Political representation of Asian Australians in liberal nationalist multiculturalism

ABSTRACT

This article examines the political representation of Asian minorities in Australia. Utilising the case studies of the 2018 Victorian State Election and the 2019 Federal Election, it analyses how Asian candidates’ migratory, ethnic and politico-economic backgrounds shaped their pathways to politics. Based on publicly available data on Asian-heritage politicians and interviews with Asian Australians involving in party politics, the study finds both underlying challenges and emerging opportunities that Asian candidates continue to experience within Australia’s liberal nationalist multiculturalism. The study finds that institutional barriers, cultural fitness and Australia’s relations with Asian neighbours are key factors that contribute to the changing nature of Asian Australian political representation. Finally, it argues that while Australia’s migration programs have invited the skilled youth from Asia, the country’s historical White Australia policy and modern suspicion of ‘silent invasion’ still present challenges for Asian candidates in politics.

本文考察了澳大利亚亚裔少数群体的的政治代表性。作者使用了2018年维多利亚州选举以及2019年联邦选举的个案资料，分析了亚裔候选人的移民、族群以及政经背景如何形成其政治路径。作者根据澳大利亚政治家的公开资料以及对参与澳大利亚党派政治的亚裔人士的访谈，发现了亚裔在澳大利亚自由主义、民族主义的多元环境中经历的潜在挑战和现实机遇。制度的障碍、文化的适应性以及澳大利亚与亚洲邻国的关系，都对澳大利亚亚裔政治代表性变化的性质产生影响。文章最后指出，澳大利亚的移民计划固然在诚邀亚洲青年技术人才，历史悠久的澳大利亚白人政治以及对“无声入侵”的现代警觉依然对亚裔政治候选人构成挑战。

KEYWORDS:

• Asian Australian
• political representation
• liberal nationalist multiculturalism
• White Australia
• silent invasion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 For this article, the term ‘Asian Australian’ refers to someone who has ethnic ancestry from the broad Asian region including Northeast, Southeast and South Asia and who currently resides in Australia. Correspondingly, ‘Visible Asian’ or ‘visible minorities’ is understood in this article to be someone who can be easily identified as fully or partially holding Asian heritage through their appearance, surname or public profile which reveals their ethnic origin. As most MPs covered in this study are public figures, their parliamentary profiles, campaign websites or newspaper articles are used to identify the MPs’ ethnic backgrounds and birthplaces.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian Government [grant number 2020117]; Academy of Korean Studies [grant number AKS-2019-INC-223000X].