HALF of Australians harbour anti-Muslim sentiments and a quarter are anti-Semitic, according to the biggest survey ever done on racism in this country.

One in three also admit some level of racist feelings against indigenous people.



The 12-year-survey, conducted by leading universities, found NSW and QLD to be the most racist states, while Victoria was one of the most tolerant.



“An important finding of the Challenging Racism Project is that Australians are in large part secure with cultural difference. However, there are still pockets of the country that hold on to ‘old-fashioned’ racist views,” the report states.



Among the 12,512 people surveyed Australia-wide, 48.6 per cent were negative towards Muslims, Asians (23.8), indigenous Australians (27.9), Jews (23.3) and black Africans (27).



The survey also found 84 per cent of people had seen evidence of racial prejudice.



According to the survey, racist hotspots in Australia tended to be in areas that had economic hardship, recent immigration and below-average education levels.



See a map of the survey’s findings, state by state



The survey's lead researcher Professor Kevin Dunn said while the findings were largely positive, there were still too many Australians who were anxious or uncomfortable with cultural difference, with about one in ten expressing "very problematic views".



Prof Dunn told news.com.au the ongoing racism towards Indigenous Australians was “quite shocking” and blamed stereotyping in politics and the media as one of the main triggers. He said these stereotypes had not been well enough challenged.



He said the high levels of anti-Muslim feelings in Australia were an accumulation of international political events, “poorly-informed public debates” and “sensationalist media treatment”.