At the federal election in May, Chinese-Australian voters turned against the Coalition. The state opposition has been pulling out all the stops to get them back. | Emma Ding and annikasmethurst
despite a 6.3 per cent swing against him, which he attributed, in part, to Chinese-Australians rejecting his party.
Eight weeks after the federal election, a letter from Opposition Leader Matthew Guy appeared on social networking platform, WeChat, on a Mandarin channel dedicated to news about Melbourne. Detailing his life story and plans for the state, the piece was read by 12,000 users. By contrast, Victorian Labor’s WeChat presence features former prime minister Kevin Rudd addressing social media users in Mandarin, alongside Labor’s Matt Fregon who is running for the seat of Ashwood, as well as Box Hill MP Paul Hamer and Meng Heang Tak, who represents Clarinda.
Pollster and former Victorian Labor campaigner Kos Samaras said while the Chinese-Australia vote would have less of an impact at a state level, he said the way the parties had engaged with Chinese-Australians voters would be crucial to the outcome, particularly in Melbourne’s east.Victoria’s Belt and Road agreement in 2018“Labor will need the community’s support to hold seats like Box Hill, Ringwood and Ashwood after election day,” Samaras said.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Coalition calls for sanctions on Chinese officials over Uyghur human rights abuses in XinjiangThe president of the World Uyghur Congress says he appreciates Australia's work to increase pressure on China over human rights abuses in Xinjiang, but worries Australia will soften its stance as it tries to slowly rebuild ties with Beijing.
Read more »
ASX LIVE: Australian shares to rise, Australian dollar extends rallyAustralian shares are poised to follow US stocks higher after policymakers tipped a slower pace of rate rises. $A, $NZ leap.
Read more »
‘Protester against the Chinese government’: Why Drew Pavlou felt he was expelled from ParliamentActivist Drew Pavlou says he believes the reason he was expelled from Parliament was because he is a “protester against the Chinese government”. “I don’t know why suddenly protesters against the Chinese government are treated so sensitively so that if you’ve been a protester against the Chinese government before they will just designate you a high-risk individual,” Mr Pavlou told Sky News host Andrew Bolt. “And expel you under pain, under risk of arrest of trespassing. They’ll expel you from Parliament if you're just having lunch because you once protested against the Chinese government, its bizarre.”
Read more »
‘Reckless’: Federal Coalition figures rail against key Andrews projectTwo federal Parliamentarians have demanded the Commonwealth provide independent costings of Premier Daniel Andrews’ “reckless” and “dangerous” suburban rail loop as the state Labor government comes under increased pressure over its ballooning debt.
Read more »
Approach to Victorian budget repair criticised as Labor, Coalition promise billion-dollar surplusesLabor claims it can return the budget to a surplus exceeding $1b by 2026, while the Coalition says under its plan that figure would be $11.3b. Both parties are relying on raiding contingency funds.
Read more »
Jordan Peterson’s pep-talk to Coalition MPs on how to beat the leftThe Canadian academic and author urged an invitation-only group of Liberal, National and One Nation MPs to stand their ground against the left’s “long march” to dominate institutions of power.
Read more »