Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison, center, works at a barbecue, colloquially known as a sausage sizzle, along with Liberal candidate for Pearce Linda Aitken while electioneering in Perth, Friday, May 20, 2022.
(MICK TSIKAS / AAP Image via AP)
With roughly one million Australians of Chinese heritage living and working in Australia, the Chinese vote could be crucial in several marginal seats that have high concentrations of Chinese, a recent study has found.
Australians go to the polls on May 21 after what has been a lackluster and, some would say, boring election build-up.
Opinion polls are saying the election result is too close to call, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison, leader of the Liberal-National Party Coalition, and Labor, led by Anthony Albanese, running neck and neck.
Many observers say the election could be decided in a number of marginal seats, some of which have a high proportion of Australians of Chinese heritage.
Opinion polls are saying the election result is too close to call, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison, leader of the Liberal-National Party Coalition, and Labor, led by Anthony Albanese, running neck and neck
A new study by researchers from Deakin and Monash Universities shows that many of these voters have been turning away from the Coalition and toward Labor – and they were doing so months before the election was called by Morrison.
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It is not hard to see why. The Morrison government is seen by many Australians, not only those of Chinese heritage, to be anti-Chinese and wanting to take Australia into a new Cold War.
The latest recent example was when Defense Minister Peter Dutton described a Chinese naval vessel sailing in international waters off the West Australian coast as an “act of aggression” by China.
It is this aggressive stance on China which is worrying Australian Chinese, especially those who have recently settled in Australia, researchers found, after examining more than 3,000 WeChat political news stories and associated comments appearing on the Chinese social media platform over the past 11 months. The time period includes the election campaign.
The study found that Chinese Australians on WeChat were engaged in complex conversations about issues including the Australia-China relationship, the economy, interest rates and property, immigration and health.
“The key findings of the researchers are that the Liberal Party has been criticized for its militaristic position toward China and its alignment with the US. Labor is not liked due to its loose humanitarian immigration scheme, but the party is more preferable compared to the Coalition due to its friendlier approach to China,” the study found.
Leader of the center-left Australian Labor Party opposition Anthony Albanese (left) holds a little baby as he shares a coffee with former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard while campaigning in Adelaide on May 20, 2022. (LUKAS COCH / AAP IMAGE VIA AP)
An alternative party, the Greens, “have recently gained visible popularity among WeChat users with their friendlier approach toward China and a ‘hands-off’ approach toward Taiwan issues”, the study said.
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WeChat is wildly popular in the Chinese-Australian community, connecting family and friends in Australia and overseas.
A survey by Australian-based think tank the Lowy Institutes found that 86 percent of Chinese Australians use WeChat ‘often’ or ‘sometimes’ for their Chinese-language news. And 63 percent of Chinese Australians use WeChat ‘often’ or ‘sometimes’ to access English-language news.
Most Chinese-language news publications use WeChat official accounts as well as their own websites to push out their news to audiences, particularly those on mobile devices.
“Polling continues to show an increasing anti-Morrison sentiment due to the Morrison government’s approach to China since 2020, while Albanese remains mostly an ‘unknown’ due to a lack of exposure in major media (this trend might be reversing),” the researchers said.
Fan Yang, a researcher and PhD student at Deakin University and one of the study’s authors, told the Guardian Australia on May 13 that for the most part, politicians were not using WeChat to have a conversation with the Australian Chinese community but for attack ads and to push out campaign materials.
According to the Lowy Institutes’ “2022 Being Chinese in Australia” report, released in April, many Australian Chinese had shifted their allegiance from the Liberal Party to Labor.
In 2021 some 42 percent of Chinese Australians said they identified with the Liberal Party, a figure that dropped to 28 percent this year. Identification with Labor rose from 21 percent to 25 percent, the report said.
According to the report, 73 percent of Chinese Australians regard China primarily as an economic partner for Australia, while 27 percent viewed China as a security threat.
That figure was reversed for the broader Australian population, with 63 percent labeling China a security threat and 34 percent an economic partner.
Felix Lo, president of the Australian Asian Association of Bennelong, told the Guardian Australia on May 20 that the Chinese Australian community was afraid anti-Asian attacks could intensify if the political rhetoric did not soften.
Lo said the Coalition was fearmongering during an election.
Lo cited comments from the defense minister, especially in April when Dutton said, “The only way you can preserve peace is to prepare for war and be strong as a country – not to be on bended knee and be weak.”
karlwilson@chinadailyapac.com