Chinese voters tell us what issues matter most this federal election
SBS Cantonese spoke with Chinese voters about the issues that are affecting their community in the upcoming federal election.
Mandarin and Cantonese are the second and third most spoken languages after English in Australia, according to census data.
In the Victorian seat of Chisholm, an electoral division with a large Chinese population, the first Chinese-Australian woman is set to be elected to Parliament, as Labor's Jennifer Yang is set to square off against the Liberal candidate Gladys Liu.
“It’s a historic moment for Chinese-Australians,” said Jimmy Li, a Chinese-Australian voter in Chisholm.
“I want this person, if elected, to be the true representative of not just Chisholm itself, and also the Chinese community.”
Jimmy Li, a Chinese migrant who has been in Australia for 23 years. He’s going to vote in the heated race in Chisholm.
As the election draws near, there are numerous issues which stand out for the Chinese community nationally - none more so than changes to the parent visa scheme.
Applications for the Coalition's new parent sponsorship scheme opened in April and visa applications will be accepted from July 1.
However, the visa came under criticism over the fee - $10,000 for a five-year visa and $5,000 fee for a three-year visa. Labor will cut the fee to $2,500 and $1,250 for a five-year and three-year visas respectively.
Li Zhang, president of Chinese Community Council of Australia’s Victorian chapter, says she's noticed the major parties focus more intensely on the Chinese community.
“I just hope that no matter whether Labor or Liberal will win, they can still engage the Chinese community as actively as [they do] on the current stage,” she said.
She says the parent visa issue worries many new migrants, particularly those from the Chinese community.
“I don’t think the issues the Chinese community cares about are very different from the mainstream, or the wider community,” she said.
“But for some new migrants, there are specific issues they are concerned about, such as parent visa.”
Chisholm voter, David He, said he understands the Coalition's point of view of maintaining a sustainable system for caring for the aging population.
“Labor is promising a lower cost, but obviously the money has to come from somewhere," he said.
“Through my 20 years in the community, I’ve seen Labor promised a lot of things, promising and the result always is very different.”
David He (first from the right), who is volunteering for Gladys Liu (second from the right) in her campaign, said Ms Liu has been doing a lot of works for the Chisholm community throughout these years, especially providing help to a lot of new migrants.
On Wednesday, shadow foreign minister Penny Wong and Labor candidate Chris Gambian for the seat of Banks in Sydney held a live session with more than 400 people on the Chinese social media platform, WeChat, where they answered questions about some hot election issues, including the parent visa.
Mr Gambian said in the chat that the federal policy of parent visa has disappointed many people.
“It is so important that people have the opportunity to have their family visit them. The Liberals promised in 2016 and they have broken that promise.”
Shadow foreign minister Penny Wong and Labor candidate of Banks spoke to about 400 Chinese audience on WeChat on Wednesday. It was the fourth live discussion Labor held on WeChat in a month, a move to attract Chinese voters through their dominant social app.
With a focus on policy towards China, which many Chinese are debating on in the WeChat group, Senator Wong in the live session reinforced Labor’s stand on improving Australia-China relations.
Earlier this month, China complained about Australia’s ban on Huawei from the country's 5G network to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). While some believe Labor is going to take a soft approach to its China policy, Ms Wong seems to remain firm on the 5G security concerns.
“Labor will always take the advice of national security agencies and will continue to do so as the government has. Australia like any country, including China, has the right to determine whether foreign investment is appropriate,” she said.
The election comes as China kick starts the second annual forum of its “Belt and Road Initiative".
While the federal government did not send a delegation this year, Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews was on the guest list after the state government signed a “Memorandum of Understanding” (MOU) with China last year, which Prime Minister Scott Morrison described as "not helpful”.
Asked if Australia would be joining the BRI if Labor gets elected, Senator Wong said the Labor government would engage with China’s initiative on a “case-by-case basis” and according to the national interest.
Haiqing Yu, a digital media professor of RMIT University, said she has seen “a surge of interest” in poltics within the community.
“The federal election has changed everything. I have seen more and more people are interested in politics. They’re interested in engaging in discussions about politics,” she said.
In a survey conducted by Dr Yu last August with 522 mandarin speakers in Australia, news and information of foreign policy was what they read about the most.
Although the survey suggests that Chinese people in Australia find WeChat their most common source of information, Dr Yu said it was yet to prove that the tactic of using WeChat to attract voters has been effective. Politicians have been only able to reach a limited number of voters, she said.
Yet Labor’s approach of holding a series of live chats on WeChat has a huge symbolic significance, not just to the Chinese community, but both the mainstream and other ethnic communities, Dr Yu said.
“Such a gesture has been well received by some members in the Chinese community, despite criticism of it being political tokenism."
READ FULL STORY ON SBS CANTONESE:
https://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/cantonese/en/article/2019/04/29/chinese-voters-tell-us-what-issues-matter-most-federal-election
