How Chinese Australians could swing the Election down under
TORSTEN BLACKWOOD/Getty
Why you should care
Australia’s two big parties are targeting the country’s fastest-growing immigrant community like never before
By Erin Cook
The Daily DoseMAY 13 2019
When the Australian state of New South Wales voted for its government in March, pollsters were predicting a victory for the Labor Party, with its state leader Michael Daley expected to become its next premier. But a video that emerged showing Daley accusing Asian-Australians of taking away the jobs of “our young people” changed the electoral math. The party lost to the incumbent Liberal Party, including in Labor bastions in Chinese-Australian-dominated suburbs of Sydney. Labor leaders publicly blamed the video.
The episode was a reminder of the growing political clout of the Chinese-Australian community that’s the country’s fastest-growing major ethnic group. The Chinese Australian population nearly doubled, from 669,000 in 2006 to 1,213,000 in 2016, growing from 3.2 percent of the national population to 5.4 percent. And that’s making the country’s major political parties woo it like never before, as Australia prepares to vote in its federal elections on May 18.