This survey was conducted by Dr Sue Watt (University of New England) together with Settlement Services International (SSI) which is delivering on-arrival support to refugees, and with the support of Armidale Regional Council. It is the first of three surveys that will track Armidale community attitudes towards refugees settling in Armidale, enabling stakeholders to understand and respond to issues as they arise.
Following the announcement that Armidale is to be a new refugee settlement area with 200-300 refugees arriving during 2018, there was a strong community response, with offers of donations and many people volunteering their time to help. However, at the other end of the spectrum negative opinions were also expressed and these were quite vocal, at times, in raising concerns. The community monitoring program allows us to accurately assess how different segments of the community are feeling about and responding to the refugees.
Baseline survey
200 Armidale community members completed a telephone survey in April 2018. High community engagement was shown, with 90.7% of people contacted agreeing to participate. A diverse and reasonably representative sample was obtained. Overall, attitudes about the refugees coming to Armidale were very positive (average = 68 out of 100), but there was, of course, diversity in these attitudes. Here, we report on that diversity.
Audience segmentation
Cluster analysis revealed that the Armidale community could be divided into four groups based on their responses to the refugees coming to Armidale. We have labelled these:
(i) Enthusiastic, (ii) Positive, (iii) Concerned, and (iv) Assimilationist.
The “Enthusiastic” group were very positive about the refugees coming. They are highly educated, idealistic, keen for cultural exchange, and would enjoy contact with the refugees. They would like Armidale to have a higher refugee intake. They are especially keen for the refugees to bring cultural diversity to Armidale, but expressed some worries around whether the community will accept them and whether they will integrate.
The “Positive” group were also very positive about the refugees coming to Armidale. These people see benefits for Armidale in their arrival, they think the number of refugees coming is about right, are keen for intercultural contact and would enjoy contact with the refugees. They expressed some concern about whether there will be enough support services for the refugees and whether there are enough jobs for them.
Together, the “Enthusiastic” and “Positive” groups form the majority of Armidale residents.
The “Concerned” group were less positive about the refugees coming to Armidale. They think that the intake is too high, and they expressed concern that there may not be enough jobs for the refugees. This group has lower education levels than the other groups (38.2% were educated to Year 10 or below) and their financial status is more often described as “Just getting along.” It is possible that they feel competition with the refugees for jobs. They greatly underestimated how positive Armidale’s attitudes to the refugees are, rating them as 38/100 (when in fact it was 68/100). Unlike the Assimilationist group (below), this group is not particularly averse to other cultures. Some may enjoy intercultural days, which could also help by showing them the community’s overall positive response to the refugees.
The “Assimilationist” group are similar to the “Concerned” group in that they had less positive attitudes regarding the refugees coming to Armidale. They have a similar age profile to the other groups, but have been in Armidale the longest (average = 38 years). They tend to have a technical education, and very few come from a migrant background themselves. This group show little interest in other cultures, and want the refugees to quickly assimilate. Consistent with this, members of this group tended to worry that the refugees may not integrate into Australian society or accept Australian ways.
Together, the “Concerned” and “Assimilationist” groups form the minority of Armidale residents.
We will conduct the next two surveys at 4-6 monthly intervals. Each will draw a new sample of 200 Armidale residents and will monitor how Armidale attitudes develop with increasing presence of refugees in the community.
Recent Comments