The Political Representation of Asian-Australian Populations since the End of White Australia

Abstract

The racial and ethnic landscape in Australia has changed markedly since the beginning of the postwar migration period in which migrants arrived from Europe, and later from Asia in the late 1970s. While Australians with European ancestry have gradually made it into state and federal parliament, there has been less visibility for Australians of Asian descent. This article provides an overview of demographic migration trends and levels of Asian-Australian political representation in state and federal politics, drawing on data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and parliamentary websites. In doing so, we reflect on why political representation of Asian-Australian populations appears to be lagging so far behind.

Roadblocks to diversity in Local Government in New South Wales, Australia: changing narratives and confronting absences in diversity strategies

“…Despite the gravity of the problem, the literature examining the underrepresentation of visibleminorities (who on account of their name, phenotypical features or skin colour are subject to racial categorisation) is relatively less developed. Extant research has revealed that underlying prejudices and discrimination within political parties make it difficult for ethnic minorities to get ahead (Kwok and Pietsch 2017). The professionalisation of parties and the need to demonstrate loyalty disadvantages newcomers, while geographical dispersal means parties have no incentive to include ethnic minorities (Pietsch 2018).…”

“…As a general explanation for the underrepresentation of visible-minorities these reasons are insufficient at best. Research shows that migrants are likely to be more highly educated relative to the general population (Kwok and Pietsch 2017) and that civic engagement is highest among young people from multicultural backgrounds. 18 First-generation Chinese-Australians with poor English participate in political activities more frequently than other groups (Sheppard et al 2020).…”

“…Without under-estimating the political barriers to delivering programmes that challenge the status quo, an additional problem is a lack of knowledge of, and/or unwillingness to confront, uncomfortable truths about the more persistent roadblocks to diversity. While there is a burgeoning literature on women's political underrepresentation in Australia (Pini 2006;Conroy 2011;Carson et al 2021;Wilson 2021), less research has examined the underrepresentation of non-European ethnic groups (Maddison 2010;Kwok and Pietsch 2017;Pietsch 2018), less again on the intersections of race and gender in Australian politics (Milione 2019), and none, as far as this author has discovered, in the arena of local government. This paper therefore builds upon previous studies that have foregrounded the ideological and structural conditions that sustain political dominance by majority men in NSW councils (Gray 1991;Pini 2006).…”