While the NSW research dates back to the flashpoint year of 2001 (most other states were polled in 2006-07), Professor Kevin Dunn, of the University of Western Sydney, who led the project, says: ''My gut feeling is that [the NSW data] would still be higher than in other jurisdictions.'' Professor Dunn said that NSW's higher than average levels of antipathy towards Asians and Aboriginals as well as Muslims ''reflects the nature of the cultural debate in this state - I consider the quality of the general debate and the political debate to be of a lower standard than in other jurisdictions''.

Victoria and Tasmania present as more racially tolerant than NSW, Queensland, West Australia and the Northern Territory, but still report widespread racial unease. More than one in 10 of those polled identified themselves as ''prejudiced against other cultures''. The rest may not be racist but 41.4 per cent of Australians believe that Muslims, Aboriginals, Asians or Jews ''don't fit into Australian society''. Broken down by cultural groups, 48.6 per cent of those polled reported anti-Muslim sentiment, while more than one in four - 27.9 per cent - expressed anti-Aboriginal sentiments, 23.8 per cent had anti-Asian attitudes, and 23.3 per cent expressed anti-Semitic views. Anti-British, Italian and Christian sentiments are recorded across Australia at less than 10 per cent.

The survey phone-polled 12,500 Australians over the past 10 years in all states and territories, asking them to identify their own prejudices and misgivings about other cultural groups, and to report their own experiences of racism in work, education, the housing market and the community. Respondents were asked if they were prejudiced against other cultures, and if Australia was ''weakened by people of different ethnic origins sticking to their old ways''. They were asked to measure how secure they felt with people of other ethnic backgrounds, and how they would feel if a ''close relative'' married someone of different racial backgrounds and/or religious faiths.

The Victorian survey in 2006-07, overseen by the University of Melbourne's department of population health, did not measure racial violence, but senior research fellow Dr Yin Paradies said: ''Violence is the tip of the iceberg, we're looking at the rest of the iceberg. Racism isn't just redneck bigots who are trying to create problems for particular groups, it's … 'I'm not comfortable with these people', it's a lower level, and it's very prevalent.''