Fairness and Belonging: Public Attitudes Towards Migration and Symbolic Boundaries

In Australia, ideals of fairness, merit, and inclusion are said to be reflected in national identity through the concept of the fair go. While the fair go embodies the right to fair opportunities for success, regardless of personal background, its application to migrants remains a politically and socially contested issue. In existing international scholarship, the exclusion of migrants is often associated with ethnic and economic nationalist beliefs or the anti-elite sentiments of right-wing populists. However, there is little extant research on the way these beliefs sit alongside egalitarian and meritocratic discourses of fairness in a society. This paper explores whether commitment to the fair go influences public opinion on migration more strongly than established sets of beliefs. Drawing on a new module of fairness beliefs within the nationally representative Australian Survey of Social Attitudes (AuSSA), we explore whether individuals who endorse the principle of equal opportunity are also more likely to hold positive attitudes towards migration. We find that diverse beliefs about the fair go cluster around egalitarian, meritocratic and redistributive ideas of fairness. Our findings have implications for fairness-based arguments in favour of migrant inclusion in Australia and around the world.