CANBERRA, Sept 29: Australia is a migrant nation, but one-in-10 citizens are “racial supremacists” despite racism generally waning, says a 10-year study.

The study of around 12,500 people over almost a decade found New South Wales state, counting Sydney, had the most people holding racist views, with 46 per cent of respondents believing some ethnic groups did not belong in modern Australian society.

“More than 80 per cent of people see cultural diversity as a benefit and that’s a good thing for Australian society,” lead researcher Kevin Dunn told local radio.

“Probably only one in 10 we would call racial supremacists. They believe in racism, that some are inferior and superior to others,” Dunn said. The survey was conducted by the University of Western Sydney.

The national capital Canberra, with 28 per cent, contained the smallest proportion of people with such opinions, which researchers said was probably due to its high average wealth and education levels.

Muslims were the group singled out by most respondents as not fitting with Australian society after controversies involving Islamic clerics and the Muslim community which led the former conservative government to introduce a citizenship values test.“It’s an indicator of a narrow view of what constitutes Australianism,” Dunn said.

Australia is a nation of migrants, with nearly one-in-four born overseas. It has a population of 21 million people.

The booming economy, which has been growing at more than 4 per cent annually, is facing shortages of skilled labour, pushing up wages and stoking inflationary pressures.

Dunn said older people tended to be more uncomfortable with other ethnic groups than younger Australians, many of whom had travelled or grown up alongside people born overseas.—Reuters