Australian Govt. wins support for asylum seeker stance

The Rudd government has won bipartisan support from voters for suspending the processing of Sri Lankan and Afghan asylum seekers.The Age/Nielsen poll also finds Australians are suspicious of high immigration and a ‘‘big Australia’’.

The poll shows 58 per cent back the processing suspension, including 60 per cent of Labor voters and 65 per cent of Coalition supporters.

But two-thirds of Green voters disapprove and fewer than three in 10 agree - with the Greens showing a 3 percentage point spike in their vote to 12 per cent.

Victorians are a little less likely than average to approve; those in Queensland, South Australiaand Western Australiamore likely. Approval rose with age.

Amid the recent vigorous debate about population and the migrant intake, and Kevin Rudd’s appointment of a minister for population, the proportion of Australians saying immigration is too high has jumped 11 points to 54 per cent since November. Fewer than four in 10 (38 per cent) say the intake is about right and only 6 per cent say it is too low. Coalition voters were more likely than Labor voters to think immigration too high (62-51 per cent) but Green voters much less likely (33 per cent).

A majority (51 per cent) say Australia’s projected population of 36 million by 2050 is too many people; 27 per cent say that number would be about right; and only 2 per cent say it is too few.

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