Some 62 per cent of Australians support the point of view that their country should be a multicultural society, a study has shown.
The survey of 1,400 Australians was conducted by the Ipsos-Eureka Social Research Institute on the behalf of Australia's Special Broadcasting Service.
It also found that just 48 per cent of Australians believe that migrants should be able to maintain their culture without facing prejudice.
Some 23 per cent of those from non-English speaking backgrounds surveyed said they had experienced racial discrimination in the past year.
"There were a lot of patterns around people thinking that people should embrace the Australian way of life and very much associated that with speaking the language," said researcher Caroline Tomiczek.
Earlier this week, Tasmania's government launched its state migration plan, which lists the occupations that it needs skilled workers from abroad to fill.
These include childcare centre manager, architect, chemical engineer and dental specialist.
Posted by Craig Francis
