Dora Houpis
A new report investigating if Australia is the most successful multicultural society, specifically when electing migrants to federal politics, states there is a long way to go and draws on the experiences of migrant politicians, like Brimbank’s mayor.
The report, ‘You can’t be what you can’t see – the participation of migrant communities in Australia’s political system’, released on Monday, October 24, explores if migrants are fairly and equitably included in Australian politics and includes interviews with Brimbank mayor Jasmine Nguyen.
Although an unprecedented number of Australians from non-English speaking backgrounds were elected to federal parliament at May’s election, the Scanlon Foundation Research Institute report finds those who seek power and to represent the nation are overwhelmingly from Anglo-Celtic and European backgrounds.
Report author Caroline Zielinski said if Australia wanted to be the most multicultural nation in the world, all institutions including political, had to reflect it.
“There are opportunities to change the status quo – some of the suggestions from the people I spoke with include increasing the overall size of parliament, creating more opportunities for people to run for office, looking at how we organise voting in Australia as well as considering quotas,” she said.
Ms Nguyen, 25, of Vietnamese background was among the researchers, academics and politicians from migrant background interviewed for the report which states her “ascension to mayor exemplifies the complex and intricate nature of political engagement and involvement in Australia.”
But the report states that being elected for most migrants was hard and like playing dominoes.
“Once the first piece falls into line, the others follow relatively quickly,” the report states.
“ The problem is that some members of ethnically-diverse communities don’t even know there is a game, let alone how to play; and even if they do, the rules keep changing on them at every stage.”
