Melbourne, Jan 24(ANI): A recent poll conducted in Australia has found that more than half of Australians consider the nation to be racist, reflecting the recent controversy over the violence being inflicted on Indian students in Melbourne.

According to the Galaxy poll, which took an online poll of 1000 Australian residents, 52 per cent people believed their country was racist, 45 per cent said that they were not racist and three per cent were uncommitted on the issue.

Fifty-two per cent of respondents thought that Australia had changed for the worse in the past 20 years, while 39 per cent thought the country has evolved into something better, while nine per cent did not notice any change.

Older Australians noticed the biggest change, with 67 per cent of respondents aged over 50 years saying that they thought the country had deteriorated.

"While we have much to be thankful for, there is concern within the community that the nation is changing for the worse, with too much focus nowadays on careers and wealth," News.com.au quoted David Briggs, Galaxy principal, as saying.

Briggs highlighted that Asian respondents to the poll had been the most optimistic, with 62 per cent of those who considered themselves to be of Asian ethnicity saying that they believed Australia was changing for the better.

Two-thirds of respondents, 66 per cent, said that the Government should cap immigration rates. Of these, 55 per cent of foreign-born Australians were in favour of an immigration cap, compared to 72 per cent of locally-born Australians.

In the past four to five years, polling indicated Australians were reasonably comfortable with immigration levels, which are based on a Government target of around 190,000 a year. (ANI)