Underlying racism in Australia?

An article just on the poll results can be found here in today's Sydney Morning Herald, while The Age has nicely combined their coverage of it with the latest Nielsen poll of voter intentions (Coalition-friendly results reveal how little it actually matters to most Australians, I guess). I'm posting to ask the same question posed by the poll, and a few others.

PM John Howard is quoted as saying, 'I do not accept that there is underlying racism in this country.' Do you agree or diagree with him? Why? And how do you explain the recent events in Cronulla in the context of your view?

Also, what's your reaction the poll results? Are they what you had expected?

For the record, I disagree, and I would have expected a minority to think that we're racist and a smaller majority to support multiculturalism. However, I want your personal opinions rather than your rebuttal of mine, so I'll refrain from posting my reasoning till the comment wars begin (: