Asian-Australians hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic

Discrimination fluctuates, but social cohesion improves More than four-in-five Asian-Australians say they have experienced instances of discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic, new analysis from The Australian National University (ANU) shows. In a survey of more than 3,000 people, 84.5 per cent of Asian-Australians reported at least one instance of discrimination between January and October 2020. This is compared to 82 per cent in August 2019. Study co-author, Professor Nicholas Biddle from the ANU Centre for Social Research Methods, said discrimination against Asian-Australians dropped by 12.3 per cent between January and April 2020. "This was when lockdowns were in full force and there was less exposure to potential sources of discrimination," Professor Biddle said.   "But we then found an almost equal increase in instances of discrimination between April and October 2020, when lockdowns were easing. "Our findings also show Australians are no more likely to think that people from a different ethnic background to the majority of the Australian population should be restricted from moving to Australia than they did prior to the pandemic. "There has also been a slight decline in support for migration in general, but this does not appear to have been targeted towards particular ethnic groups." Professor Biddle noted there was also good news from the study's findings, with the results showing social cohesion has improved during the COVID-19 pandemic.