A majority of Australians now say multiculturalism has become a problem for the country, with a new News24 Pulse / YouGov poll finding 56% believe it's either straining social cohesion or never served Australia well, weeks after One Nation leader Pauline Hanson told the National Press Club the country should be monocultural, not multicultural.
The poll of 1,519 voters, taken between 21 and 28 July, found 46% believe multiculturalism was good for Australia in the past but is becoming a problem for social cohesion. Another 10% said it had never served the country well. Just 37% said it continues to serve Australia well.
That's the mainstream position now, and it lands squarely on the side of the argument Pauline Hanson has been making, and being attacked for, all month.
Even 42% of Labor voters say multiculturalism is becoming a problem
The cohesion worry runs deep into the government's own base. Among Labor voters, 49% said multiculturalism was still a good thing, but 42% said it's becoming an issue for social cohesion.
One Nation voters were the most emphatic: 48% said multiculturalism is becoming a problem and another 37% said it never served the country at all, a combined 85%.
The result sits alongside earlier May polling that found 62% of Australians wanted either a big or small decrease in immigration. Voters keep telling pollsters the same thing: the pace and shape of the migration program worries them, whatever their politics.
It’s not just about the culture of the person. It’s about the culture of the nation.
— Pauline Hanson 🇦🇺 (@PaulineHansonOz) July 17, 2026
We must be under one flag, one community as one nation. pic.twitter.com/qPtt7K9gFZ
Hanson said Multiculturalism was a problem first, and Albanese called it something to celebrate
Pauline Hanson used her National Press Club address to argue Australia can't function as a "multicultural society" and should instead be "monocultural", with migrants adopting Australia's language, traditions and values.
"We oppose entirely people coming into this country and bringing with them the troubles they have left behind," she said, warning against the influence of radical Islam.
It's party policy, not a one-off line. One Nation's Sean Bell has already said the party would abolish the multiculturalism minister and scrap the office altogether.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese responded that Australia had always been a multicultural nation and that it was something to be celebrated. His state colleagues back that up with money: Victoria's Labor government recently handed $4.9 million to almost 200 multicultural groups while trailing One Nation in the polls.
The taxpayer bill for keeping multiculturalism as official policy is already well past $435 million a year, and the acknowledgement rituals cost extra:
| Program | What it funds | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Supporting Multicultural Communities package | Community grants, festivals, centres, refugee and African Australian projects, multicultural media | $190.3 million over 2 years |
| Multicultural media stream | Helping multicultural outlets move to digital (within the package above) | $10 million |
| Multicultural Grassroots Initiatives | 123 community organisations, latest round | $5 million |
| African Australian communities | "Participation, integration and sense of belonging" | $18.8 million over 4 years |
| Community Language Schools | 84 languages, 600-plus schools, 90,000-plus students | $25.6 million over 4 years |
| SBS, the multicultural broadcaster | Commonwealth funding to the multilingual national broadcaster | $359.1 million a year |
| TIS National interpreting | Free interpreting in 150-plus languages for migrants | Ongoing, not separately costed |
| Welcome to Country ceremonies | Ceremonies across 21 Commonwealth agencies, per Freedom of Information data | $452,953 over 2 years, about $225,000 a year |
| TOTAL, one year | SBS, plus the 2025-26 slice of the package, plus the language schools | Over $435 million a year |
Figures: federal multicultural funding, compiled in the One News monoculture explainer; Welcome to Country costs per Freedom of Information data.
The White Australia smear ran for a fortnight and the numbers didn't move Labor's way
The polling period followed the pile-on over Pauline Hanson's interview with UK activist Tommy Robinson, the same trip that produced her Luton warning about where Australia is headed. Asked where the problems with immigration began, she pointed to 1973, when Gough Whitlam's government dismantled the White Australia policy and, in her words, "started bringing in the different migrants".
Anthony Albanese seized on it. "I have seen Senator Hanson's comments that say that Australia has got it wrong when we moved away from the White Australia policy in 1973," he said. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke went further, suggesting she was "calling for White Australia".
Pauline Hanson called the claims false.
"They're false allegations that I wanted to introduce the White Australia policy. Not the case. Never, ever have I advocated that, and I don't believe in it as well. Yes, I've been strong on immigration, bringing the right people in the country, in a measured way and people who want to assimilate and be Australians."
The voters got the last word. Polled in the days after the government's attack, a majority still landed on her side of the cohesion question.
Peter Malinauskas tells Labor to stop calling One Nation voters racist
The warning against the smear approach came from inside the Labor tent. South Australian Labor Premier Peter Malinauskas told News24 on Sunday that progressives dismissing One Nation supporters as racist have it wrong.
"They look at One Nation voters and say, 'Oh, they're all racist', which, it's just not true. It's just not true, you can be concerned about the number of migrants in the country without being racist."
He also warned his own side about talking down to voters. "I don't know any more obvious lesson to be learned than not speaking down to people," he said. "I've never persuaded anyone of anything by talking to them like they're a fool and not seeking to appreciate where they're coming from."
One Nation holds 25% as Labor stays stuck on 28%
The same survey shows why the government keeps swinging. Labor's primary vote is stuck on 28%, unchanged from the previous News24 Pulse / YouGov poll. One Nation sits on 25%, down a point across a fortnight in which the Prime Minister and the Home Affairs Minister both accused its leader of wanting White Australia back, and still clearly ahead of the Coalition on 22%. The Greens rose a point to 13%.
The full picture of every published survey is on our Australian poll tracker.
The poll surveyed 1,519 Australian voters between 21 and 28 July 2026.
