In contrast to the growing hostility towards migrants in Europe, Australia in 2015 remains tolerant, proud and optimistic, according to the latest large-scale study by the Scanlon Foundation

The country has survived the Abbott years bruised but with its best instincts intact. Despite the fear campaigns of the last few years, Australians remain tolerant, proud, resilient and overwhelmingly optimistic.

That’s the message of the eighth survey of social cohesion by Andrew Markus for the Scanlon Foundation. “What makes Australia unique,” says Markus, “is its acceptance of immigration and cultural diversity. And it’s strengthening.”

The mission of the Scanlon Foundation is to measure how this migrant nation hangs together. The figures are subtle. Old White Australia is not yet a corpse but Markus found in 2015, “lowered experience of discrimination, heightened acceptance of immigration and cultural diversity, and more positive future expectations”.

Markus, a professor at Monash University and veteran of these surveys, contrasts the mood in Australia with the growing hostility to immigration in Europe. In the last fortnight, elections have seen one far right anti-immigration party surging in popularity in Switzerland and another taking power in Poland.

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Soundings taken in Tony Abbott’s last months found the country uneasy about social justice, particularly the gap between rich and poor. In Julia Gillard’s last year, 34% of us thought the gap was growing “too large”. But in the weeks before Abbott fell, that figure had risen dramatically to 44%.

We aren’t gloomy about the economy. Despite the end of the mining boom and endless warnings in the press about hard times ahead, the Scanlon figures show us to be ceaselessly confident about our own and the country’s prosperity. Markus reports 71% of us are satisfied or very satisfied with our present financial situation.

But, again, we’re not so sure the future looks fair. Under Gillard, 82% of us thought Australia a country where hard work guaranteed a better life. That’s slipped a few points under Abbott with a marked drop of 5% in those who strongly agree with the proposition that work wins opportunity.

Abbott did nothing to restore Australia’s lost trust in government. Before Kevin Rudd turned his back on the greatest moral challenge of our time, 48% of us trusted Canberra to do the right thing by the country almost always or most of the time. Since Rudd’s collapse, that has flatlined at 30%.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Abbott at a press conference in 2015 backed by eight Australian flags. Despite his campaign against the ‘death cult’ it ‘never actually translated into some long-term basis for support of government’, Markus says. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

For a few months, Abbott’s campaign against the death cult last year resulted in a flowering of confidence in Canberra. But that didn’t last. Markus says: “Whipping up concern about terrorism and national security never actually translated into some long-term basis for support of government.”

Abbott, it seems, was not even much good at driving panic politics.

That Labor voters and Greens are especially sceptical of Canberra these days is to be expected. Their opponents are in power. One of the most remarkable findings in the survey is the verdict of Liberal and National party voters on their own government: only 50% of them thought Canberra under Abbott could be trusted to do the right thing by Australia.

But we love authority. Once again, the Scanlon survey shows Australia’s profound faith in the police: 88% of us have “some” or “a lot” of trust in the officers of the law. We trust bosses far more than unions (72% to 41%), and police far more than lawyers and the courts.

Markus wonders if the figures for trust in politics and government might improve under Turnbull.

To the distress of judges who have been through these figures with Markus, the legal system comes out rather poorly: only 73% of us trust the bench, bar and magistrates. But judges can take comfort from the national verdict on political parties: only 38% of us trust them.

Markus wonders if the figures for trust in politics and government might improve under Turnbull. It’s too soon to tell. We will know next year when his teams are back in the field. But he’s absolutely confident the core finding of this year’s survey – the continuing solid support for multi-racial, multi-faith immigration on a large scale – will not falter because of changes of leadership.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Families and friends gather at a house near the Lakemba mosque in Sydney where thousands of Muslims line the streets to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan. About 76% of Australians say race or religion should have not be taken into account in accepting migrants. Photograph: Jane Dempster/AAP

He argues there are few countries that come close to matching Australia’s enthusiasm for opening its doors – in a carefully controlled manner – to the people of the world. “Australia and Canada and forget the rest. Maybe NZ.”

Even the current dip in the economy has not given Australians pause. “I suspect people don’t know the numbers and don’t understand the numbers,” says Markus. “But they now associate immigration with growth and prosperity.”

Multiculturalism means different things to different people, but its triumph now seems complete. More strongly than ever, 86% of Australians believe “multiculturalism has been good for Australia”. Ask Australians if we should choose migrants on the basis of race or religion and 76% say no.

We now associate immigration with growth and prosperity Andrew Markus, Scanlon Foundation

In world terms, Markus argues, that’s an emphatic endorsement. “They aren’t saying that in France and Germany.” More than 60% of us believe Australians should do more to learn about the customs and heritage of those who settle here. The old assimilationist position – that immigrants must adapt and become like Australians – is held by a mere 23% of us.

Those figures are not, perhaps, as splendid as they may seem. We are a half and half nation of old hands and newcomers. That so many of us were born abroad (27%) or are the children of at least one parent born abroad (21%) is yet another measure that makes Australia unique.

But it also suggests that resentment to other races settling here remains strong among white or – to use the Scanlon language – third-generation Australians.

What do Australians think of Muslims? This year, 22% of us admitted negative or strongly negative feelings towards them. That’s high. Hostility to Christians runs at 4% and to Buddhists a little less than 5%.

But an exercise conducted last year by Marcus showed 28% of third-generation Australians, when quizzed on the phone, admitted negative feelings to Muslims. Put the same question to the same Australians online – where they might answer more freely - and the figure rises to 44%.

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Markus was pleased to report in 2015 a significant fall in the numbers of Australians experiencing discrimination because of their colour, race or religion. Overall, the figures are down from 19% in 2013 to 14.5% this year. But broken down by race, the numbers are still challenging.

He found 28% of Australians born in India and 25% of those born in China experienced discrimination of some kind in the previous 12 months. Little of it is physical abuse. Much of it happens at work and not only from fellow workers. “It could be bosses.”

Neighbourhoods seem more welcoming. “The data indicates neighbourhoods in general are functioning well,” says Markus. “It indicates people who are not happy with their neighbourhoods have probably moved away and the ones who stay are in large measure reasonably happy with the way things are going.”

Ask Australians if we should choose migrants on the basis of race or religion and 76% say no

The Scanlon figures do not suggest tough times are alienating new settlers. Just about all of us – in 2015 it was 93% – feel a sense of belonging in this country and 89% of us also feel pride in the Australian way of life. While we may not be as ecstatically happy as we once were, 89% of us report being happy or very happy in 2015.

That sunny mood is not disturbed by any worries we might have about the fate of refugees trying to make their way here under their own steam. Asked to nominate the most important problem facing Australia today, 2% of us nominated concern over the poor treatment of asylum seekers.

The boats have stopped but Australia remains deeply divided on the issue. The figures have barely budged in three years. Only among Greens voters is there a majority – 64% – for allowing boat people a permanent home in this country. After that, support falls off a cliff: only 11% of Liberal and National party voters can countenance the idea of letting boat people land here and stay.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A growing number of Australians are worried about the gap between rich and poor. In the last week of Tony Abbott’s prime ministership 44% listed it as a concern, compared with 34% under Julia Gillard. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

The figures show how potently damaging this is for Labor where 26% of party supporters would let boat people live here and 22% want to see their boats forced back to Indonesia. Into that split, the government drives a great wedge again and again. Labor is left permanently uneasy and discredited in the eyes of its allies among the well educated, the well off and the young.

The young – those 18 to 29 years old – are shown by Markus to have slightly different political priorities to their elders. More are concerned about the environment and far more about the poor treatment of asylum seekers.

But what sets them apart is rather muted pride in their country and their openness to the world. They are far happier even than the rest of us about the level of migration to Australia; they more emphatically disagree that migrants should be chosen on the basis of race and religion; they are far more enthusiastic about learning from those who come here to live; and they are twice as keen to see governments help minorities preserve their customs and traditions.

On the evidence of the latest Scanlon survey in a series that goes all the way back to early Rudd, the young are fond enough of Turnbull’s Australia, but they have something more exciting in mind.