, the results offer a positive picture of Australian society's understanding of multiculturalism.
Beyond immigration, Andrew Markus says the changes in respondents' attitudes towards members of the federal parliament are particularly notable. Professor Markus says there has been a significant drop in support for federal parliamentarians over the past decade.
Just under one in five of those surveyed said they had experienced discrimination because of their religion, ethnicity or skin colour.
That figure has not increased since 2016. Eighteen-year-old Emmanuel Makor, born in Egypt, receives support from the organisation Youth Activating Youth, which helps disadvantaged multicultural youths in Victoria.
He has been in Australia since he was a young child and says, while he has experienced discrimination, he feels a strong sense of belonging. But he says that discrimination comes through in the media.
Around 23 per cent of respondents in the study showed negative views towards Muslims, a figure that has remained between 22 and 25 per cent since 2010.
Victorian Multicultural Commission chairwoman Helen Kapalos says negative views based on religion and race are part of a global narrative now occurring.
