Multicultural Australians are increasingly forging a sense of belonging in Australia and are feeling their needs are being met, new research has found.

The ‘Sense of Belonging and Media Representation among Multicultural Audience in Australia’ study, led by researchers at the University of Canberra, surveyed 1,876 respondents across seven languages – Arabic, Cantonese, Italian, Mandarin, Punjabi, Vietnamese and English.

It asked questions across a range of measures of belonging, including trust, social participation and representation.

The study found multilingual audiences have a greater sense of belonging to Australian society than to their language/cultural or local community.

Around 73 per cent said they felt at home in Australia, 59 per cent in their language/cultural community and 62 per cent in the local community.

About half (47 per cent) believed they could influence Australian society, but fewer felt they have influence over their language/cultural (41 per cent) and local communities (35 per cent).

“While they are more likely to feel at home and have their needs met, they are less likely to feel a shared emotional attachment or have confidence in making an impact,” the study report said.

“Multilingual audiences’ sense of belonging increases with time spent in Australia and their level of English proficiency,” it said.

Migrants who lived in Australia for more than ten years were much more likely to feel at home in Australia (76 per cent), compared to people who had been here less than 5 years (64 per cent).

Those who have higher confidence in English (83 per cent) also tended to feel more at home than those with lower confidence (64 per cent).

This is reflected in the different levels of belonging among the five language communities; Arabic and Italian speakers were the more likely to say they belong compared to Cantonese and Mandarin speakers.

Respondents were more likely to say they felt informed enough to participate in social and political discussions about Australia (61per cent), than discussions about their language/cultural community (55 per cent), or their local area (52 per cent).

A higher proportion of respondents (68 per cent) said they had a good understanding of the social and political issues facing Australian society, compared to a good understanding of issues in their language/cultural community (61 per cent), or their local area (58 per cent).

“Having confidence and willingness to participate in society is strongly related to belonging,” the report said.

Respondents who feel at home in Australia are more than twice as likely (78 per cent) than those who don’t feel at home (36 per cent) to say they understand the important social and political issues facing Australia.

And those who feel at home consider themselves sufficiently informed to participate in discussions (71 per cent), compared to those who don’t (34 per cent).

Time spent living in Australia was related to confidence and willingness to participate. Migrants who lived in Australia for more than ten years reported higher confidence in their understanding of social and political issues (71 per cent) and feel well-informed to participate in social and political discussions (63 per cent), compared to recent migrants.

Researcher Professor Sora Park said cultural representation in the broader Australian media was a key factor in fostering a sense of belonging within society.

“Multilingual audiences also expressed a strong desire for more media content in their language, and we found that each community holds nuanced preferences regarding how their culture and language are portrayed,’’ she said.

Read the full report: apo-nid321752_0.pdf