Pope Francis, who was called the “People’s Pope” by Time magazine at the age of 88 passed away on the morning after Easter, becoming a testament to a life of daily devotion to God.

Francis was the first pope born in South America and also the first Jesuit pope. He chose the name Francis after Saint Francis of Assisi who gave up wealth to live a life of poverty, thereby expressing his own life mission to the world. Over the past 12 years as pope, Francis has demonstrated his unwavering faith, consistently speaking out for the oppressed and conveying God’s compassion for the marginalized.

When Francis was elected pope, he was already 76 years old and not in ideal health. Earlier on he suffered from pneumonia and spent 38 days in the hospital, during which doctors said he had several near-death moments. Although doctors recommended at least two months of rest, Francis insisted on fulfilling his duties and presided over the Easter events. On Maundy Thursday, as per tradition, he still visited a prison. Though no longer physically able to follow the custom of washing the feet of inmates like Jesus did with His disciples, he offered them blessings instead. Francis repeatedly criticized President Trump and his administration’s policies, including the expulsion of refugees. However, just a day before his passing, Francis still met with visiting Vice President JD Vance and gave gifts to his three children.

Francis broke with many Vatican traditions. Upon taking office, he called for financial reform within the Catholic Church and emphasized transparency. He insisted on living simply, choosing not to reside in the papal residence in the Vatican, which has over ten rooms. Instead, he lived in a modest suite with only two rooms. Although Catholic doctrine opposes homosexuality, in 2023, Francis issued a decree allowing clergy to bless same-sex couples outside of the sacraments. He once said, “If a homosexual person seeks God with goodwill, who am I to judge?”

Francis hoped that all people would treat women who had abortions—especially due to poverty or sexual assault—with compassion: “Faced with such painful situations, who could remain unmoved?” Regarding the ban on divorced and remarried Catholics receiving the Eucharist, he criticized the idea that Communion should be reserved only for the perfect, saying its true purpose is “to nourish the weak.”

From the war in Ukraine to the conflict in Gaza, Francis tirelessly advocated for peace. In March of last year, he controversially suggested that Ukraine should have the “courage to raise the white flag” and pursue negotiations. Regarding Trump’s border wall to stop immigration, he said such actions were “not Christian.” Not long ago, he issued an open letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, declaring that Trump’s immigration policy was doomed to “begin and end in evils.”

It can be said that during his papacy, Pope Francis embodied how modern Christians can live out and uphold their faith under the weight of church history and tradition. Francis was a different kind of leader—one who, beyond national power and corporate wealth, set a life example for all people around the world to follow.

Mr. Raymond Chow, Publisher of Sameway Magazine

Independent MP: A possibility

The clearest theme of the 2022 Federal Election was that Australians are extremely dissatisfied with Morrison’s autocratic mode of governance, which had driven the Coalition out of power, and allowed the Labor Party to unexpectedly enter into power, even though the country was still doing well in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, at the beginning of the pandemic, Morrison’s popularity was very high, and the Coalition’s performance was not bad, only that the Australian people did not accept a “omnipotent” Prime Minister who thought he knew everything and was in charge of everything. But in this election, the six independent Teal women had become a new force in the Australian parliament. If they are re-elected in the 2025 election, it will mark the beginning of a new era in Australian politics. Two-party politics will end, and those who want to be in power will need to establish a cooperative relationship with the independent minority.

The Menzies electorate in Victoria is examined to see if it is possible for an electorate with a high proportion of ethnic minorities to have independent ethnic minority MP.

In fact, in 2022, in the Fowler constituency of West Sydney, the election of Vietnamese-born Dai Le as an independent legislator after the Labor Party’s bullying of the original candidate Tu Le, who was of Vietnamese descent, and the public outcry over the forced replacement of the former Premier, Kristina Keneally, proved that this is entirely possible. But Menzies is a case of testing the influence of ethnic minorities in an extremely marginalized seat.

Multicultural Australia is moving away from a two-party culture

Since the founding of the Commonwealth, a two-party culture has dominated Australian politics. Australians elect a government govern in majority and expect the opposition party, which is of strength, to oversee the government. When the government fails to govern, Australians look to the opposition to come up with a strategy and give them a chance to try it out. As a result, the ruling party and the opposition party candidates together often get the support of more than 80% of the electorate. However, as Australia’s population grows and immigrants become less familiar with Australia’s history and culture, and less able to recognize the role that the opposition has long played in Australian society, more people are unable to decide which party to support.

Over the past 40 years, there has been a significant increase in support for independent candidates and minor parties in both state and federal elections, reflecting the fact that more and more voters no longer support the major parties. In particular, in the last federal election, many voters voted for Teal independent and minor party candidates.

An analysis after the 2022 election found that less than one-fifth of those who voted for Teal were supporters of the Coalition. This means that the traditional Labor and Green supporters are more likely to be dissatisfied with the policies and instead support a quality candidate who is concerned about climate change but who is well known in the local community. If the Independent Member for Teal is re-elected in this election, it means that voters will likely to seek an alternative to the two major parties or the Greens.

The Menzies constituency is in the spotlight

Many people are disappointed with the performance of the traditional political parties, and believe that the lack of resources and focus on ‘safe constituencies’ has led voters to vote for independent candidates who are closer to the community and are not beholden to political parties. The Menzies constituency may also become a case of independent MP other than Teal being elected in this election.

The Menzies electorate is located in Melbourne’s north-east and covers the multi-cultural communities of Doncaster, Templestowe and Box Hill, as well as a large community  of Chinese electors. The electorate has always been an important stronghold for the Liberal Party, and is considered a safe seat for the Liberal Party as it has not been lost to any other party in the 41 years since it was established in 1984. However, in the 2022 federal election, due to criticism of Morrison’s administration and Keith Wolahan’s replacement of Kevin Andrews, who was forced to retire, the Liberal Party nearly lost to Labor for the first time, making Menzies a marginal seat, which is indicative of a change in the electorate’s voting preferences. Moreover, in October last year, the boundaries of the constituency were revised, and Menzies lost the Warrandyte area, which have been supporting the Liberal Party for a long time, and replaced it with Box Hill and its vicinity, which is theoretically in favour of the Labor Party. Therefore, under the current unsatisfactory situation of the Liberal Party’s Dutton election, whether Menzies independent candidate Stella Yee (余慈英) has a chance to break through has become a hot topic.

Stella Yee: I am not satisfied with either party

Stella Yee is the independent candidate of Menzies in this year’s federal election. She is a Chinese immigrant from Malaysia who migrated to Australia with her family in 2001 and has since lived and worked in Surrey Hills and Doncaster, and is very familiar with the culture and needs of the Menzies community, and has been actively involved in community affairs, participating in Rotary, St Vincent de Paul and founding a monthly community magazine ManninghamLife. In addition to her involvement in community affairs, Stella has always had a vision for a political career, hoping to make a difference to the community through public affairs.

In fact, Stella stood as a Labor candidate for Menzies back in 2019 against 11-term Liberal candidate Kevin Andrews, and was unsuccessful, but it did bring Stella a bit of publicity. Stella decided to go her own way with the Labor Party and ran again as an independent candidate in the 2025 federal election, and we had the opportunity to interview Stella to find out more about her electoral journey. When asked about her reasons for standing in the election, Stella said that Kevin Andrews’ political ideas were out of touch with society and that his stance on human rights issues such as same-sex marriage did not reflect the voices of his constituents. Stella also shared a similar view with many of her constituents, saying that Menzies a safe Liberal constituency, it lacked the impetus to change, and needs his constituents, and was less proactive in fighting for resources and campaigning for his constituents. She thinks that Menzies, as a safe constituency for the Liberal Party, lacks the motivation to change, the needs of the voters ignored, and the MP is less proactive in fighting for resources and responding to the voices of the community. Therefore, she hopes to improve this situation by running in the election.

Speaking of her views on the Labor Party, Stella said outright that she was disappointed with the decisions made by the Labor Party. She pointed out that the decision-making of the Labor Party in recent years has deviated from the expectations of the public. She explained that since 2022, the Labor government has been approving the development of natural gas and coal mines, which is a departure from its initial position on climate policy. In addition, Stella also mentioned that more than 70% of the public clearly wanted to ban the appearance of gambling advertisements, and even the government’s report recommended to follow up on the issue, but in the end, nothing was done. What disappointed her even more was that a Labor Party member was punished by the party for supporting the Green Party’s proposal, which made her realize that the system of traditional political parties could not accommodate diversified views, and that was also the reason why she decided to leave the Labor Party.

One may wonder why Stella chose to join the Labor Party if she was so dissatisfied with its policies. Obviously, Stella was probably looking for a strong platform for her to speak out. Her beliefs at the time may have been closer to those of the Labor Party, and she thought that the Labor Party could be a channel for her to promote progress in the community. Although she was unsuccessful, the experience gave her a clearer understanding of the problems and challenges of the current party system, and allowed her to become more mature in her approach to politics and learn how to truly speak out on behalf of her community.

Opportunities for Chinese Independent Candidates

As a Chinese candidate, Stella has an advantage in Menzies, a district full of Chinese. Not only will she be able to connect with the Chinese voters in her district, but Stella, being a Malaysian Chinese, will not be labelled as “pro-China”, thus avoiding concerns about China’s potential influence on Australian politics. Moreover, as a resident of Menzies for many years, Stella understands the needs of the community, and her political views can remain independent of party ideology. This positioning may help her win support from the Chinese community and bring a new atmosphere to Menzies.

In terms of the voting system, Stella may have a good chance of winning. Under the Australian voting system, voters are required to rank all candidates in order of personal preference. If no candidate receives more than half of the votes in the first round of counting, the candidates with fewer votes will be gradually eliminated, and their votes will be transferred to other candidates according to the voters’ preference. As things stand, the Greens have placed Stella second in the proposed voting order, while Labor has placed her third. Therefore, as long as the Liberal candidate fails to get more than half of the votes in the counting of voting and through the allocation of votes, Stella may win as long as she can get more votes than first the Green and then the Labor candidates.

In reality, as an independent candidate, Stella will face a number of challenges, not least of which is funding. While it is important to put forward effective policies, the key to winning the trust of voters is to raise awareness through community outreach. In this regard, Stella admits that funds are indeed limited, but she has tried her best to publicize her campaign within the limited budget so that more voters can know her. For example, she produces promotional flyers at a discounted price through a familiar printer and relies on a large number of volunteers to help her letter-drop the flyers, thus saving a lot of publicity expenses. Besides, she also actively utilizes Facebook advertisements to promote herself to more voters. According to Stella, she need more dedicated volunteers to help distribute her campaign flyers, and the management and commitment of these volunteers will greatly affect her campaign.

Stella’s publicity efforts are obviously weaker than those of candidates from political parties who have huge resources to support them. A candidate of a political party can make use of the party’s professional team to formulate publicity strategies, and has more resources to organize large-scale community activities and place more advertisements, so as to build up a wider exposure and influence in the constituency. Moreover, being a candidate of a major political party is inherently more likely to attract the attention of voters. Without the resources and background of a political party, it is questionable whether Stella can maintain enough exposure for voters to recognize her and get enough first-past-the-post votes.

Labor’s strategy: Gabriel Ng

In fact, the Labor Party recognized the Liberal Party’s precarious position in Menzies and fielded a Chinese background candidate, Gabriel Ng, whose father is a Singaporean immigrant and whose mother is Australian, but whose not-so-Chinese look have been an asset in his bid for mainstream votes. Gabriel Ng was born and raised in Australia, is a lawyer, and represents the diversity of the second generation of immigrants. Whether he can win the trust of the first generation of Chinese immigrants is likely to be evident in this election.

However, by giving this seat to Gabriel Ng, who is not active in the Chinese community, the Labor Party is obviously trying to win the support of the Chinese. In the past, the Labor Party had failed to win the recognition of the Chinese and mainstream society by supporting Jennifer Yang , who grew up in Taiwan, and made them try the second-generation Southeast Asian immigrants instead. It seems that the Labor Party wants to minimize the controversy over the intricate relationship between these candidates and China, so as to avoid the predicament faced by Yang and the Liberal Party’s Gladys Liu as in the 2019 election.

As Gabriel Ng is nominated by the Labor Party, and like Tu Le in the Vietnamese-dominated constituency of Fowler, the challenge to Keith Wolahan depends on the voters’ loyalty to the Liberal Party.

Keith Wolahan’s chances of winning

In last election, Keith Wolahan swooped in to replace Kevin Andrews as the Liberal candidate, leaving him without the support of some of the traditional Liberal voters and leaving Menzies in a marginal seat. Over the past three years Keith Wolahan has made a real effort to build up his personal popularity and influence in the community. But with Labor in government, he really hasn’t done much for the voters in this area. And it seems that Dutton’s policies are not well received by his constituents, which is not too good for Keith Wolahan.

Keith Wolahan is not very active in building up the Chinese connections, but he does attach great importance to Chinese online publicity, and his promotions have been seen on Chinese social media platforms for a long time. There aren’t many Liberal MPs in Victoria, and he’s already gotten a lot of exposure in his first term. If he can win against the combined attacks of Labor, Greens and Stella Yee, it will show his strength.

Conclusion

The outcome of the Menzies electorate in Victoria will be a great inspiration for the future strategies of the two major parties and for ethnic minorities in politics. If Keith Wolahan of the Liberal Party is re-elected, it will show that the efforts of individual legislators in their constituencies cannot be ignored. If Gabriel Ng wins, the Liberal Party will be even weaker in Victoria. I believe that the Victoria branch of the Liberal Party has to do some soul-searching and review, especially on its strategy towards the ethnic minorities, which should not be ignored. If independent Chinese candidate Stella Yee can win the election with successful vote allocation, just like the Teal in 2022, it opens up another possibility for immigrants to enter politics, that is, when both major political parties have lost the trust of the community, they are able to win the recognition of the major immigrants and the local community, and obtain a certain proportion of basic votes, thus gaining an advantage.

In the next issue of this magazine, we will analyze the results of the election and look at the direction of the political situation in Australia.

Article/Editorial Department Sameway Magazine

Photo/Internet

I was not trained as an economist, but after living in Australia for so many years,  I believe that I can give some personal views on Australia in the midst of change.

Decades of quality life in Australia

I remember studying geography 53 years ago, learning about Australia as a country. and learning about Australia. At that time, Australia was described in textbooks as a country dominated by pastoral farming, and I was fascinated by the animal husbandry industry, shearing sheep, milking cows, and eating beef. In Hong Kong at that time, there were not many dairy products and beef imported from foreign countries in the market. In fact, agricultural products were Australia’s main production and export at that time. However, at that time, Australia’s major exports were to the United Kingdom and Europe, and Hong Kong and China rarely saw any products from Australia. It is only today that I realize that it was because Hong Kong people and Chinese people at that time had low economic capacity and could not afford to buy the expensive agricultural products from Australia, and Hong Kong and China were not the markets for Australian products at that time.

When I visited Australia for the first time 38 years ago, I had a very good impression of the major cities, and I realized that Australia was able to produce everything we needed in our daily lives, but at that time I felt that everything was very expensive. At that time, there were still four automobile factories in Australia, and my Australian brother-in-law proudly told me that Holden (actually a subsidiary of GM Motors in the US) had a history of close to 100 years, which made me believe that Australia had the technology to produce everything on its own. Later on, I realized that Holden started out as a manufacturer of car parts, and in the 1930s, with the technical support of the United States, it began to produce cars, but four years ago, Holden finally ceased production.

Thirty years ago, there were many car companies that set up factories in Australia to supply the local and overseas markets, including Toyota, Nissan, Ford, etc. However, one by one, these foreign companies ceased production and left the country, importing cheaper products from China or overseas to sell. From the time these companies entered Australia to the time they left, the Australian automobile industry has seen its ups and downs.

Cars were a necessity for Australians and there was room for them in the market. The rise and fall of the automobile industry is a testament to the high wages, declining tariffs, frequent strikes caused by strong unions, and the rise of China as world factory which monopolized the production market, and today there are basically no manufacturing industries left in Australia.

Service sector replaces agriculture and industrial production

During this period, the Australian government promoted the service sector, including professional services such as accounting, tourism and education. Australia’s traditional British education system laid the foundation for Australia’s massive export of higher education in the 1990s, when the economies of Southeast Asian countries and China took off and the demand for British education increased. Australia’s social system is connected to the United Kingdom, and the government invested in the early establishment of a number of high-quality universities and vocational training colleges, with comprehensive and advanced programs, and has a number of high-quality and academic qualifications of renowned scholars, so that students from Asian countries seeking higher education training here.

As a result, Australia has become the most popular country for students from Asian countries seeking higher education training. With the rapid expansion of Australian institutions, and recommendations from graduates from Southeast Asian countries who have previously trained here, Australia has become a major supplier of English higher education to the region. As a result, Australia has been able to attract immigrants who have lived in Australia for many years, which has boosted Australia’s productivity and consumption, as well as the development of the construction industry, resulting in continued high growth in the Australian economy.

However, the proportion of Australians attending university is not as high as in other countries, and the high proportion of Australians who find employment after secondary school, and the government’s practice of imposing higher taxes on high wage earners, have led to a lack of enthusiasm for continuing education among Australian residents. Tertiary education is increasingly becoming an export industry rather than a means of nurturing higher levels of knowledge in the local population.

In the last two to three decades, Australia’s mining industry has become the country’s largest export. Western Australia has overtaken New South Wales and Victoria as the richest state per capita, while Queensland and South Australia have both experienced economic growth. China has also become Australia’s largest trading partner, and the Australian wine and seafood industries have entered the Chinese market, maintaining Australia’s high standard of living.

Australia’s economic challenges

However, Australia’s economic development over the past few decades has benefited greatly from China’s development as the world’s factory. China’s importation of large quantities of raw materials from Australia and the arrival of large numbers of Chinese students have boosted Australia’s socio-economic activities, including an increase in Chinese tourists and high levels of consumer spending, which have helped to maintain a good standard of living for Australians. However, in the foreseeable future, China’s continued industrial development will be challenged, and Australia will have to rely on developing markets in more countries to market its existing services and to face the economic challenges that will arise.

Australia has the highest average wage in the Asia Pacific region, but productivity is declining compared to other countries, making Australia less attractive to foreign investors. However, as Australia is still a desired country for immigrants, there are many investments, talents, experiences and relationships brought to Australia through immigrants. As long as the government has appropriate policies to encourage immigrants to give full play to these advantages, Australia is still in a very good position to face the upcoming economic crisis.

In the past few years, Australia has been facing a labor shortage, and the unemployment rate has not been too high because the Australian economy is undergoing restructuring. Elderly care in social services has been undergoing significant reforms, and the aging population has allowed for a certain amount of development in elderly care services. In addition, the full implementation of the NDIS Disability Service in 2017 has resulted in a large number of additional jobs in the care sector over the past few years, with many people moving into these sectors. However, the Productivity Commission has pointed out that these jobs come from tax and the government, rather than directly from the community’s high-value jobs, to maintain the demand for these services, Australians must be able to afford the tax revenue. If one day the Australian government is unable to pay for these expenses and has to cut back heavily on these services, the unemployment rate in Australia will increase dramatically and the economy will easily fall into a crisis.

It can be said that the federal and state governments are not optimistic about the future of the Australian economy.

Opportunities for a multicultural society

As Australia has attracted a large number of immigrants from different countries over the past 20 to 30 years, it has created a rich network of talent and relationships. Australia has a strong foundation in natural resources and services, and by allowing migrants from different countries to become bridges with their countries of origin, we can build pathways from Australia’s agriculture, education, tourism, construction and other services to the rest of the world.

In Australia, we have the opportunity to be exposed to different languages, and cultures, and as long as we can build up mutual tolerance and cooperation, Australia is in a position to integrate with the global economy at a time when the United States is moving towards isolationism. For example, in recent years, Nepal has become a new market for Australian education, and this has boosted trade relations between the two countries.

Recently, there has been an increase in the number of new immigrants from Hong Kong to Australia, many of whom have extensive experience in multinational enterprises and are planning to set up their homes in Australia. As long as they can quickly integrate into the community and be absorbed into the community as a driving force for economic development, it will accelerate Australia’s economic cooperation with the rest of the world.

Although the United States is isolating itself today, in my opinion, this is an opportunity for a country like Australia, which has a rich network of people and talents, to develop. Of course, those in power must be able to grasp these advantages and opportunities, and make changes to the factors that are not conducive to Australia’s development, such as the overpowering of labor unions, in order to ensure that Australia’s development can be sustained in the future.

Mr. Raymond Chow, Publisher of Sameway Magazine