In the federal election last Saturday, Albanese significantly increased Labor Party’s number of seats, creating a legendary moment in Australian political history. He shattered the Liberal Party, which was founded 81 years ago by Robert Menzies, into a state with uncertain future. As Australians face a cost-of-living crisis, the policies proposed by opposition leader Dutton failed to gain voter approval — so much so that he couldn’t even retain his seat after 24 years in parliament. After the Liberal Party’s failure in the previous election, they made a high-stakes gamble by placing the responsibility of uniting and restructuring the party on Dutton, who was unpopular with voters. The election results proved that the Liberal Party misjudged what Australians want from their government. Although Dutton managed to unite the party, he led it into even greater defeat.
In this election, Keith Wolahan — MP for Menzies, a district with a large Chinese population in Melbourne — ultimately might lose his seat to the Labor Party. Our previous issue had already pointed out that he would face a serious challenge. Keith himself admitted that the Liberal Party cannot keep clinging to its image of a past Australia but must instead face the reality of today’s Australia to have a chance at recovery — a view I completely agree with. Unfortunately, Keith himself failed to do this. He was unable to make concrete contributions to the multicultural community in Menzies, which would lead to his quiet exit after just one term in parliament.
I have repeatedly pointed out in this column that today’s Australia is a multicultural society. The immigrants who arrived in the past two or three decades are not traditional supporters of the major parties, nor do they necessarily share the political ideologies of Western democracies. However, they make up a significant portion of the voting population. Any party that can win their support will likely gain decisive votes. These immigrants may not care about ideology or party values — what they want are concrete, practical outcomes. For example: Is the party willing to listen to them? Do the policies benefit them? Is the party friendly toward their countries of origin? Will it help them integrate into Australian society?
As a multicultural media operator, I have often urged leaders of both the Liberal and Labor parties to face the reality of Australia’s evolving society — particularly the need to strengthen cohesion in a multicultural context. Within the framework of Western democracy, freedom, equality, and the rule of law, we need policies suitable for Indigenous Australians, traditional white Australians, as well as the more recent multicultural immigrants, to bring everyone together under shared our Australian values. Labor Party leaders have generally been more willing to listen and take incremental steps — such as last year’s Multicultural Framework Review, being the first step as the government’s initiative in this direction since the end of the White Australia Policy. The Liberal Party, however, used the excuse of “equality for all” to avoid offering assistance for immigrants in their effective understanding, accepting, and adapting to this new society.
It is obvious that without supportive government policies, first-generation immigrants — who used to have held advantages in their home countries — could find it extremely difficult to realize their potential in a new society. The Liberal Party’s crushing defeat in this election may very well be the result of losing their support.
Mr. Raymond Chow, the Publisher of Sameway Magazine